Toledo Edison Company records

The records of the Toledo Edison Company, and its predecessor companies in particular, offer a comprehensive view at the history of the development and growth of the electric industry in America in the 20th century. Covering both the development of electric companies (in particular, the Toledo Railways and Light Company) and their role in public transportation and the eventual development of larger-scale nuclear powered electric plants, this collection provides an early history of Toledo Edison's growth.

The earliest records in this collection, the ones covering Toledo Railways and Light (as well as companies that were purchased by Toledo Railways and Light) are of particular interest and provide an illustration of a surprisingly broad spectrum of subjects. Included in this collection are descriptions of the issue of labor and unions in America in the early 20th century, business conditions in Toledo in the early 20th century, the development of amateur and professional baseball in both Toledo and the United States, World War I and its affect on companies and citizens in Toledo, the financial and industrial organization of early-20th century corporations, the types and functions of early automobiles (as well as modern road systems), and a slight illustration of politics in Toledo in the early 1900s. In addition, there is a wealth of information about the daily operations of a railway company that covers a variety of issues including employment and customer service as well as billing and engineering.

The early part of the collection also contains both personal and professional correspondence of Frank R. Coates, a prominent citizen in Toledo in the early 1900s who was president of Toledo Railways and Light. As it pertained to the streetcar system in providing destinations for customers outside the normal workday, it also contains correspondence related to the procurement of entertainment acts which performed at the Toledo Beach from 1908 to 1921.

The later part of this collection offers a more scatter-shot view of Toledo Edison's development into a modern power company. A large portion of this part of the collection consists of various audits on companies owned by Toledo Edison and Toledo Edison itself, as well as financial statements and annual reports, primarily in published rather than manuscript material. There are also a number of packets of the Toledo Edison News and a variety of other publications related to the utilities industry. Several biographies of prominent Toledo Edison employees are included as well.

Of particular interest in this part of the collection may be the variety of photographs, mostly dealing with construction and operation of plants and Toledo Edison employees.

Encompassing approximately 25 linear feet of material and spanning more than 120 years of the history of Toledo Edison and its preceding companies, this collection is particularly useful in the detail it gives about the organization, equipment, operation, business and political climates that the Toledo Railway and Light Company existed in, highlighting the interconnected and extensive system of public transportation at the time. It is also valuable in the glimpse it provides about labor in America in the early 20th century.

However, the larger part of the collection, detailing the later evolution of the company, would seem to be of little interest except to those attempting to give a picture of the financial composition of Toledo Edison. Correspondence and other details amply provided in the first part of the collection are noticeably lacking in the second, more contemporary part. The most recent records, those dating from 1991 forward, are either missing or scantly represented. Many of the most important parts of Toledo Edison's most recent history, those dealing with mergers and acquisitions, are not in the collection.