CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

           Thomas A. Edison Sesquicentennial Conference
                      "Interpreting Edison"
                         June 25-27, 1997


As part of its celebration of the 150th anniversary of Thomas A. Edison's birth,
Edison National Historic Site will host a three-day conference, "Interpreting
Edison."  Co-sponsored by the National Park Service, the Organization of
American Historians, the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance and the Charles
Edison Fund, the conference will be held June 25-27 at the Robeson Campus Center
on the Newark, NJ campus of Rutgers University and the Edison Site in
West Orange, NJ.

The conference will examine the interpretation of Edison's life and work in
academic scholarship, at museums and historic sites, and in the classroom.
Scholars from the United States, Canada and Europe will present new research on
Edison's role as inventor, business leader and cultural figure.  Representatives
from five major U.S. Edison-related sites and museums will discuss their
interpretative and cultural resource management programs.  There will also be a
series of sessions designed to help teachers integrate Edison-related themes
into the history curriculum.

Distinguished scholars Ruth S. Cowan, David Nye, Thomas Schlereth, John M.
Staudenmaier, and Alan Trachtenberg will discuss Edison's place in U.S. history
during the opening session.

Other highlights of the conference include a virtual tour of Edison's
reconstructed Menlo Park Laboratory at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn,
Michigan; lunch on the grounds of Edison's estate, Glenmont; and a demonstration
of the Library of Congress early motion picture webpage. Edison descendant and
University of New Haven professor David Edison Sloane will speak about the
Edison family at the conference banquet.

The $30 registration fee covers all sessions, breaks and lunches at the Robeson
Campus Center. An additional $25 will be charged for the Glenmont Lunch
(includes transportation between Rutgers-Newark and Edison NHS), and $35 for the
banquet.  A limited number of dorm rooms on the Rutgers-Newark campus are
available to conference attendees at reasonable rates.

The May 30 registration deadline will be extended until available space is used.

For information about the conference, registration forms, or housing, please
contact:

Leonard DeGraaf
Edison National Historic Site
Main Street and Lakeside Avenue
West Orange, New Jersey 07052
(201) 736-0550, ext. 22
e-mail: [log in to unmask]

The conference program and registration form are also available on the Edison
National Historic Site website at: http://www.nps.gov/edis