National Park Service LogoU.S. Department of the InteriorNational Park ServiceNational Park Service
National Park Service: U.S. Department of the InteriorNational Park Service Arrowhead
 
 
Find a National Park Near You
Thomas Edison National Historical Park Thomas Edison's Laboratory Complex as it was about 1900.
view map
text size: largest larger normal
printer friendly
Thomas Edison National Historical Park
Online Games
Black and white photograph from 1929 of a replica of Thomas Edison's first working lightbulb.

NPS Photo

Replica of Thomas Edison's first working lightbulb.

Be an Inventor  

See if you can invent like Edison

Explore Edison's Laboratory Complex and see how Thomas Edison had a room or building for various steps of his invention process.

Can you pick out the right material for the lightbulb filament? Can you pick out the right shape? Play the game and see if YOU can build a working lightbulb.

How hard can inventing be? See if you can make the right decisions to steer the Edison Team to successfully invent the motion picture camera.

Be a WebRanger!
You can be a Junior Ranger even if you are not able to visit a national park. You can become a member of a growing group of young people who are interested in the world around them and involved with their nation's heritage...The WebRangers! To become a WebRanger go to www.nps.gov/webrangers. Play the Finding Edison adventure here.

 
Thomas Edison taking notes in his chemistry lab.

NPS Photo

Thomas Edison taking notes in his chemistry lab.

The Edison Test
 
If you wanted to work as an executive for Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated in the early 1920s, you had to pass a test.  Edison himself chose the questions, which ranged from geography to astronomy to economics to fiction to history.  The inventor believed that an intelligent, well educated person should know most of the answers.  After all, he knew them and he had never been to college.  In fact, he had mostly been home schooled by his mother!
 
 
Edison Mental Fitness Test

You are exiting the National Park Service website

Thank you for visiting our site.

You will now be redirected to:

We hope your visit was informative and enjoyable.
Thomas and Mina Edison with Madeleine, Charles and Theodore.

Did You Know?
Did you know that Thomas Edison had six children? Marion, Thomas Jr., whom Thomas called Dot and Dash after his telegraph work, and William Leslie, from his first marriage to Mary Stillwell. Madeleine, Charles, and Theodore from his second marriage to Mina Miller.
more...
Disclaimer Accessibility Privacy Policy FOIA Notices USA.gov

Last Updated: October 27, 2011 at 08:44 MST