Computers & Business Machines

Imagine the loss, 100 years from now, if museums hadn't begun preserving the artifacts of the computer age. The last few decades offer proof positive of why museums must collect continuously—to document technological and social transformations already underway.

The museum's collections contain mainframes, minicomputers, microcomputers, and handheld devices. Computers range from the pioneering ENIAC to microcomputers like the Altair and the Apple I. A Cray2 supercomputer is part of the collections, along with one of the towers of IBM's Deep Blue, the computer that defeated reigning champion Garry Kasparov in a chess match in 1997. Computer components and peripherals, games, software, manuals, and other documents are part of the collections. Some of the instruments of business include adding machines, calculators, typewriters, dictating machines, fax machines, cash registers, and photocopiers

Some early manufacturers of electronic calculators had their beginnings as makers of photographic equipment. One of these was the Keystone Division of Berkey Photo, Inc. Keystone Camera Company traced its origins to a company founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in1910.
Description
Some early manufacturers of electronic calculators had their beginnings as makers of photographic equipment. One of these was the Keystone Division of Berkey Photo, Inc. Keystone Camera Company traced its origins to a company founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in1910. Early products included movie cameras and projectors. In 1966, Berkey Photo, Inc. acquired Keystone. By 1973, the Keystone Camera Division of Berkey, with its factory in Clifton, New Jersey, had expanded to making instant-load cameras with electronic flash. It also, from late 1972 until at least 1975, made handheld electronic calculators.
The Atlas-Rand 240 calculator resembles one of the first handheld calculators mentioned as a product of Berkey-Keystone. It has a black plastic case, a metal keyboard and trim, and eighteen plastic keys. The keys are square with circular tops. In addition to ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a total key, four arithmetic function keys, and a cancel key, the calculator has a percentage key. Buttons left of the percentage key can be used to set a constant and to set the display for numbers or dollars and cents. The on/off switch is above the keys. Behind it is an eight-digit display. A mark above the keyboard reads: Atlas-Rand. Text along the front edge reads: Made in U S A 240. The socket for a power adapter as at the back edge.
A sticker on the back of the calculator gives operating instructions. It is marked at the bottom: Keystone (/) PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY 07652 SERIAL # C058728. A compartment in the back holds four batteries.
The calculator has a black plastic zippered carrying case.
Prices for this calculator range from $119.95 in 1973 down to $29.95 in 1975.
Compare 1986.0988.366.
References:
“New Products,” Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1973, p. W A13. Here the Berkey-Keystone calculator shown, which features four arithmetic functions and a percentage key, is said to cost $119.95.
[Advertisement], Los Angeles Times, August 24, 1974, p. C4. Ad describes calculator, gives price of $49.95. Mentions credit card promotion mentioned again in 1975.
[Advertisement], Los Angeles Times, March 1, 1975, p. D12 . Ad describes calculator. Part of text reads “Thousands of these calculators were sold in 1974 by a major oil company in a credit card promotion for $99.95.” Device on sale for $29.95.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1973-1975
maker
Keystone
ID Number
1986.0988.368
catalog number
1986.0988.368
accession number
1986.0988
After achieving some success selling four-function calculators, the Keystone Division of Berkey Photo, Inc., began to manufacture calculators with more extensive capabilities.
Description
After achieving some success selling four-function calculators, the Keystone Division of Berkey Photo, Inc., began to manufacture calculators with more extensive capabilities. This handheld electronic calculator has a plastic case and trim, a metal keyboard painted black, and thirty plastic keys with a square base and circular tops. The four lower rows of keys include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a key for the number pi, four arithmetic function keys, a total key, a cancel key, a change sign key, and a memory key. Two rows of function keys above this are for trigonometric and inverse trigonometric functions, exchange, exponents, natural logarithms, powers, logarithms to the base 10, and square roots. Above this is a charging indicator light, a radian/degree switch, and an on/off switch. The socket for a power jack is on the right side near the top.
