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

This is a homemade keyboard for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the socia
Description
This is a homemade keyboard for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.
Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well as technical requirements for a small personal computer. MITS succeeded where other, more established firms had failed, and it was their machine that inaugurated the personal computer age. MITS got its start in computing in 1971, when it introduced an electronic calculator kit. Several thousand sold before 1974, when the sharp reduction in calculator prices drove the company out of that market.
H. Edward Roberts, the Florida-born former U.S. Air Force officer who headed MITS, decided to design a small, affordable computer around the Intel 8080. His daughter named the new machine after the star Altair. It was the first microcomputer to sell in large numbers. In January 1975, a photograph of the Altair appeared on the cover of the magazine Popular Electronics. The caption read “World's First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models.” According to the magazine, the machine sold as a kit for $395, and assembled for $498. Roberts had hoped to break even by selling 200 Altairs. Within three months he had a backlog of 4,000 orders.
Enthusiasm for the Altair and other personal computers spawned computer hobbyist clubs, computer stores, newsletters, magazines, and conventions. By 1977, a host of companies, large and small, were producing microcomputers for a mass market. This phenomenon was abetted by a design decision to make the Altair an "open" machine. In other words, it passed data along a channel called a bus, whose specifications were not kept a secret. That way both MITS and other companies could add memory cards, cards to control a printer or other devices as long as they adhered to the published standards.
This particular Altair was collected by the Smithsonian because it documents how hobbyists would outfit the machine with additional parts and components. The user added his own keyboard, monitor, disk drive, and 17 plug-in boards to expand the computer’s capability. Unfortunately, the original owner of the kit is unknown. The computer was donated to the Smithsonian by a second owner, Mark Sienkiewicz, who purchased it as a collectable item and never used it.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1975
ID Number
2007.0032.02
catalog number
2007.0032.02
accession number
2007.0032
This disk drive for 8" floppy disks was used with an Altair 8800 microcomputer.Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, wh
Description
This disk drive for 8" floppy disks was used with an Altair 8800 microcomputer.
Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well as technical requirements for a small personal computer. MITS succeeded where other, more established firms had failed, and it was their machine that inaugurated the personal computer age. MITS got its start in computing in 1971, when it introduced an electronic calculator kit. Several thousand sold before 1974, when the sharp reduction in calculator prices drove the company out of that market.
H. Edward Roberts, the Florida-born former U.S. Air Force officer who headed MITS, decided to design a small, affordable computer around the Intel 8080. His daughter named the new machine after the star Altair. It was the first microcomputer to sell in large numbers. In January 1975, a photograph of the Altair appeared on the cover of the magazine Popular Electronics. The caption read “World's First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models.” According to the magazine, the machine sold as a kit for $395, and assembled for $498. Roberts had hoped to break even by selling 200 Altairs. Within three months he had a backlog of 4,000 orders.
Enthusiasm for the Altair and other personal computers spawned computer hobbyist clubs, computer stores, newsletters, magazines, and conventions. By 1977, a host of companies, large and small, were producing microcomputers for a mass market. This phenomenon was abetted by a design decision to make the Altair an "open" machine. In other words, it passed data along a channel called a bus, whose specifications were not kept a secret. That way both MITS and other companies could add memory cards, cards to control a printer or other devices as long as they adhered to the published standards.
This particular Altair was collected by the Smithsonian because it documents how hobbyists would outfit the machine with additional parts and components. The user added his own keyboard, monitor, disk drive, and 17 plug-in boards to expand the computer’s capability. Unfortunately, the original owner of the kit is unknown. The computer was donated to the Smithsonian by a second owner, Mark Sienkiewicz, who purchased it as a collectable item and never used it.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1975
maker
Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
ID Number
2007.0032.04
catalog number
2007.0032.04
accession number
2007.0032
This is a cathode ray tube monitor for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met th
Description
This is a cathode ray tube monitor for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.
Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well as technical requirements for a small personal computer. MITS succeeded where other, more established firms had failed, and it was their machine that inaugurated the personal computer age. MITS got its start in computing in 1971, when it introduced an electronic calculator kit. Several thousand sold before 1974, when the sharp reduction in calculator prices drove the company out of that market.
H. Edward Roberts, the Florida-born former U.S. Air Force officer who headed MITS, decided to design a small, affordable computer around the Intel 8080. His daughter named the new machine after the star Altair. It was the first microcomputer to sell in large numbers. In January 1975, a photograph of the Altair appeared on the cover of the magazine Popular Electronics. The caption read “World's First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models.” According to the magazine, the machine sold as a kit for $395, and assembled for $498. Roberts had hoped to break even by selling 200 Altairs. Within three months he had a backlog of 4,000 orders.
