How I Came to Know and Love Ted Edison
(Summary of Monhegan Associates
Ecology Lecture given by Margot Sullivan-Aug. 15,2001)
Theodore Miller Edison was born in 1898 the youngest child of Thomas Alva Edison and Mina Miller Edison. He was an inquisitive child, loved the outdoors and probably was the apple of his Mother’s eye. Beginning in 1908 his Mother would bring the children to Monhegan during the summer and stay at the Old Monhegan House. Ted said “the beauty and freedom with which I was then surrounded probably had much to do with making me want to help in saving enough samples of wilderness on Monhegan and elsewhere to permit future generations to enjoy what I had known.” Ted graduated from MIT, married Ann Osterhout, returned to New Jersey to manage his father’s business. Eventually he left and formed his own company - Calibron Products.
From the 1930’s on Ted and Ann purchased land on Monhegan - many different lots from many different owners in the wildlands. After a great deal of thought Ted Edison formed Monhegan Associates Inc. in 1954 with the intention of forever protecting these wildlands from development. Ted worked tirelessly for the organization for at least 25 years when finally declining health no longer permitted him to come to Monhegan. Ted died in 1992, Ann died in 1993 - they had been married 67 years!
A niece of Ann’s contacted Monhegan Associates and asked if we wanted the files pertaining to Monhegan Associates. I was secretary then and said yes. The next summer 19 boxes of files were delivered to me in Massachusetts - I was a little overwhelmed but within two hours knew we had a wonderful store of materials not only about Monhegan Associates but about Monhegan. The “Edison Papers” include all kinds of things from official minutes, books, letters, sugar packets, old stationery, Zimmie postcards, and lots more. After several years of going through these files and trying to figure out an organization, Clare Durst created a database which I could use to index these file folders as best as I could. After attending to mostly duplication, the materials are now in file folders in about 8 storage boxes.
What did I learn about Ted Edison? I never met him! He was a complex person, inquisitive, caring, detailed, persistent, consistent, humorous in a quiet way (he definitely had no use for the IRS and one of their chief objectives was “to spread confusion” Ted said), explicit, verbose and even “fussy” as he describes himself. He saved everything!!!! He was very concerned about the perception of Monhegan Associates - he wanted the organization to work with the Plantation to solve problems. The characteristics of the papers fall into four categories and reveal a man devoted to Monhegan.
The bulk of the papers are concerned with the organization of Monhegan Associates itself. There are many many file folders for the committees, Trustees, Meetings, by-laws, forms, insurance, tax-exemption, and the like. There are file folders for specific individuals - often two or three folders for one person. Many of the folders have handwritten notes by Ted, he revised all drafts of minutes, and he kept detailed records of all his meetings with people.
Ted’s views on saving the wilderness are clearly evident. He not only worked to preserve a little wilderness on Monhegan but was concerned about natural areas all over the United States. He visited the national parks, and was particularly concerned about saving areas in Florida. He said, “experiences of tranquility and solitude are becoming so rare in our vast urbanized regions that, entirely aside from scientific, esthetic, and economic consideration, there would seem to be ample justification for preserving a few LOCAL ‘wilderness’ samples.” He expressed his views in a tempered but persistent way especially to agencies that he felt might be able to help. He wrote to LURC regarding a seasonal camp on Monhegan, he wrote to the House of Representatives regarding wilderness bill hearings (1964), and he often wrote to the New York Times.
The papers and letters with regard to real estate on Monhegan are wonderful. Ted spent many years mired in the complexities of titles and boundaries on Monhegan. He speaks of trying to find pins out near the Crows Nest, he communicates with people over boundaries (Isa Cole writes to him “regarding what I call the Beach Property, it is one unholy ‘mess’.”), and he even draws a map of where he and David Soule looked for a pin on Black Head. He works tirelessly to add to the “wildlands” of Monhegan.
Last - but perhaps the most interesting - is all of the “other” Monhegan history found in the Edison Papers. In a letter from Bill Hekking to Ted in 1960 it is quite clear that the lens from the lighthouse was not smashed but left Monhegan when the light was electrified and the lens was ”safely” stored in South Portland awaiting disposition according to the U.S. Coast Guard. There is much correspondence from Ted to the Coast Guard trying to get this lens for the future museum. I even wrote to the Coast Guard photocopying these materials and asked if they might know where the lens is now. The only answer seems to be it is possibly in a museum somewhere. Letters from Elinor Stevens indicate she had met Ted’s father Thomas on Monhegan (1911) and she describes what Ted’s Mother was wearing - “a peacock blue silk brocade dress and a hat made of rose red geraniums”. Ted kept detailed records of each Monhegan trip - the Island Inn brochure, the floor plan, a menu of meals, lists of clothes and medicines he brought, letters from people he met at the Inn, and it is clear that he love chess and checkers! Perhaps the most moving folder is of the Monhegan store fire in 1963. Ted collected all the newspaper articles. He wrote to everyone who suffered damage. He wrote to the U.S. Coast Guard, the Governor of the State of Maine, and many people in the U.S. Congress regarding the closing of the Burnt Island Coast Guard station. He called people to see how they were and all of this is documented in Ted’s clear precise handwriting. He so much wanted to help in any way that he could.
After spending all these years with the Edison papers I continue to marvel what this one man did for Monhegan. Several times he considers giving some of his purchased lands to the Nature Conservancy: I cannot imagine how this would have “worked” on the island. Ted Edison felt that “wilderness would appear to have almost infinite value”. Monhegan was most fortunate to have this man with his insight and foresight and the wherewithal and tenacity to preserve the island “wildlands”.
Margot Sullivan