A mark above the keyboard reads: Keystone SC 656. Behind this is a nine-digit vacuum fluorescent display. Behind this, attached to the back edge, is a holder for a loop that makes it possible to suspend the calculator. The loop itself is missing. A mark on the front edge reads: Made in U S A.
A sticker on the back gives instructions. Text at the bottom reads: Berkey (/) 2 Keystone Place (/) Paramus, New Jersey 07652 Serial # C251556.
Compare 1986.0988.365.
Berkey Keystone began selling calculators in 1972, and was out of the business by 1977. This calculator appears to be a relatively late example, hence the rough date.
Reference:
Victor K. McElheny, “Berkey – A Photo Finish in a Race with Giants,” New York Times, April 17, 1977, p. F1.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1975
maker
Berkey Photo, Inc. Keystone Division
ID Number
1986.0988.159
catalog number
1986.0988.159
accession number
1986.0988
This beige electronic cash register has a printing mechanism, an LED display, and a separate, locked cash drawer with a broken key. The interior of the register is accessible and includes a number of circuit boards, the printer mechanism, wires, and fuses.
Description
This beige electronic cash register has a printing mechanism, an LED display, and a separate, locked cash drawer with a broken key. The interior of the register is accessible and includes a number of circuit boards, the printer mechanism, wires, and fuses. Two circuit boards are covered in plastic and one had double-stick tape and foam attached to it to block the heat of the power source. A disintegrating foam panel is in the front of the unit. Paper and a print cartridge are still in the machine.
A tag on the top front of the machine reads: MKDBantam. A Hayman Cash Register Co. sticker is below this. The register has serial number 940561.
MKD Corporation, formed in 1972, sold both point-of-sale terminals and low-cost electronic cash registers.
Reference:
Creative Strategies International, Retail Automation to 1983, San Jose: Creative Strategies International, 1980, esp. p. 111.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1975
maker
MKD Corporation
ID Number
2002.0281.02
accession number
2002.0281
catalog number
2002.0281.02
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1978
ID Number
2012.3098.107
catalog number
2012.3098.107
nonaccession number
2012.3098
This is one of the first successful printouts of a program written in the computer programming language COBOL. After COBOL was proposed and described in 1959, programmers at Remington Rand Univac and at RCA wrote compilers that translated COBOL commands into machine language.
Description
This is one of the first successful printouts of a program written in the computer programming language COBOL. After COBOL was proposed and described in 1959, programmers at Remington Rand Univac and at RCA wrote compilers that translated COBOL commands into machine language. They also wrote test programs to demonstrate the language. Like later COBOL programs , this one was divided into four sections.
The first identified the program and gave the name of the programmer. The second section, called the environment division, presented information about the specific machine used, such as the computer model, and locations to be used for different files. The third, or procedure, division was independent of the computer. It gave a series of statements about what the machine was to do. Although commands resemble ordinary English, the words used had very specific definitions and equations could be written using mathematical symbols. Finally, the data division defined the information to be processed. This data was entered so that it could be used in several programs, as in later database management systems. Successfully compiling a program produced a printout with each of these sections, as well as a listing of the desired results.
This printout of the first successful COBOL compilation at RCA relates to inventory control. One page is marked in ink: Good output – 8/17/60 (/) (isn’t it beautiful) (/) not really [the not really is crossed out] (/) well almost.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960
maker
RCA Corporation
ID Number
2010.3050.1
catalog number
2010.3050.1
nonaccession number
2010.3050
In February of 2006, computer scientist Jim Reeds of Princeton, New Jersey, sent Stanford professor emeritus of computer science Donald Knuth two electronic messages pointing out flaws in the third edition of the second volume Knuth's book The Art of Computer Programming.