Enthusiasm for the Altair and other personal computers spawned computer hobbyist clubs, computer stores, newsletters, magazines, and conventions. By 1977, a host of companies, large and small, were producing microcomputers for a mass market. This phenomenon was abetted by a design decision to make the Altair an "open" machine. In other words, it passed data along a channel called a bus, whose specifications were not kept a secret. That way both MITS and other companies could add memory cards, cards to control a printer or other devices as long as they adhered to the published standards.
This particular Altair was collected by the Smithsonian because it documents how hobbyists would outfit the machine with additional parts and components. The user added his own keyboard, monitor, disk drive, and 17 plug-in boards to expand the computer’s capability. Unfortunately, the original owner of the kit is unknown. The computer was donated to the Smithsonian by a second owner, Mark Sienkiewicz, who purchased it as a collectable item and never used it.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1975
maker
Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
ID Number
2007.0032.03
catalog number
2007.0032.03
accession number
2007.0032
Deep Blue, a specialized IBM RS/6000 computer, was the first machine to defeat a world chess champion in regulation play. Operators used this mouse to manage its operation. For more on the computer, see 2002.0251.01.Currently not on view
Description
Deep Blue, a specialized IBM RS/6000 computer, was the first machine to defeat a world chess champion in regulation play. Operators used this mouse to manage its operation. For more on the computer, see 2002.0251.01.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1996
Associated Name
Lasewicz, Paul C.
maker
Logitech
ID Number
2002.0251.05
catalog number
2002.0251.05
accession number
2002.0251
Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well as technical requirements for a small personal compu
Description
Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well as technical requirements for a small personal computer. MITS succeeded where other, more established firms had failed, and it was their machine that inaugurated the personal computer age. MITS got its start in computing in 1971, when it introduced an electronic calculator kit. Several thousand sold before 1974, when the sharp reduction in calculator prices drove the company out of that market.
H. Edward Roberts, the Florida-born former U.S. Air Force officer who headed MITS, decided to design a small, affordable computer around the Intel 8080. His daughter named the new machine after the star Altair. It was the first microcomputer to sell in large numbers. In January 1975, a photograph of the Altair appeared on the cover of the magazine Popular Electronics. The caption read “World's First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models.” According to the magazine, the machine sold as a kit for $395, and assembled for $498. Roberts had hoped to break even by selling 200 Altairs. Within three months he had a backlog of 4,000 orders.
Enthusiasm for the Altair and other personal computers spawned computer hobbyist clubs, computer stores, newsletters, magazines, and conventions. By 1977, a host of companies, large and small, were producing microcomputers for a mass market. This phenomenon was abetted by a design decision to make the Altair an "open" machine. In other words, it passed data along a channel called a bus, whose specifications were not kept a secret. That way both MITS and other companies could add memory cards, cards to control a printer or other devices as long as they adhered to the published standards.
This particular Altair was collected by the Smithsonian because it documents how hobbyists would outfit the machine with additional parts and components. The user added his own keyboard, monitor, disk drive, and seventeen plug-in boards to expand the computer’s capability. Unfortunately, the original owner of the kit is unknown. The computer was donated to the Smithsonian by a second owner, Mark Sienkiewicz, who purchased it as a collectable item and never used it.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1975
maker
Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
ID Number
2007.0032.01
catalog number
2007.0032.01
accession number
2007.0032
Seventeen computer boards for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social
Description
Seventeen computer boards for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.
Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well as technical requirements for a small personal computer. MITS succeeded where other, more established firms had failed, and it was their machine that inaugurated the personal computer age. MITS got its start in computing in 1971, when it introduced an electronic calculator kit. Several thousand sold before 1974, when the sharp reduction in calculator prices drove the company out of that market.
H. Edward Roberts, the Florida-born former U.S. Air Force officer who headed MITS, decided to design a small, affordable computer around the Intel 8080. His daughter named the new machine after the star Altair. It was the first microcomputer to sell in large numbers. In January 1975, a photograph of the Altair appeared on the cover of the magazine Popular Electronics. The caption read “World's First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models.” According to the magazine, the machine sold as a kit for $395, and assembled for $498. Roberts had hoped to break even by selling 200 Altairs. Within three months he had a backlog of 4,000 orders.
Enthusiasm for the Altair and other personal computers spawned computer hobbyist clubs, computer stores, newsletters, magazines, and conventions. By 1977, a host of companies, large and small, were producing microcomputers for a mass market. This phenomenon was abetted by a design decision to make the Altair an "open" machine. In other words, it passed data along a channel called a bus, whose specifications were not kept a secret. That way both MITS and other companies could add memory cards, cards to control a printer or other devices as long as they adhered to the published standards.
This particular Altair was collected by the Smithsonian because it documents how hobbyists would outfit the machine with additional parts and components. The user added his own keyboard, monitor, disk drive, and 17 plug-in boards to expand the computer’s capability. Unfortunately, the original owner of the kit is unknown. The computer was donated to the Smithsonian by a second owner, Mark Sienkiewicz, who purchased it as a collectable item and never used it.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1975
maker
Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
ID Number
2007.0032.05
catalog number
2007.0032.05
accession number
2007.0032
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
Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated several experimental telephones at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. This unit features a single electro-magnet and could be used both as transmitter and receiver.
