Computers & Business Machines

Apple II Personal Computer

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

Date: 1940s

IBM Electromatic

This electric typewriter was manufactured by the International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation around 1935. IBM purchased Electromatic Typewriters, Inc. in 1933, taking over its Rochester, New York factory.
Description
This electric typewriter was manufactured by the International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation around 1935. IBM purchased Electromatic Typewriters, Inc. in 1933, taking over its Rochester, New York factory. After a variety of improvements IBM issued the IBM Electric Typewriter Model 01 in 1935. The innovation of electric typewriters was that each type bar hit the paper with the same force, and that force was more powerful than manual typewriters. This was especially useful in business situations as multiple carbon copies could be produced. IBM continued producing typewriters, including the very popular Selectric model, throughout the 20th century until 1990.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1948
ca 1948
maker
International Business Machines Corp.
ID Number
ME.336753
catalog number
336753
accession number
1978.2227
serial number
156065

Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Relay

This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The four-pole double-throw relay has one plug. The double coil is black.Currently not on view
Description
This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The four-pole double-throw relay has one plug. The double coil is black.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.324283
accession number
248831
catalog number
324283

ENIAC

Date made
1947
maker
University of Pennsylvania
ID Number
COLL.ENIAC.000001

Harvard Mark I Control Panel, IBM ASCC

This is a small part of one of the first machines that could be programmed to carry out calculations automatically. Initially designed to solve scientific problems, it was used during World War II to carry out computations for the United States Navy.
Description
This is a small part of one of the first machines that could be programmed to carry out calculations automatically. Initially designed to solve scientific problems, it was used during World War II to carry out computations for the United States Navy. It was a one-of-a-kind machine. After the war, IBM would greatly expand its activity in computing to include electronic computers. Harvard began one of the first degree programs in computer science. People who had worked on the Mark I, such as Grace Murray Hopper, also went to work for other early computer manufacturers. More generally, many scholars and ordinary people first learned about "giant brains," as early computers were called, through workshops and press releases of the Harvard Computation Laboratory.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.323579
accession number
248831
catalog number
323579

Electromechnical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Relay

This is a component of BM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) Mark I computer. It has a black bakelite frame with metal interior and side. There is a single coil in the frame. A single plug and sixteen prongs extend from one side.
Description
This is a component of BM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) Mark I computer. It has a black bakelite frame with metal interior and side. There is a single coil in the frame. A single plug and sixteen prongs extend from one side. The coil is wrapped with a white covering.
Compare 324282.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
1983.3006.02
nonaccession number
1983.3006
catalog number
1983.3006.02

Corona Typewriter

This is a Corona Special typewriter that was manufactured by the L. C. Smith Corona Company during the 1920s. The Corona Special came in a variety of different colors besides gold including lavender, light maroon, channel blue, mountain ash scarlet, cream, and bruce green.
Description
This is a Corona Special typewriter that was manufactured by the L. C. Smith Corona Company during the 1920s. The Corona Special came in a variety of different colors besides gold including lavender, light maroon, channel blue, mountain ash scarlet, cream, and bruce green. The typewriter had a three-row QWERTY keyboard, and the typewriter’s carriage could fold down onto the keyboard making it compact and portable.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1920 - 1941
maker
L. C. Smith & Corona Typewriters Inc.
ID Number
ME.334780
catalog number
334780
accession number
314637
serial number
x646413