Description
In February of 2006, computer scientist Jim Reeds of Princeton, New Jersey, sent Stanford professor emeritus of computer science Donald Knuth two electronic messages pointing out flaws in the third edition of the second volume Knuth's book The Art of Computer Programming. As was his custom, Knuth printed out the messages and penciled in his comments. Knuth found one error sufficiently significant to award Reeds a check for 32 cents. He mailed the printouts of the messages with the check to Reeds in Princeton. These materials constitute object 2012.0251.01. Reeds drafted a reply to Knuth on another printout of one of his messages. This consitutes 2012.0251.02. According to Reeds, this message was not sent.
For related materials, see 2012.0251.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
2006
ID Number
2012.0251.02
catalog number
2012.0251.02
accession number
2012.0251
Alfred Vail made this key, believed to be from the first Baltimore-Washington telegraph line, as an improvement on Samuel Morse's original transmitter.
Description
Alfred Vail made this key, believed to be from the first Baltimore-Washington telegraph line, as an improvement on Samuel Morse's original transmitter. Vail helped Morse develop a practical system for sending and receiving coded electrical signals over a wire, which was successfully demonstrated in 1844.
Morse's telegraph marked the arrival of instant long-distance communication in America. The revolutionary technology excited the public imagination, inspiring predictions that the telegraph would bring about economic prosperity, national unity, and even world peace.
Date made
1844
used date
1844
demonstrator
Morse, Samuel Finley Breese
Vail, Alfred
maker
Vail, Alfred
Morse, Samuel Finley Breese
ID Number
EM.181411
catalog number
181411
accession number
31652
This hardcover book has a green, black, white and and turquoise cover. It was published in 1963 by Rutgers University Press of New Brunswick, New Jersey.Currently not on view
Description
This hardcover book has a green, black, white and and turquoise cover. It was published in 1963 by Rutgers University Press of New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1963
ID Number
2013.3049.04
nonaccession number
2013.3049
catalog number
2013.3049.04
This object consists of a printout on fanfold paper and two related cassette tapes. The printout is in an orange paper binder.
Description
This object consists of a printout on fanfold paper and two related cassette tapes. The printout is in an orange paper binder. These relate to an electronic mail program Shiva Ayyadurai developed as a high school student working for the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The program is dated 20 August 1982, a loose sheet of printout paper at the front is dated 1 June, 1984.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1982
maker
Ayyadurai, Shiva
ID Number
2012.3026.01
catalog number
2012.3026.01
nonaccession number
2012.3026
Some early manufacturers of electronic calculators began as makers of photographic equipment. One of these was the Keystone Division of Berkey Photo, Inc. Keystone Camera Company traced its origins to a company founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1910.
Description
Some early manufacturers of electronic calculators began as makers of photographic equipment. One of these was the Keystone Division of Berkey Photo, Inc. Keystone Camera Company traced its origins to a company founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1910. Early products included movie cameras and projectors. In 1966, Berkey Photo, Inc. acquired Keystone. By 1973, the Keystone Camera Division of Berkey, with its factory in Clifton, New Jersey, had expanded to making instant-load cameras with electronic flash. It also, from late 1972 until at least 1975, made handheld electronic calculators.
The Keystone 390 handheld electronic calculator has a black plastic case with gray trim, a metal keyboard, and twenty plastic keys. The keys are square with circular tops. In addition to ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a total key, four arithmetic function keys, and a cancel key, the calculator has a percentage key and two memory keys. Buttons above the keyboard can be used to set the display for numbers or dollars and cents and to turn on the memory. A mark next to these reads: Keystone (/) 390.
At the back is an eight-digit display. Text along the front edge reads: Made in U S A. The socket for a power adapter and the on/off switch are at the back edge.
A sticker on the back of the calculator gives operating instructions. It is marked at the bottom: Keystone (/) PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY 07652 SERIAL #C174364. The calculator has a black plastic zippered carrying case. A cloth tag on the inside reads: MADE IN TAIWAN.
Advertisements list the price of the calculator as $107.95 (1973) down to $47.50 (1974).
