Details

Bound volume of notes and correspondence in two portions: First half is copies of letters by Ernest Merz on their visit to North America to view power stations and other electrical undertakings but which also included a holiday element in a trip to the Grand Canyon, and San Francisco. The notes include many comments on life in America and Canada in comparison with England, a comparison of university life after a visit to Chicago University, Ernest also mentions Charles' visits to electrical undertakings, and the people whom he met. Cities visited include New York, Montreal, Quebec (while Charles went to Ottawa), Toronto, Niagara Falls, Chicago, the Grand Canyon, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, Denver, Indianapolis, Ross, Pittsburgh, Washington, New Haven and back to New York. Electrical undertakings visited included the De Forest Wireless Telegraphy station in Montreal, electric lighting stations in Chicago with Mr Insull, power stations in San Bernardino, electric suburban lines in Indianapolis, the Westinghouse works at Pittsburgh, power stations at Niagara Falls, the General Electric works at Schenectady. At the end of the volume are some letters from Ernest Merz to Charles Merz inserted by Charles after Ernest's death in 1909. A MS note by Charles Merz, dated 25 September 1910 reads 'The following letters are mainly inserted here for convenience - they are, I think, all that I kept of his -' There is a newspaper cutting of a poem entitled 'A Life' taken from the Spectator, and 12 letters dated from 25 February 1902 to 28 September 1908.