A College of Electrical Science

Menlo Park, NJ: By the author, 1883. First Edition. Good. Broadside; 12 x 9 1/2; off-white stock, printed in black; fragile, with two small chips to left corners and several closed cuts to edges; good to very good condition.Published in April, 1883, at a pivotal point in the history of electricity and its applications, the circular would be reprinted in late June, 1883 in the "Electrical Review." Just months earlier, the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany had introduced the first course in Electrical Engineering in the world. In the US, the first (truncated) Electrical Engineering curriculum was created at MIT in 1882, in the Physics Department, although the first Department of Electrical Engineering and the first Electrical Engineering graduates were not produced until 1885 at Cornell University. The current broadside outlined, in great detail, the urgent need for an entire educational institution with various departments of Electrical Science. It pointed out that various technical colleges gave classes in matters. pertaining to electricity, but the studies were not nearly complete enough to satisfy the rising demand for such specialists. It also stated the fact that Menlo Park, New Jersey, home of Edison's laboratory, would be the perfect place to establish a college of electrical science. The circular ended with a description of the proposed, future institution, the promised investments in it by prominent gentlemen, and the possibilities for future inventors to develop new technologies under the best possible conditions. OCLC lists one variant copy at the Smithsonian; none in the trade. (Inventory #: 002511)