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If you look at a map of Florida, you'll see that Cape Coral lies only a few miles from Ft. Myers, and the latter is the location of the winter estates of Henry Ford and some guy named Edison. I've visited the museum two or three times in the past, but the last time was over 15 years ago. On that occasion, I spoke to a docent about some of the inaccurate signage that accompanied the excellent collection of Edison Phonographs there. His response (which I've shared before) was, "The public doesn't know the difference."
I'm very happy to report that things have changed at Edison & Ford. I was wandering through the museum, admiring some of the spectacular machines in the collection, and noticed that the signage was accurate for the most part. Still, I noticed a few problems; some minor but others way off. And there was one item that had nothing to do with Edison (a Wade fiber needle cutter) that was displayed with a tinfoil Phonograph, and described as being a "Reed Sharpener" for the first tinfoil machines - - before the embossing points were made of steel!
Naturally, my first impulse was to try to help, but I had been down that road before. Besides, I was on vacation. And no one likes some wise-guy passing himself off as an expert and expecting everyone to believe him. As I continued strolling around, a docent struck up a conversation with me. Well, inside of 5 minutes, he had wheedled the whole story out of me, and insisted I talk with Jim - a 90 year old docent who has been at Edison & Fort for 27 years. Jim took me on a quick tour through the museum (I had already seen everything, but Jim added some background details on some items), and when I politely pointed out a few inaccuracies, he introduced me to a woman a step up in authority (I don't remember her name
). This woman gave me the business cards of the Chief Curator and a Registrar, encouraging me to contact them. I called the numbers on the cards within minutes, but heard only answering machines. I left messages, and a half hour later I left for Cape Coral.On my way, the cell phone rang and it was a Registrar, asking if I could return the following day, accompany him through the museum, and point out any inaccurate signage. Things had indeed changed at Edison & Ford.
The following day I met with the Registrar and we went through the museum, reading all the signage. I found a few more things I had missed, and the Registrar took notes. A few machines were equipped with the wrong horns, and I pointed this out as well. An hour later, he assured me that they would be making the changes I recommended. I hope so, but whether they do or not, I encourage all antique phonograph collectors to visit the Edison & Ford Winter Estates when they have a chance. The collection of phonographs is quite good and the displays are well done.
I have included photos below of a couple of machines that might be of interest. There are many, many others I could have included. (One spectacular example will be the topic of my article in the December issue of The Antique Phonograph.)
The first is one of Thomas Edison's personal phonographs he used for auditioning records. This machine is pictured on page 21 of George Frow's The Edison Disc Phonographs. As Edison's hearing became progressively worse, he was forced to rely on bone conduction to hear recordings. By biting into the crate in which the mechanism is housed, the sound could travel directly to Edison's inner ear, bypassing his evidently impaired middle ear. Note that this machine is equipped with an Edisonic reproducer. This machine is inside a plexiglass cube, so I was unable to avoid some reflection.
Best to all,
George P.
Admittedly, that included a teacher discount, but even at $120 it would have been a good deal. I'm used to paying more than that for a Holiday Inn Express at Union!
)
I even got to talk to the "Old Man"himself!It was,of course,an actor impersonating him.edisonplayer