Nikola Tesla FBI Files - Page 28

Leland I. Anderson
127 Seymour Avenue Southeast
Minneapolis 14, Minnesota

February 12, 1953

Dear Mr. Scherff,

It was so very rewarding to receive your reply concerning Dr. Nikola Tesla... I have initiated an undertaking on behalf of Tesla because I feel that in all right and justice something should be done to perpetuate the name of Tesla and see to it that his name becomes a part of the heritage of this nation. A great task perhaps, but as time goes on I believe the name of Tesla will become more significant in scientific developments. I hope that you may have an interest in the organization which. I have proposed and established, and I will be honored to have you as a member. The organization is presently set up on the basis of those having a mutual interest in Tesla, with a free exchange of information between members. The first two issues of the journal of the organization are being sent to you under separate cover, and should reach you in a day or two.

Some other members which may be of interest to you are; Muriel Arbus, Dorothy Skerritt, Kenneth Swezey and W. W. Wilhelm. The recent deaths of John O'Neill and Edwin Armstrong were very unexpected, and it is with a great sadness that I received the news and loss of these two members.

Do you know if Mr. Lowenstien had a daughter? The reason I ask is that a woman visited Mr. O'Neill before his death and told him that she inherited a great amount of Tesliana from her father - whom I presume to be Mr. Lowenstien. This woman was a afraid of disclosing the information by reason of her mistaken notion and fear that she would rudely be raided by the army. You see Mr. O’Neill related to her that a few army officials visited his home with insistent requests for information. Of course all this sort of government interest was aroused by Tesla's "Death-Ray" rumors, played up by enterprising journalists. Well, the result of all this is that she refused to give Mr. O'Neill her married name - only that she married a Siamese prince no less, and moved to some mid-western city. If this woman has the amount of material that Mr. O'Neill intimated, it would certainly be important to locate her.

I believe that one of the valuable efforts of the Tesla organization would be to catalog every piece of information Tesla. I have made a beginning effort along this line, and I hope that before too long all collections of Tesliana may be located, cataloged, and reproduced for fear of eventual loss. Thrown Mary A. Benjamin (of Walter R. Benjamin Autographs in New York) I have obtained a number of significant items of correspondence between Tesla and Robert U. Johnson. The entire collection of correspondence with Mr. Johnson numbers in excess of 70 places. I share this collection with Mrs.