Description
Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated several experimental telephones at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. This unit features a single electro-magnet and could be used both as transmitter and receiver. Bell approached the problem of transmitting speech differently from other telephone inventors like Elisha Gray and Thomas Edison. They were mostly experienced telegraphers trying to make a better telegraph. Bell's study of hearing and speech more strongly influenced his work.
date made
1876
maker
Bell, Alexander G.
ID Number
EM.252599
accession number
49064
catalog number
252599
patent number
174465
Manhattan newspaper columnist Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker used this laptop to record her observations on modern relationships in the risqué comedy series Sex and the City (HBO, 1998-2004).Frank, witty, and often outrageous, the Emmy Award-winning cable show wo
Description
Manhattan newspaper columnist Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker used this laptop to record her observations on modern relationships in the risqué comedy series Sex and the City (HBO, 1998-2004).
Frank, witty, and often outrageous, the Emmy Award-winning cable show won millions of loyal fans with its depiction of four women friends and their romantic urban escapades. It also established cable TV as a competitive producer of original programming. Sex and the City set fashion trends, from Manolo Blahnik shoes to cosmopolitan cocktails, and provoked cultural debates about sex, relationships, and gender roles.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1998-2004
maker
Apple Computer, Inc.
ID Number
2004.0163.01
accession number
2004.0163
catalog number
2004.0163.03
Invented in 1963, the mouse improved interactions with computers. However, not until 1984, when Apple Computers introduced the Macintosh and its graphical user interface, did the mouse become a standard computer component.Currently not on view
Description
Invented in 1963, the mouse improved interactions with computers. However, not until 1984, when Apple Computers introduced the Macintosh and its graphical user interface, did the mouse become a standard computer component.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1984
maker
Apple Computer
ID Number
1985.3011.01.1
catalog number
1985.3011.01.1
nonaccession number
1985.3011
In the 1950s Americans increasingly bought groceries in supermarkets, which served large numbers of customers. Consumers selected their own goods, and took them to a clerk who rang up sales.
Description
In the 1950s Americans increasingly bought groceries in supermarkets, which served large numbers of customers. Consumers selected their own goods, and took them to a clerk who rang up sales. To make transactions as efficient as possible, the National Cash Register Company introduced machines that dispensed coins automatically, avoiding time and errors associated with making change. This change-making cash register went on the market in 1954, with a new model in 1958. This example was given to the Smithsonian by NCR in 1959, on the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the company.
Reference:
Accession file.
date made
1959
maker
National Cash Register Company
ID Number
MA.316702
accession number
225455
catalog number
316702
The Underwood Model 5, introduced in 1899, is the result of almost thirty years of innovation and improvements in typewriter manufacture. It became the ubiquitous office machine for another thirty years, and its sales led Underwood to dominate the market.
Description
The Underwood Model 5, introduced in 1899, is the result of almost thirty years of innovation and improvements in typewriter manufacture. It became the ubiquitous office machine for another thirty years, and its sales led Underwood to dominate the market. The Model 5 became the modern standard of how a typewriter worked and what it looked like.
The first successful commercial typewriter, developed by Christopher Scholes and Carlos Glidden, was brought to the public in 1874 by the Remington Company. Two elements from that first machine remained dominant in the design of eventual typewriters: the QWERTY keyboard, a pattern of letters on the keyboard, and the telegraph type key movement. At first sales were slow, but the typewriter industry grew as businesses expanded along with their need to retain records, and process paperwork at fast speeds. More and more people, mostly women, learned the new skill of typing, creating a new class of clerical worker, according to historian JoAnne Yates.
There were a handful of typewriter manufacturers by the end of the 1880s such as Remington, a leader in the industry, L.C. Smith & Brothers, Caligraph, Hammond, and a number of smaller firms. As the number of manufacturers grew, so too did the improvements, including the addition of a shift key to activate upper and lower case letters, the size and weight had been reduced but until 1895, but typists could not see what they had typed until the typed page advanced forward.
In the early 1890s, Franz X Wagner, a German immigrant, engineered the first reliable "visible" typewriter that allowed the typist to see the text as they typed. Wagner had already designed several earlier typing machines. John T. Underwood, producer of office supplies such as carbon paper and ribbons, purchased Wagner's design and manufactured it as the Underwood Model 1 in 1895. Unlike earlier machines, which had an up strike type bar from underneath the paper, the new design in
After six years and two other models that improved touch, and tab function and provided quieter operation, Underwood came out with the Model 5 in 1900. Compared to earlier machines of the 1870s, this machine is plain. The machine in the collection was produced in 1910. It has a black frame with gold lettering and stripping.
Date made
1914
maker
Underwood Typewriter Company
ID Number
ME.312108
accession number
161692
catalog number
312108

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