Bright Idea: Millburn Student Honored For Edison Project

MILLBURN, NJ - Millburn High School Thomas Beacham was honored last week in a special ceremony by the Essex County Freeholders at the Hall of Records in Newark for his research project to benefit the Thomas Edison National Historic Park in West Orange.

Beacham was granted special access to the private archives of the Park, and constructed a display that highlights Thomas Edison’s advocacy of industrial preparedness for military conflict, and the need to develop domestic sources for key strategic materials.

Beacham said:

"I recently completed a long-term project at Thomas Edison National Historic Park in West Orange, NJ to research, design and build an exhibit for public display. My exhibit covers a topic previously not addressed at the park in detail: the efforts of Thomas Edison to support the US war effort in and around World War I, including efforts to develop domestic sources of rubber and phenol as well as leading the Naval Consulting Board which developed important war technologies including antisubmarine listening devices, depth charges and airplane bombsights.

My project went through several phases, including determining a topic, researching the topic, providing leadership to volunteers I recruited to design and write the exhibit, and finally assembling the exhibit. I started out by creating a list of topics. Of these topics I initially chose
Edison’s research on rubber because I thought the museum could benefit from an examination of a less talked about aspect of Edison’s work. While reading books and historical articles on his rubber research, I found that he was involved in numerous other activities which were related to military preparedness.

Through my research, I discovered that Edison was a reliable advocate for industrial preparedness for military conflict, and that he recognized the necessity of developing domestic sources of key strategic materials. Because of this work, I decided to broaden my exhibit to cover Edison’s broader contributions to military preparedness. I was granted special access to the private archives of the park to conduct research and identify artifacts for display. I identified and reviewed numerous secondary sources. Volunteers assisted in drafting text about the artifacts and constructing the exhibit. At the end of the project, I designed and implemented an entire display case full of artifacts, information, and stories to communicate my chosen theme, and presented my findings to friends, family, and the public.

My project was not easy to complete. I even faced difficulty in being approved to volunteer at the Park because I was under the age of 18. My first contact person at the site rejected my offer to volunteer because of a long-established park policy. It was only after I tried again and again by writing letters, emails and phone calls that I was able to convince someone at the site to advocate for me. Before I could start work, the project had to receive special approval from the board of the national historic park because of my age.

The exhibit is currently on display at the park and I plan to continue to volunteer there over the summer as a tour guide."

His exhibit is currently on view at the Thomas Edison National Historic Park and the Freeholders said it exemplifies his hard work, time and energy.

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