Compare 1986.0988.368.
References:
[Advertisement], New York Times, September 15, 1973, p. 15. Ad lists Berkey Keystone calculators #350, #370, #390, and #395. Model 390 is on sale for $107.95.
[Advertisement], New York Times, March 30, 1974, p. 64. Ad lists Berkey Keystone calculators #350, #370, #390, and #395. Model 390 is on sale for $107.95.
[Advertisement], New York Times, September 8, 1974, p. 153. Ad lists Berkey Keystone calculators #350, #370, #390, and #395. Model 390 on sale for $69.50.
[Advertisement], New York Times, November 17, 1974, p. 193. Ad lists Berkey Keystone calculators #350, #370, #390, #395, #2030, 2040, and #2050. The ad indicates that the Model 390 is on sale for $47.50.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1973-1974
maker
Keystone
ID Number
1986.0988.366
catalog number
1986.0988.366
accession number
1986.0988
The IAS Computer was named for the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. The computer was built from 1946 to 1951 at the Institute under the direction of John von Neumann, a mathematics professor at both Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study.
Description
The IAS Computer was named for the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. The computer was built from 1946 to 1951 at the Institute under the direction of John von Neumann, a mathematics professor at both Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. Funds for the computer came from the Institute, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and several military agencies of the U.S. Government. It cost several hundred thousand dollars. The goal of developing the IAS was to make digital computer designs more practical and efficient.
For further information about the computer, see Willis H. Ware. The History and Development of the Electronic Computer Project at the Institute for Advanced Study (1953). This is available online.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1946-1951
director
von Neumann, John
previous owner
Institute for Advanced Study
maker
von Neumann, John
Institute for Advanced Study
ID Number
CI.320250.01
catalog number
320250
accession number
220575
This paperback book has a black, tan, teal and orange cover. Written by Nick Hampshire, it gives program listings for graphics programs that ran on a VIC microcomputer. The book is not annotated. A price printed on the back indicates that it sold for $12.95.
Description
This paperback book has a black, tan, teal and orange cover. Written by Nick Hampshire, it gives program listings for graphics programs that ran on a VIC microcomputer. The book is not annotated. A price printed on the back indicates that it sold for $12.95. The book is signed in ink on the title page: Jeffrey T. Vogel (/) Pentagon Books (/) April 8, 1983. It is not annotated otherwise.
The book was received with a VIC 20 microcomputer, 1987.0249.02.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1982
maker
Hayden Book Company, Inc.
ID Number
1987.3049.03
catalog number
1987.3049.03
nonaccession number
1987.3049
COBOL was one of the first programming languages designed to run on computers built by several different manufacturers.
Description
COBOL was one of the first programming languages designed to run on computers built by several different manufacturers. In December 1960 programmers at Remington Rand UNIVAC and at RCA successfully ran the same COBOL test programs on a Univac II and an RCA 501 computer.
This is the printout from the RCA demonstration. It contains two programs. One produces a profit and loss report for a corporation. It is a modification of a program developed by Warren G. Simmons of US Steel for a UNIVAC II.
According to the printout, the actual program used in the test was written by J. Farinelli. This was probably programmer Joseph D. Farinelli of US Steel. The second program, which computes cash sales and credit balances, was written by Carl H. Thorne Jr. of the General Services Administration for an RCA computer.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960
maker
RCA Corporation
ID Number
2010.3050.2
catalog number
2010.3050.2
nonaccession number
2010.3050
After achieving some success selling four-function calculators, the Keystone Division of Berkey Photo, Inc., began to manufacture calculators with more extensive capabilities.
