Heitz, 59, a retired pharmaceutical biologist, has spent almost 30 years collecting and restoring Edison memorabilia. From shiny phonograph horns and lightbulbs powered by a hand-cranked motor to the world's first incarnation of a photocopying machine, Heitz's barn is a wall-to-wall testimonial to the inventor's genius.
Heitz would like to share his private collection with the world. Yet many local residents are unaware it is there.
"You could pass his house and never know," said John Hauf, president of the Upper Makefield Historical Society. Hauf, who has lived two miles from the collection for the last six years, learned of the collection only last month.
Those who visit discover the fruits of Heitz's long fascination with the inventor.
The thousands of machines, documents and photos that make up his "Edison Connection" began with an impulsive purchase at a Minnesota farm auction.
It was the early 1970s, and Heitz was an impoverished student doing postdoctoral work at the Mayo Clinic. He and his wife went to the auction looking for practical bargains, but when the auctioneer held up an Edison Amberola 30 phonograph, a reflex forced his hand up.
Knowing cash was tight, his wife did everything she could to force her husband's hand down.
"She was doing chin-ups on my arm, pull-ups on my arm," he recalled.
Yet his hand stayed high.
The price climbed to $30, and the phonograph was sold to the man who would soon find his lifelong hobby.
Heitz restored the phonograph to working condition, with the help of a retired Edison "jobber" who had spent his career in Minnesota selling phonographs for the Edison Co. of Menlo Park, N.J.
Heitz acquired the rest in the pre-Internet age. His search for artifacts took him across the country and the world, to photo shows, camera shows, book shows, music shows, and even to encounters in airport parking lots with people who wanted to get rid of attic junk.