Remington Rand Model 3 Card Punch

From the early 20th century, a few American offices used punched cards to enter data onto accounting machines. In 1929 the Powers Accounting Machines Division of Remington Rand, Inc., introduced a "double deck" punch card for data entry.
Description
From the early 20th century, a few American offices used punched cards to enter data onto accounting machines. In 1929 the Powers Accounting Machines Division of Remington Rand, Inc., introduced a "double deck" punch card for data entry. It had two sets of 45-column rows, for a total of 90 columns. This desk-sized, electrically powered device punched both 45 and 90 column cards. Keys at the right front set the machine. Pressing the "TRIP" bar in front of these activated the punch. The machine could be set to punch duplicate data, or to duplicate cards. With special key tops, not present on this version of the machine, one could enter alphabetic data, not simply numbers.
The machine has a mirror, which should be mounted, for viewing cards.
A tag on the front of the machine reads: Remington Rand. It lists patent numbers ranging from 1,643,779 (issued September 27, 1927) to 2,203,355 (issued June 4, 1940). A red tag attached to one edge reads: 020300 14946 4. A metal tag near one corner reads: VA9-14946.
References:
L. Heide, Punched-Card Systems and the Early Information Explosion 1880–1945, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009, esp. pp. 76–96.
Powers Accounting Machines Division of Remington Rand, Inc., "Powers Reference Manual," Buffalo, N.Y.: Powers Accounting Machines, 1935.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1940
maker
Remington Rand Inc.
ID Number
1998.0211.01
accession number
1998.0211
catalog number
1998.0211.01

Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Double Throw Relay

This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The twelve-pole double throw relay has a single black coil and two plugs.Currently not on view
Description
This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The twelve-pole double throw relay has a single black coil and two plugs.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.324285
accession number
248831
catalog number
324285

Harvard Mark I Print and Punch Unit, IBM ASCC

This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The cast iron object has gearing drive, card holder, electrical connection, and weight.Currently on loan
Description
This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The cast iron object has gearing drive, card holder, electrical connection, and weight.
Location
Currently on loan
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.323580
accession number
248831
catalog number
323580

Log Book With Computer Bug

American engineers have been calling small flaws in machines "bugs" for over a century. Thomas Edison talked about bugs in electrical circuits in the 1870s.
Description
American engineers have been calling small flaws in machines "bugs" for over a century. Thomas Edison talked about bugs in electrical circuits in the 1870s. When the first computers were built during the early 1940s, people working on them found bugs in both the hardware of the machines and in the programs that ran them. 
In 1947, engineers working on the Mark II computer at Harvard University found a moth stuck in one of the components. They taped the insect in their logbook and labeled it "first actual case of bug being found." The words "bug" and "debug" soon became a standard part of the language of computer programmers.
Among those working on the Mark II in 1947 was mathematician and computer programmer Grace Hopper, who later became a Navy rear admiral. This log book was probably not Hopper's, but she and the rest of the Mark II team helped popularize the use of the term computer bug and the related phrase "debug."
References:
Grace Murray Hopper,"The First Bug," Annals of the History of Computing,vol. 3 #3, 1981, pp. 285-286.
P. A. Kidwell, "Stalking the ElusiveComputer Bug," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vo.20, #4, 1998, pp.5-9.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1947
director
Aiken, Howard Hathaway
maker
Harvard University
IBM
Harvard University
Aiken, Howard
ID Number
1994.0191.01
catalog number
1994.0191.1
accession number
1994.0191

IBM Electromatic Typewriter

This Electromatic brand typewriter was manufactured by the International Business Machines Corporation beginning in 1935. The Electromatic typewriter was first manufactured in 1924 by the North East Electric Company.
Description
This Electromatic brand typewriter was manufactured by the International Business Machines Corporation beginning in 1935. The Electromatic typewriter was first manufactured in 1924 by the North East Electric Company. The North East Electric Company produced the motor and base, and used a Remington model 12 as the typewriter. The North East Electric Company became the Electromatic Typewriter Company before being purchased by IBM in 1933. In 1935 IBM produced the Electromatic Model 01 for the first time. The Electromatic operated with a motor controlling all aspects of typing, from the type bar to the carriage returns, allowing the user to operate the typewriter without their fingers ever leaving the keyboard.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1940
ID Number
1987.0544.01
catalog number
1987.0544.01
accession number
1987.0544

Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Housing

This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. More specifically, it is protective housing for card feed and hopper of the MarkCurrently not on view
Description
This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. More specifically, it is protective housing for card feed and hopper of the Mark
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.323583
accession number
248831
catalog number
323583

Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Output Typewriter

This is the output typewriter for printing results from the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I . The electric typewriter has complete number keys. Other keys lack a printing bar.
Description
This is the output typewriter for printing results from the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I . The electric typewriter has complete number keys. Other keys lack a printing bar. Various reels are attached to the sides of the machine.
A mark on the fornt of the machine reads: ELECTROMATIC. A tag on the back of the machine lists relevant patents and indicates that the typewriter is a product of the Electric Writing Division of IBM.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.323582
accession number
248831
catalog number
323582

IBM Electromatic Typewriter

This Electromatic brand typewriter was manufactured by the International Business Machines Corporation beginning in 1935. The Electromatic typewriter was first manufactured in 1924 by the North East Electric Company.
Description
This Electromatic brand typewriter was manufactured by the International Business Machines Corporation beginning in 1935. The Electromatic typewriter was first manufactured in 1924 by the North East Electric Company. The North East Electric Company produced the motor and base, and used a Remington model 12 as the typewriter. The North East Electric Company became the Electromatic Typewriter Company before being purchased by IBM in 1933. In 1935 IBM produced the Electromatic Model 01 for the first time. The Electromatic operated with a motor controlling all aspects of typing, from the type bar to the carriage returns, allowing the user to operate the typewriter without their fingers ever leaving the keyboard.
This typewriter bears a label from the Rossford Ordnance Depot, a depot in Toledo, Ohio that was used to supply the military with jeeps and cars during World War II.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1941 - 1945
maker
International Business Machines Corp.
ID Number
ME.325366
catalog number
325366
accession number
254085
serial number
11293060

IBM 1441139x Punch Card Advertising the IBM 602A Calculating Punch

This white paper punch card demonstrates how an average hourly rate of pay can be calculated for a worker paid partly on piece work and partly on day work, receiving a bonus.
Description
This white paper punch card demonstrates how an average hourly rate of pay can be calculated for a worker paid partly on piece work and partly on day work, receiving a bonus. It was intended as advertising for the IBM 602A calculating punch.
The left half of the card has text describing the product. It reads in part: ARITHMETIC (/) CALCULATIONS ARE PERFORMED IN (/) ONE OPERATION BY THE NEW (/)TYPE 602A CALCULATING PUNCH. The right side has columns of holes to be punched that are numbered from 37 to 80.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1948
maker
IBM
ID Number
1995.3080.01
nonaccession number
1995.3080
catalog number
1995.3080.01

National Cash Register, Model 211 (1)

This gray-green machine has metal exterior and mechanism, and a black plastic plate above the cash drawer, plastic keys and a plastic window.
Description
This gray-green machine has metal exterior and mechanism, and a black plastic plate above the cash drawer, plastic keys and a plastic window. Four columns with nine digit keys each are on the right front and then five columns, each with nine keys, for entering amounts from hundreds of dollars down to cents. Right of these keys are keys indicating types of transactions, as well as TOTAL and SUBTOTAL keys. Right of these is a column of keys labeled with Roman numerals from I to VIII. Next to this are eight windows in a column. Right of these is the operating bar. Indicators are at the top. A space at the front may be meant for a paper tape. The machine has an electric cord, whose measurements are not included in the dimensions. The paper tape is missing.
The machine was made by the National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio in 1943. It is a size 211 (1) and has serial number 4060872. According to a label on the bottom of the cash drawer, it was made for the Mary Webb Beauty Salon on Orange Street in Wilmington, Delaware.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1943
maker
National Cash Register Company
ID Number
1987.0734.01
accession number
1987.0734
catalog number
1987.0734.01

Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Relay

This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The a four-pole double-throw relay has one plug. The single coil is black.Currently not on view
Description
This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The a four-pole double-throw relay has one plug. The single coil is black.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.324281
accession number
248831
catalog number
324281

