I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5377

To establish the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in the State of 

New Jersey as the successor to the Edison National Historic Site. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2004

Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. 

PALLONE, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PASCRELL, and Mr. MENENDEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Resources 

A BILL

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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

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

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

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

8 (1) The Edison National Historic Site, located 

9 in West Orange, New Jersey, is a vital part of 
2

•HR 5377 IH 

1 America’s national system of parks which preserves 

2 Thomas Alva Edison’s research and development 

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

4 his home. 

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

6 contains the world’s largest collection of materials 

7 related to Thomas Edison, encompassing an esti8 mated 5,000,000 pages of documents, over 400,000 

9 artifacts, approximately 35,000 sound recordings, 

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

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

12 inventors, whose inexhaustible energy and genius 

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

14 any other American, including patents for the incan15 descent light bulb, the motion picture camera, and 

16 the phonograph. 

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

18 Congressional Gold Medal for the ‘‘development and 

19 application of inventions that have revolutionized 

20 civilization in the last century.’’

21 (5) In 1998, Congress again honored Thomas 

22 Edison by directing the Secretary of the Treasury to 

23 mint a commemorative coin celebrating the 125th 

24 anniversary of Edison’s invention of the light bulb to 

25 be celebrated in 2004. 
3

•HR 5377 IH 

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

2 America’s most endangered historic places. The Na3 tional Park Service, in its General Management Plan 

4 and Development Concept Plan, identified the need 

5 for numerous actions to preserve, protect, restore, 

6 and enhance the Site and determined that sufficient 

7 government funds are not likely to be appropriated 

8 to complete these necessary actions in the foresee9 able future. 

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

11 Service signed an agreement with the Thomas Alva 

12 Edison Preservation Foundation (now the Edison 

13 Preservation Foundation), establishing a public-pri14 vate partnership to jointly raise money to fund iden15 tified improvements at the Edison National Historic 

16 Site so as to leave the Site unimpaired for the enjoy17 ment of future generations. 

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

19 (1) to recognize and pay tribute to Thomas 

20 Alva Edison and his innovations; and 

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

22 the Edison National Historic Site to ensure public 

23 use and enjoyment of the Site as an educational, sci24 entific, and cultural center. 
4

•HR 5377 IH 

1 SEC. 3. THOMAS EDISON NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the 

3 Thomas Edison National Historical Park as a unit of the 

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

5 (b) BOUNDARIES.—The Historical Park shall be com6 prised of—

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

8 the Edison National Historic Site as well as all 

9 property authorized to be acquired by the Secretary 

10 of the Interior for inclusion in the Edison National 

11 Historic Site before the date of the enactment of 

12 this Act, as generally depicted on the map entitled 

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

14 20003B, and dated April 1977; and 

15 (2) all property authorized to be acquired for 

16 inclusion in the Historical Park by this Act or other 

17 law enacted after the date of the enactment of this 

18 Act. 

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

20 on file and available for public inspection in the appro21 priate offices of the National Park Service. 

22 SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATION. 

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

24 the Historical Park in accordance with this Act and with 

25 the provisions of law generally applicable to units of the 

26 National Park System, including the Acts entitled ‘‘An 
5

•HR 5377 IH 

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

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

3 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) and ‘‘An Act to provide for the preserva4 tion of historic American sites, buildings, objects, and an5 tiquities of national significance, and for other purposes,’’ 

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

7 (b) ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY.—

8 (1) REAL PROPERTY.—The Secretary may ac9 quire land or interests in land within the boundaries 

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

11 donation, purchase with donated or appropriated 

12 funds, or exchange. 

13 (2) PERSONAL PROPERTY.—The Secretary may 

14 acquire personal property associated with, and ap15 propriate for, interpretation of the Historical Park. 

16 (c) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary 

17 may consult and enter into cooperative agreements with 

18 interested entities and individuals to provide for the pres19 ervation, development, interpretation, and use of the His20 torical Park. 

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

22 628 (76 Stat. 428), regarding the establishment and ad23 ministration of the Edison National Historic Site, is re24 pealed. 
6

•HR 5377 IH 

1 (e) REFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, map, reg2 ulation, document, paper, or other record of the United 

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

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

5 Historical Park’’ . 

6 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as 

8 may be necessary to carry out this Act.

Æ