IIB 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2627 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 14, 2007 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

AN ACT 

To establish the Thomas Edison National Historical Park 

in the State of New Jersey as the successor to the 

Edison National Historic Site. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Act Commemorating 

3 the LITE, or Lifetime Innovations of Thomas Edison’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The Edison National Historic Site, located 

7 in West Orange, New Jersey, is a vital part of 

8 America’s national system of parks which preserves 

9 Thomas Alva Edison’s research and development 

10 laboratories, library, papers, and artifacts, as well as 

11 his home. 

12 (2) The Site is a national historic treasure and 

13 contains the world’s largest collection of materials 

14 related to Thomas Edison, encompassing an esti15 mated 5,000,000 pages of documents, over 400,000 

16 artifacts, approximately 35,000 sound recordings, 

17 and 10,000 books from Edison’s personal library. 

18 (3) Thomas Edison is one of America’s greatest 

19 inventors, whose inexhaustible energy and genius 

20 produced 1,093 patents in his lifetime, more than 

21 any other American, including patents for the incan22 descent light bulb, the motion picture camera, and 

23 the phonograph. 

24 (4) In 1928, Thomas Edison was awarded the 

25 Congressional Gold Medal for the ‘‘development and 


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1 application of inventions that have revolutionized 

2 civilization in the last century.’’ 

3 (5) In 1998, Congress again honored Thomas 

4 Edison by directing the Secretary of the Treasury to 

5 mint a commemorative coin celebrating the 125th 

6 anniversary of Edison’s invention of the light bulb, 

7 celebrated in 2004. 

8 (6) The Edison National Historic Site is one of 

9 America’s most endangered historic places. The Na10 tional Park Service, in its General Management Plan 

11 and Development Concept Plan, identified the need 

12 for numerous actions to preserve, protect, restore, 

13 and enhance the Site and determined that sufficient 

14 government funds are not likely to be appropriated 

15 to complete these necessary actions in the foresee16 able future. 

17 (7) On November 6, 1997, the National Park 

18 Service signed an agreement with the Thomas Alva 

19 Edison Preservation Foundation (now the Edison 

20 Preservation Foundation), establishing a public-pri21 vate partnership to jointly raise money to fund iden22 tified improvements at the Edison National Historic 

23 Site so as to leave the Site unimpaired for the enjoy24 ment of future generations. 

25 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 


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1 (1) to recognize and pay tribute to Thomas 

2 Alva Edison and his innovations; and 

3 (2) to preserve, protect, restore, and enhance 

4 the Edison National Historic Site to ensure public 

5 use and enjoyment of the Site as an educational, sci6 entific, and cultural center. 

7 SEC. 3. THOMAS EDISON NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the 

9 Thomas Edison National Historical Park as a unit of the 

10 National Park System (hereafter the ‘‘Historical Park’’). 

11 (b) BOUNDARIES.—The Historical Park shall be com12 prised of— 

13 (1) all property owned by the United States in 

14 the Edison National Historic Site as well as all 

15 property authorized to be acquired by the Secretary 

16 of the Interior for inclusion in the Edison National 

17 Historic Site before the date of the enactment of 

18 this Act, as generally depicted on the map entitled 

19 the ‘‘Edison National Historic Site’’, numbered 

20 20003B, and dated April 1977; and 

21 (2) all property authorized to be acquired for 

22 inclusion in the Historical Park by this Act or other 

23 law enacted after the date of the enactment of this 

24 Act. 


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1 (c) MAP.—The map of the Historical Park shall be 

2 on file and available for public inspection in the appro3 priate offices of the National Park Service. 

4 SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATION. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall administer 

6 the Historical Park in accordance with this Act and with 

7 the provisions of law generally applicable to units of the 

8 National Park System, including the Acts entitled ‘‘An 

9 Act to establish a National Park Service, and for other 

10 purposes,’’ approved August 25, 1916 (39 Stat. 535; 16 

11 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) and ‘‘An Act to provide for the preserva12 tion of historic American sites, buildings, objects, and an13 tiquities of national significance, and for other purposes,’’ 

14 approved August 21, 1935 (16 U.S.C. 461 et seq.). 

15 (b) ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY.— 

16 (1) REAL PROPERTY.—The Secretary may ac17 quire land or interests in land within the boundaries 

18 of the Historical Park, from willing sellers only, by 

19 donation, purchase with donated or appropriated 

20 funds, or exchange. 

21 (2) PERSONAL PROPERTY.—The Secretary may 

22 acquire personal property associated with, and ap23 propriate for, interpretation of the Historical Park. 

24 (c) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary 

25 may consult and enter into cooperative agreements with 


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1 interested entities and individuals to provide for the pres2 ervation, development, interpretation, and use of the His3 torical Park. 

4 (d) REPEAL OF SUPERSEDED LAW.—Public Law 87– 

5 628 (76 Stat. 428), regarding the establishment and ad6 ministration of the Edison National Historic Site, is re7 pealed. 

8 (e) REFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, map, reg9 ulation, document, paper, or other record of the United 

10 States to the ‘‘Edison National Historic Site’’ shall be 

11 deemed to be a reference to the ‘‘Thomas Edison National 

12 Historical Park’’. 

13 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

14 There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as 

15 may be necessary to carry out this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 13, 

2007. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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