Harvard Mark I Tape Transport, IBM ASCC

This is the control panel and tape transport for the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The Mark I was one of the first machines that could be programmed to carry out calculations automatically.
Description
This is the control panel and tape transport for the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The Mark I was one of the first machines that could be programmed to carry out calculations automatically. Initially designed to solve scientific problems, it was used during World War II to carry out computations for the United States Navy. It was a one-of-a-kind machine. After the war, IBM would greatly expand its activity in computing to include electronic computers. Harvard began one of the first degree programs in computer science. People who had worked on the Mark I, such as Grace Murray Hopper, also went to work for other early computer manufacturers. More generally, many scholars and ordinary people first learned about "giant brains," as early computers were called, through workshops and press releases of the Harvard Computation Laboratory.
The cast iron object has gearing drive, card holder, electrical connection, and weight. Four drums carry punched tapes with programs.
References:
I. Bernard Cohen and Gregory W. Welch with the cooperation of Robert V. D. Campbell, Makin' Numbers: Howard Aiken and the Computer, Cambridge and London: MIT Press, 1999.
I. Bernard Cohen. Howard Aiken: Portrait of a Computer Pioneer, Cambridge and London: MIT Press, 1999.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.323581
accession number
248831
catalog number
323581

Badge from Cruft Laboratory of Harvard University

This metal badge reads "Cruft Laboratory, Staff No. 62, Harvard University", and was donated to the Smithsonian by Grace Murray Hopper (1906–1992).
Description
This metal badge reads "Cruft Laboratory, Staff No. 62, Harvard University", and was donated to the Smithsonian by Grace Murray Hopper (1906–1992). Hopper had joined the United States Naval Reserves in December 1943 and attended the Naval Reserve Midshipman’s School for Women through June 1944. She was then posted to the U.S. Navy’s Computation project that was housed at the Cruft Laboratory.
Hopper had a PhD in mathematics (Yale 1934) and her assignment was to write computer code for the Mark I computer, formally known as the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator. Hopper continued working at the Harvard Computational Laboratory until 1949 although she, along with other women in the Naval Reserve, had been released from active duty in 1946.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1944
ID Number
1989.0093.01
accession number
1989.0093
catalog number
1989.0093.01

Harvard Mark I paper tape, IBM ASCC

Data was entered into the ASSC Mark I on punched tapes like this one.
Description
Data was entered into the ASSC Mark I on punched tapes like this one. As many as twenty-four holes could be punched in a single row.
Reference:
Harvard Computation Laboratory, A Manual of Operation for the Automatic-Sequence Controlled Calculator, President and Fellows of Harvard College, 1946, especially chapter 2.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.324289
accession number
248831
catalog number
324289

Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I

This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I.
Description
This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The electromechanical assembly contains seven commutators, each with a plastic piece on top of it with a hole in it, with numbers stamped around the hole to denote contacts. It has a metal frame, gear, contacts, clutch and brushes.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.324288
accession number
248831
catalog number
324288

IBM 749809 Punch Card, Employee's Statement of Earnings and Deductions, U.S. Naval Gun Factory

This punch card gives a statement of earnings and deductions for an employee of the U.S. Naval Gun Factory in Washington, D.C. in March of 1947. The card itself is not punched, although it lists a tag number, gross earnings, deductions, net pay, and the pay date.
Description
This punch card gives a statement of earnings and deductions for an employee of the U.S. Naval Gun Factory in Washington, D.C. in March of 1947. The card itself is not punched, although it lists a tag number, gross earnings, deductions, net pay, and the pay date. A mark on the card reads: EMPLOYEE' S STATEMENT OF EARNINGS AND DEDUCTIONS (/) U.S. NAVAL GUN FACTORY (/) WASHINGTON, D.C.
The object was collected from the files of departing curator David K. Allison. It's origin is unknown.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1947
1947
ca 1947
maker
IBM
ID Number
2015.3169.07
nonaccession number
2015.3169
catalog number
2015.3169.07

Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Double Throw Relay

This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. This twelve-pole double throw relay has a white double coil and two plugs.Currently not on view
Description
This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. This twelve-pole double throw relay has a white double coil and two plugs.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.324286
accession number
248831
catalog number
324286

Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Relay

This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The four-pole double-throw relay has one plug. The single coil is silver-colored.Currently not on view
Description
This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The four-pole double-throw relay has one plug. The single coil is silver-colored.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.324282
accession number
248831
catalog number
324282

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