About The Author, Interviews & FAQs

Albion grew up in Maine with a great respect for the past. She has degrees from the University of Maine and George Washington University. Before becoming a writer, Albion worked at a number of museums including Fort Western Museum, The Maine State Museum, The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and The Edison and Ford Winter Estates.

While Curator at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, Albion was fascinated by both Thomas and Mina Edison.  The Florida Life of Thomas Edison was published in 2008. Her second, The Quotable Edison, was released in February 2011, and was a top 10 seller in its category before it was even being shipped.

Her third book, The Quotable Henry Ford is at the publisher.  While Albion has found both Edison and Ford fascinating, her next major project is on a significant American woman.

Interview with the Author

June 2009 interview with WGCU in Fort Myers, Florida.

http://wgcu.org/audioplayer/5807.aspx — Louis Hernandez interview

Note: Michele misspoke when she said Harvey Firestone was part of the 1914 camping trip. Firestone went camping with Edison on a number of occasions, but not in 1914.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. How long did it take you to write The Quotable Edison and The Florida Life of Thomas Edison?
    The research for The Florida Life of Thomas Edison took 9 years on and off and the writing took about two years. (Keep in mind that I had four children during that time and was home with them.) Thankfully, the research for The Quotable Edison was challenging, but didn\'t take as long; about two years.
  2. You are home with four kids and you still have time to write?
    I won’t deny that it’s extremely challenging. A few days a week I substitute in our local school system, so that\'s less time for writing. I also carve out hours before the kids wake up, after they’ve gone to bed or while they\'re in religious school or at swim team. (I confess a burning jealousy of writers who have great swaths of time to research and write!)
  3. You rely on literally hundreds of sources in both books. How did you find so many?
    I was fortunate that there are so many primary sources—first hand documents written during the time period—relating to the Edisons. The Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey has literally five million pages of documents. Many of those are on line. Other repositories were very kind in sharing their collections. Then there were private individuals who shared documents or oral histories. There were two items for The Florida Life of Thomas Edison I had a great deal of difficulty acquiring. One was a 1929 interview with Mina Edison by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas. The issue of McCalls Magainze was widely circulated but that particular issue seemed to be missing from most libraries. The second was an article by German historian Emil Ludwig. My brother found it for me in a library in Munich. I was fortunate that GoogleBooks came of age with The Quotable Edison. Not only does it render books searchable, the service has a wide variety of late 19th and early 20th century magazines. These magazines are often difficult to find in libraries because funding cuts have forced institutions to reduce their collections.
  4. Do you feel that you really get into the Edisons’ heads?
    I don’t think anyone really can get into Thomas Edison’s head—although both Paul Israel and Neil Baldwin have come close. He was an enigmatic character with a multi-faceted personality. He was very charismatic and knew how to play the press, but he very seldom recorded his personal feelings. He did write a diary, but it is pretentious, self-conscious and unfortunately short-lived, so it’s little help. Getting into Edison’s head is at best like grasping a hand full of sand. But, I think working on the Quotable Edison has helped me to get closer to understanding him. It\'s interesting to see how his mind works as he nuances a quote from year to year. He was a very smart and savvy man.
  5. What do your kids think of their mother writing a book?
    When I began writing professionally, my youngest two didn\'t completely understand. The idea that someone writes the books they read was a bit abstract. But, they\'re older now and it makes a little more sense. If I were ever to get a big head, my oldest two would rein in my ego. When I received the first Edison book jacket in the mail, my then 8 year-old son said, “Is that it? It took you long enough to write. I thought it was going to be an actual book or something.”
  6. How about your husband?
    Jim is my biggest booster, but sometimes he goes too far. I had to sit down and explain to him that I’m not going to sell as many books as Stephen King. It was quite the shock to him
  7. Do you plan to write about the Edisons in the future?
    No, actually after writing about Edison and Ford, I\'ve decided my next book will be a quotation book about a great American woman. But never fear, I\'m working on a fiction project and both Edison and Ford have bit roles.
  8. What are you working on now?
    THE QUOTABLE HENRY FORD is now at the publisher and I\'m working on that great American woman already. I\'m also dabbling in a fiction project with my wonderful writers\' group.
The Florida Life of Thomas Edison by Michele Wehrwein Albion is available at bookstores and through the University Press of Florida at

www.upf.com, Barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com.  The Quotable Edison will be released in February of 2011 and is currently available for pre-order.