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Handout
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: Thomas Edison

For Students 9th - 10th
A good description of the inventions and life of this bright and ambitious man. As inventor of the light bulb, phonograph, movie camera and many others, Edison lived a very inspiring life. In Spanish.
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Website
PBS

Pbs American Experience: Edison's Miracle of Light

For Students 9th - 10th
This site explores the various challenges Edison faced upon attempting to produce electric power. It contains a historical essay, a complete list of Edison's patents, information on the AC and DC currents, recordings produced by the...
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Unit Plan
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Progress: The Meaning of the Machine: Thomas Edison

For Students 9th - 10th
A photograph of Edison and an interview of Edison by Theodore Dreiser that displays the inventor's convictions about progress in America.
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Website
Other

Brockton Historical Society: Thomas Alva Edison

For Students 9th - 10th
Site devoted completely to the achievements of Thomas Edison. Includes a detailed biography, inventions, photo gallery, and quotes.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

Nat'l Portrait Gallery: Ballyhoo! Poster as Portraiture: Edison's New Phonograph

For Students 9th - 10th
A poster extolling the virtues of Thomas Edison's new phonograph is accompanied by text that explains the purpose of the poster and how it was made.
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Website
Other

Edision Birthplace Museum: Birthplace of Edison

For Students 9th - 10th
Biographical look at Thomas Edison from the museum of his birthplace. Provides information on his life and his inventions. Also gives a tour of Edison's birthplace.
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Website
The Franklin Institute

The Franklin Institute: Edison's Lightbulb: History of Science and Technology

For Students 3rd - 8th
The Franklin Institute features a biography of Thomas Edison and a complete description of the light bulb as well as an experiment.
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Website
Rutgers University

Blueprint for Change: The Life and Times of Lewis H. Latimer

For Students 9th - 10th
An extensive look at the inventor, Lewis Latimer, from the Thomas Edison Papers at Rutgers University. Read essays about his life and inventions, the culture in Boston which encouraged his work, and his life outside his inventions. A...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

Lemelson Center: Thomas Edison

For Students 9th - 10th
Read a brief biography of Thomas Edison.
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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Famous Inventors Thomas Edison

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This short biographical piece shares information about Thomas Edison, the inventor of the phonograph, light bulb, motion picture camera, and more. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that...
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Handout
Mocomi & Anibrain Digital Technologies

Mocomi: Thomas Edison Biography

For Students 1st - 8th
Interesting biographical information, famous inventions, and quotes of Thomas Edison, one of America's greatest inventors.
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Website
Other

Creative Thinking With Thomas Edison

For Students 9th - 10th
As a master inventor Thomas Edison used many techniques that helped him with his creative ideas. Learn how you can apply some of his techniques to yourself to aid you in your own creative inventiveness.
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eBook
Other

Edison: His Life and Inventions: The Telephone, Motograph, and Microphone

For Students 9th - 10th
This site offers the text of a book by Frank Dyer and Thomas Martin published in 1929 on the inventions of Thomas Edison. This particular page discusses Alexander Graham Bell's development of the telephone and the controversy over Thomas...
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Website
Ducksters

Ducksters: Thomas Edison: Inventor of the Light Bulb and Much More

For Students 1st - 9th
Kids learn about Thomas Edison's biography. Invented many things including the light bulb and phonograph.
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Handout
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Education: Spotlight Biography Inventors

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides information on American inventors Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, Eli Whitney, Thomas Jefferson, Isaac Singer, Wilbur Wright, Thomas Alva Edison, Elias Howe, and Alexander Graham Bell. It offers pictures from and...
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Primary
Rutgers University

Thomas Edison Papers: Latimer's Patents

For Students 9th - 10th
Find a list of patents issued to African-American inventor, Lewis Latimer, to him individually or with another inventor. Clicking on the invention takes you a diagram of the invention as well as its description submitted to the U.S....
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Handout
Smithsonian Institution

Lemelson Center: Tracing the Roots of America's Motion Picture Industry

For Students 9th - 10th
In the late 1800's, Thomas Edison and his fellow inventors were key in the American film industry's boom.This web site provides a podcast and accompanying transcript tracing the roots of the film industry in America. Podcast [21:27]
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Powering the Past: Emergence of Electrical Utilities in America

For Students 9th - 10th
Looks at the history of electrical utilities in the United States from the time of Edison up to President Franklin Roosevelt.
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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Edison Tried and Tried Again

For Teachers K - 1st
[Free Registration/Login Required] This biographical passage shares information about Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential reading skills and strategies and...
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Website
Digital History

Digital History: The Wizard of Menlo Park

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource provides information about the famous American inventor, Thomas Edison. Find out about his childhood, some of his famous inventions, and even some of his mistakes.
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Nara: Teaching With Documents: Telephone and Light Patent Drawings

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A lesson plan about Alexander Graham Bell's patent for the telephone and Thomas Edison's patent for the electric lamp. Contains good background information and historically pertinent documents. It also discusses the role corporations...
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Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1880 1889

For Students 9th - 10th
Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison duke it out over the best way to transmit electricity and Heinrich Hertz is the first person (unbeknownst to him) to broadcast and receive radio waves.
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Interactive
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Lighting a Revolution

For Students 9th - 10th
This website is part of a bigger exhibit exploring the history of invention. This looks at Edison's invention of the light bulb and many other electrical inventions from the following century.
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Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Woods, Granville T.

For Students 9th - 10th
A fascinating encyclopedia article about Granville Woods, a black inventor,often referred to as the "black Edison."

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