Brooklyn Edison Company, Edison Wonder House Records
name: label: Creator
content: Brooklyn Edison Company
label: Donor
content: Hall, Gretchen T.
topic: label: Topic
content: Electric lighting
label: Topic
content: Electricity
label: Topic
content: Electric apparatus and appliances
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Gretchen T. Hall in 2011.
creator: label: Creator
content: Brooklyn Edison Company
setName: label: See more items in
content: Brooklyn Edison Company, Edison Wonder House Records
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection consists of newspaper clippings, a guidebook titled Edison Wonder House, and photographs documenting the Edison Wonder House, a demonstration home created by the Brooklyn Edison Company in 1936 to showcase the wonders of electricity.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: The Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Brooklyn was founded in 1887 to provide electricity to the homes and businesses of Brooklyn. it merged in 1919 with Kings County Electric Light and Power Company to form Brooklyn Edison. Brooklyn Edison merged with Consolidated Edison and other companies between 1936 and 1960.

In the early 1930s, the Brooklyn Edison Company created a 10 room house called the Edison Wonder House in the lobby of its showroom at Pearl Street in Brooklyn, New York. The house demonstrated the possibilities of electricity in the home. The demonstration home was not intended to be copied, but to provide future homeowners with ideas. Some special features of the house included lighting that was a sight saver, unusual clocks, a built-in aquarium, and a magic door that opened through the operation of an electrical eye. 

The architect of the Wonder House was Albert Hart Hopkins of Buffalo, New York.  Hopkins practiced architecture with Edward B. Green and Sons in Buffalo.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.15 Cubic feet ((1 box))
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1936
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1237
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Articles
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Guidebooks
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged topically.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Alison Oswald, archivist, July, 2011.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Articles -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Guidebooks -- 1930-1940
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection consists of newspaper clippings, a guidebook titled Edison Wonder House, and photographs documenting the Edison Wonder House, a demonstration home created by the Brooklyn Edison Company in 1936 to showcase the wonders of electricity. 

There are ten 8" x 10" black-and-white photographs that depict the interior of the Wonder House.  All of the photographs were taken by the Brooklyn Edison Company, Inc., with the exception of one which was taken by the General Electric Company. There is one 11" x 17" photograph that depicts the hostesses/guides/ who conducted tours explaining the features of the home. The photograph is annotated with the names of all sixteen women.

The guide titled The Edison Wonder House, details by home section (entrance, bathroom, kitchen, living room, and so on) the comforts of electricity. Included is a supplemental insert listing the cooperating firms that provided the building materials and accessories.  The stick figure Reddy Kilowatt features prominently in the guide. Reddy Kilowatt was a cartoon figure trademark created in 1926 by Ashton B. Collins, Sr. More than 150 investor-owned electric utilities in the United States and at least twelve foreign countries licensed the use of the Reddy Kilowatt trademark.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials in the Archives Center

Reddy Kilowatt Records (AC0913)

Louisan E. Mamer Rural Electrification Administration Papers (AC0862)

Materials in the National Museum of American History, Division of Work and Industry

Brooklyn Edison Company Collection, 1926-1935

Collection contains annual reports of the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Brooklyn Edison Company, photographs, drawings, and graphs; and a 1926 pamphlet on the Hell Gate and Sherman Creek Generating Stations of the United Electric Light and Power Company.