Legacy

The Legal Affairs category contains various documents connected with the activity of Tesla’s companies (Tesla Company, Nikola Tesla Company, Tesla Electric Company, Tesla Electric and Manufacturing Company, Tesla Electrotherapeutic Company, and Tesla Household Appliance Corporation) from the period from 1889 to 1935. Under this classification are personal tax, taxes and fees in Tesla’s name, workers’ tax declarations, correspondence about taxes, check stubs, notes on recording of vouchers, notes on accounts, numbered sheets torn from notebooks in which records were kept of payments to various companies and other related documents.

Among the financial documents are a large number of checks and checkbooks (Guaranty Trust Company of New York, The Chase National Bank of the City of New York, the Chatham National Bank, The Harriman National Bank) as well as the accounts kept with them. Also in this category are accounts from the hotels in which Tesla lived, money orders and similar documents. Some of these documents are:

A copy of the contract between the Westinghouse Electric Company and Nikola Tesla. On the back of the contract is written in black ink: “S.N. Kosanović, Tesla’s first contract with Westinghouse received from…” The contract was drawn up on July 27, 1889, and signed on August 2, 1889.

A draft of an agreement between J.P. Morgan and Nikola Tesla as president of the Nikola Tesla Company for the transfer of shares from March, 1906.

A draft of the founding document for the Tesla Electric and Manufacturing Company with the issuing of shares in the company.

Minutes of meetings of the Board of the Tesla Company Inc. Draft minutes from meetings of the Tesla Company Inc.: The draft minutes of the meetings of this company include: the first meeting of the directors, minutes from the meeting of the Board and minutes from shareholder meetings.

A list of shares of the Nikola Tesla Company.

A statement from Nikola Tesla concerning the sale of 500 shares of the Nikola Tesla Company to John Jacob Astor, January 10, 1899.

List of shareholders of the Nikola Tesla Company: John Jacob Astor, Edward Adams, William Crawford and Ernest Hopkinson.

Certificate of incorporation of the Tesla Company Inc., dated July 21, 1916.

Financial report of the Nikola Tesla Company, dated August 30, 1916.

Various contracts between Nikola Tesla or his companies and third parties on the use, protection or transfer of rights to some of Tesla’s registered patents.

Licenses – Signed authorizations through which some of Tesla’s companies assigned the use of Tesla’s patents to some other company or individual.

Litigation or Declarations signed in court – these documents are connected to various claims, contractual obligations or business of Tesla’s companies.