Description
After achieving some success selling four-function calculators, the Keystone Division of Berkey Photo, Inc., began to manufacture calculators with more extensive capabilities. This handheld electronic calculator has a plastic case and trim, a metal keyboard painted black, and thirty plastic keys with a square base and circular tops. The four lower rows of keys include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a key for the number pi, four arithmetic function keys, a total key, a cancel key, a change sign key, and a memory key. Two rows of function keys above this are for trigonometric and inverse trigonometric functions, exchange, exponents, natural logarithms, powers, logarithms to the base 10, and square roots. Above these are low power and charging indicator lights, a radian/degree switch, and an on/off switch. The socket for a power jack is on the right side near the top.
A mark above the keyboard reads: Berkey 4030. Behind this is a nine-digit vacuum fluorescent display. Behind this, attached to the back edge, is a loop that makes it possible to suspend the calculator. A mark on the front edge reads: Made in U S A.
A sticker on the back gives instructions. Text at the bottom reads: Berkey (/) 2 Keystone Place (/) Paramus, New Jersey 07652 Serial # C223502.
Received in a brown leather carrying case with a loop on the back and two loops at the top. The case is stamped: Berkey. It has a pouch for an instruction booklet, but no such booklet.
Compare 1986.0988.159.
Reference:
[Advertisement], New York Times, June 2, 1974. “New Berkey 4030” advertised as selling for a special price of $154.50.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1974
maker
Keystone
ID Number
1986.0988.365
catalog number
1986.0988.365
accession number
1986.0988
This control panel is a small part of a very large programmable calculator built by Bell Telephone Laboratories of New York for the U.S. Army. By the mid-twentieth century, improving communications required complicated calculations.
Description
This control panel is a small part of a very large programmable calculator built by Bell Telephone Laboratories of New York for the U.S. Army. By the mid-twentieth century, improving communications required complicated calculations. In order to improve the clarity and range of long distance voice signals, George Stibitz, a research mathematician at Bell Labs, needed to do calculations using complex numbers. Stibitz and Bell Labs engineer Sam Williams completed a machine for this purpose in 1939–it later was called the Bell Labs Model I. With the outbreak of World War II, Stibitz and Bell Labs turned their attention to calculations related to the aiming and firing of antiaircraft guns. Stibitz proposed a new series of relay calculators that could be programmed by paper tape to do more than one kind of calculation. The BTL Model 5 was the result. The machine consisted of 27 standard telephone relay racks and assorted other equipment. It had over 9000 relays, a memory capacity of 30 7-digit decimal numbers, and took about a second to multiply 2 numbers together. Two copies of the machine were built. This one was used by the U.S. Army for ballistics work at Aberdeen, Maryland and then at Fort Bliss, Texas. Machines that used relays were reliable, but slower than those using vacuum tubes, and soon gave way to electronic computers.
Location
Currently on loan
Date made
1947
maker
Bell Telephone Laboratories
ID Number
1987.0821.01
accession number
1987.0821
catalog number
1987.0821.01
This cream-colored eighty-column punch card has round corners and is truncated in the upper left corner. It has on it what appears to be a duck wearing a jersey marked "KU". Text printed right of this reads: COMPUTATION (/) CENTER.
Description
This cream-colored eighty-column punch card has round corners and is truncated in the upper left corner. It has on it what appears to be a duck wearing a jersey marked "KU". Text printed right of this reads: COMPUTATION (/) CENTER. Text along the bottom edge at the left reads: NECS/WIC-282. The logo is that of the University of Kansas.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960s-1970s
maker
Jersey Tab Card Corporation
ID Number
1996.0142.24
catalog number
1996.0142.24
accession number
1996.0142
This cream-colored eighty-column punch card has an orange stripe across the top. It shows the logo of the MIT Information Processing Center. A mark along the left edge reads: INFORMATION PROCESSING CENTER. A mark along the right edge reads: MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY.
