Edison and Bell Inventions that Changed the World

Alexander Graham Bell March 3, 1847, Edinburgh—died Aug. 2, 1922 In 1876, at the age of 29, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. In 1877, he formed the Bell Telephone Company, and in the same year married Mabel Hubbard and embarked on a yearlong honeymoon in Europe.

Bell’s Phone Patent

Other Bell Ideas

Thomas Alva Edison One of the most famous and prolific inventors of all time, Thomas Alva Edison exerted a tremendous influence on modern life, contributing inventions such as the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, as well as improving the telegraph and telephone.

Edison Light Bulb Patent

What types of documents are these? What are the dates of the documents? Who wrote the documents, and what is their purpose? Primary Source Documents What information in the documents helps you understand why they were written?

What can you deduce about the process of applying for a patent from these two documents? What makes them legal documents as opposed to merely personal requests? Why was a drawing a necessary part of the application process? Are the drawings done to scale? Why are parts of each invention numbered and lettered? Primary Source Documents

Serve as first hand evidence from the past. Letters, diaries, court documents, and objects that were used by the people being studied, and buildings where the people lived are all examples of primary source documents. After gathering evidence from primary sources, the historian creates a secondary source by writing about the findings, analyzing them, or putting them together into a story about the past. Martha Ballard’s diary is a primary source. Laurel Ulrich’s book about Martha Ballard’s diary is a secondary source. Primary Source Documents

When Working with Primary Source Documents: First Ask These Questions When trying to gather evidence from a primary source, first try to answer these basic questions. (You may not have enough information to do so.) What is it? Who wrote or made it? When was it written or made? Where was it written or made? How was it written or made? What evidence does this source contribute to my research?

Then Ask, What Is The Meaning of This Primary Source? Why was this document/object written or made? Who was the intended audience/user? What questions does this source raise? What don’t we know about this source? What other information do we have about this document or object? What other sources are like this one?

What other sources might help answer our questions about this one? What else do we need to know in order to understand the evidence in this source? What have others said about this or similar sources? How does this source help me to answer my research question? How does evidence from this source alter or fit into existing interpretations of the past?

What else do we need to know in order to understand the evidence in this source? What have others said about this or similar sources? How does this source help me to answer my research question? How does evidence from this source alter or fit into existing interpretations of the past?