Description
This cream-colored eighty-column punch card has an orange stripe across the top. It shows the logo of the MIT Information Processing Center. A mark along the left edge reads: INFORMATION PROCESSING CENTER. A mark along the right edge reads: MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. A mark along the bottom edge at the left reads: JTC73752. A mark along the bottom edge toward the right reads: Printed in U.S.A.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960s-1970s
user
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
maker
Jersey Tab Card Corporation
ID Number
1996.0142.26
catalog number
1996.0142.26
accession number
1996.0142
This transistorized unit was used to read, write, and erase binary characters on mylar-based magnetic tape for entry into the RCA 501 computer. The central rack assembly has components for reading, writing, and erasing magnetic tape.
Description
This transistorized unit was used to read, write, and erase binary characters on mylar-based magnetic tape for entry into the RCA 501 computer. The central rack assembly has components for reading, writing, and erasing magnetic tape. These include a tape transport mechanism, amplifiers, control circuits, and a power supply. This example has a single tape reel.
The rack assembly fits into a specially built cabinet, from which it could be removed. In this instance the cabinet is painted blue-gray and white. Each RCA 501 computer had at least 6 tape stations. Depending on the components selected, the entire computer system rented for $11,700 to $20,445 per month. Should a business choose to buy the system, the list price of one magnetic tape station alone was $25,000 – $30,000. This is over twice the price of a typical American single family house at the time.
The tape station is marked on the inside at the center toward the top: R58111. It is marked on the inside of the lower portion of the cabinet: RCA (/) MI SER 1515 (/) RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA. A plaque attached to the right side of the cabinet is marked : UNIVAC SPERRY RAND (/) SERIES 70. The form of the Sperry Rand trademark on the plaque was, according to trademark records, first used in commerce in 1967.
References:
"Tape Station," RCA 501 Electronic Data Processing System, Catalog EDP 581, Camden, N.J.: Radio Corporation of America, 1958.
Martin H. Weik, "A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems," Aberdeen Proving Ground: Ballistics Research Laboratories, March, 1961, pp. 778-803.
U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Historical Census of Housing Tables Home Values. Available online.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
after 1961
maker
RCA Corporation
ID Number
1979.0418.06
catalog number
1979.0418.06
accession number
1979.0418
The Franklin Ace 1200 was a clone of the Apple II microcomputer sold by Franklin Computer Corporation. It was an upgrade of the Franklin 1000.
Description
The Franklin Ace 1200 was a clone of the Apple II microcomputer sold by Franklin Computer Corporation. It was an upgrade of the Franklin 1000. It was compatible with Apple II computers, but could also run the CP/M operating system.
The Franklin ACE 1200 had a MOS/Commodore 6502 microprocessor that ran at 1 MHz. It contained 48 KB of RAM and 16 KB of ROM and dual 5 ¼" floppy drives. The Ace 1200 came out between Apple II+ and the Apple //e. It included a CP/M card, a disk controller card, an 80 column card, and a dual serial/parallel card that was software interchangeable. The printer card caused problems because many applications did not recognize it.
The Franklin Ace 1200 was introduced in about 1983 for the price of $2,200 (the donor said she had acquired this one in 1982). Several games came with this example of the microcomputer. The Franklin series ended after Franklin lost a legal battle with Apple.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1982-1983
maker
Franklin Computer Corporation
ID Number
2002.0157.01
accession number
2002.0157
catalog number
2002.0157.01
One of the newer technologies to emerge in the modern workplace is Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), which combines network functions with telephone functions, utilizing IP packet-based computer protocol.
Description
One of the newer technologies to emerge in the modern workplace is Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), which combines network functions with telephone functions, utilizing IP packet-based computer protocol. The i.Picasso 6000 streamlines telephone and computer networks by allowing voice to be sent via packet-based computer protocol controlled by a server. This blue telephone appliance has a PDA-like touch screen. and includes a handset, stylus, two vertical tilt adjusters, handset to base unit cable, network cable, and power adapter. There are ports are for Ethernet 10/100 BaseT cables, a USB port and a headphone jack.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
2001
2001
Associated Name
congruency, Inc.
maker
congruency, Inc.
ID Number
2001.0271.02
catalog number
2001.0271.02
accession number
2001.0271

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