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

Place: Massachusetts

3M Company Merchandise Data Recorder

Automatic scanning and processing of informationabout merchandise Is now commonly done with bar code readers. In the 1950s, Howard Davis of the Jordan Marsh department stores began talking with Richad G. Zens about such processing.
Description
Automatic scanning and processing of informationabout merchandise Is now commonly done with bar code readers. In the 1950s, Howard Davis of the Jordan Marsh department stores began talking with Richad G. Zens about such processing. Engineers Henry Shunk and Joseph Welty of Massachusetts designed such a system, applied for a patent in 1959, and received it in 1963. They assigned the patent to Automatic Records, Inc. of Natick, Massachusetts. The machine used thermo-Fax paper produced by 3M Corporation, and 3M agreed to handle the recording part of the system, Scanners were produced by Automatic Records, a division of Printed Electronics Corporation of Natick. This object is the resulting "3M Merchancise Data Recorder." It has a beige metal case; metal reels and front platform; a plastic front window and on/off switch; a rubber cord, plug and wheel; and a paper tape. A mark on the object reads: 3M (/) MERCHANDISE DATA RECORDER. Another mark reads: MODEL 25AA (/) SERIAL NO. 4011034.
For related documentation, and the historical information presented here, see 1984.0932.02.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
3M
ID Number
1984.0932.01
accession number
1984.0932
catalog number
1984.0932.01

Electromechnical Computer Components, ASSC Mark I Relays

These relays are components of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) Mark I. The dimensions given are those of each relay. Each has a black bakelite frame and a metal frame inside this. There are two single coils, covered with a black covering.
Description
These relays are components of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) Mark I. The dimensions given are those of each relay. Each has a black bakelite frame and a metal frame inside this. There are two single coils, covered with a black covering. There are two plugs and forty short prongs on one side of each relay. Most relays are stamped with numbers and letters on the outside metal side.
Compare 324285.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
1983.3006.03
nonaccession number
1983.3006
catalog number
1983.3006.03

Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I, Relay

This is a component of BM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) Mark I computer.This ten-position electromechanical counter is held by two red plastic plates and a steel plate.Currently not on view
Description
This is a component of BM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) Mark I computer.This ten-position electromechanical counter is held by two red plastic plates and a steel plate.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
1993.3057.01
nonaccession number
1993.3057
catalog number
1993.3057.01

Button, Touch Me Interaction Systems, Inc.

This button is part of a set of materials (much of it advertising ephemera) relating to computing donated to the Smithsonian for possible use its Information Age exhibition.It shows a hand touching a computer screen that reads: TOUCH ME.
Description
This button is part of a set of materials (much of it advertising ephemera) relating to computing donated to the Smithsonian for possible use its Information Age exhibition.It shows a hand touching a computer screen that reads: TOUCH ME. It also reads: Interaction (/) Systems, Inc. It also has a trademarked emblem of Interaction Systems, Inc., registered in 1981. This provides a rough date.
In this period, Interaction Systems, Inc., produced components that could be added to computer terminals to make them touch-sensitive.
Reference:
Information Display, February 1982, p. 8.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1981
ID Number
1990.0407.05
catalog number
1990.0407.05
accession number
1990.0407

Wang 700 Electronic Calculator

In March of 1968, An Wang saw a prototype of Hewlett-Packard’s HP9100 programmable desktop calculator. This machine reduced the task of finding many scientific functions from programming to pushing a key.
Description
In March of 1968, An Wang saw a prototype of Hewlett-Packard’s HP9100 programmable desktop calculator. This machine reduced the task of finding many scientific functions from programming to pushing a key. In response, Wang Laboratories announced plans for a new set of calculators for the scientific and engineering communities, the series 700 advanced programming calculator. The instrument came on the market in mid-1969.
A large keyboard at the front of the machine includes keys for entering digits, carrying out arithmetic operations, and finding squares, square roots, and reciprocals. A separate key enters the number pi. Another set of keys performs operations for both logarithms and exponents in base e and base 10. Special function keys above the digit keys are set for trigonometric and hyperbolic functions. A tape cassette on the right above the keyboard allows for entering programs via magnetic tape. Left of the tape drive is a Nixie tube display that shows up to twelve digits in two registers, followed by the sign of the exponent and the exponent.
A mark on the front left of the calculator reads: WANG. A metal tag at the back reads: Wang Laboratories, Inc. (/) ELECTRONIC CALCULATOR (/) MODEL NO. 700C (/) SERIAL No. 811055-C (/) TEWKSBURY, MASS. U.S.A. Marks on the rightmost column of keys confirm that is a model Wang 700C, having debugging features characteristic of that machine. It was released in 1972. A paper sticker on the right back reads: JUL 8 1970 [sic]. The July date is scribbled over one reading JUN 3. Hence the object dates from at least 1970, most probably about 1972.
Documentation received with the calculator dates from 1969, 1970, and 1972.
According to the accession file, the calculator and related materials were used by the husband of the donor. This might be Robert R. Wolf, who lived at the same addresses in New Orleans during and after `983.
Reference:
An extensive discussion of the Wang 720C advanced programming calculator is at The Old Calculator Web Museum.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1972
maker
Wang Laboratories
ID Number
1983.0171.01
catalog number
1983.0171.01
accession number
1983.0171

Set of Documents Relating to a 1958 High School Course in Computers, with Punch Cards

These materials come from an advanced placement senior-level mathematics course taught at Concord High School in Concord, Massachusetts, in the spring of 1958. The teacher, Norton A. Levy, used notes provided by Rollin P.
Description
These materials come from an advanced placement senior-level mathematics course taught at Concord High School in Concord, Massachusetts, in the spring of 1958. The teacher, Norton A. Levy, used notes provided by Rollin P. Mayer and Alexander Vanderburgh, Jr., who had associations with Lincoln Laboratories of MIT. The materials were collected and donated by one of the students who took the course, Edward N. (Nicky) Chase. Approximately 102 pages and eight punch cards are included.
Most of the pages are loose paper although some were stapled together. Most are of letter size while some are smaller. Included are a syllabus, notes taken by the user covering a history of computers and computer programming, classroom worksheets and notes, assignments, and tests. One computer discussed is the IBM 704.
All the punch cards are in the eighty-column IBM style. One is punched with standard holes for digits, letters of the alphabet, and a few symbols. A mark on the right edge reads: IBM 5081. A second, unpunched card is pink along the top edge. It is marked on the right edge: UAC BINARY CARD #4. It is marked along the bottom: IBM898443. Five punched cards are in an envelope. Four of these are yellow along the top edge and marked along the right edge: UA SAP CARD #1. They are marked along the bottom edge: IBM884391. The fifth of these cards is green along the top edge and marked along the right edge: IBM893099 704 BINARY CARD. The last card, also an IBM 5081, has a series of numbers and letters written in pencil across the top twenty-five columns. The spaces that would need to be punched to indicate these symbols are outlined in green.
The course included a visit to Lincoln Laboratories with a demonstration of a rocket trajectory plotted by computer. The donor went on to take courses in computers as an undergraduate and moved on to a career in computer graphics. He reports “That’s when I realized that the 1958 demo really was a big deal.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1958
ID Number
2015.3072.01
catalog number
2015.3072.01
nonaccession number
2015.3072

Wang 600 Electronic Calculator

This desktop programmable printing calculator has a variety of digit and function keys. Above these, on the right side, is a space that holds a cassette tape. Left of this is a small display screen. Above the screen is the printing mechanism with a paper tape 9 cm.
Description
This desktop programmable printing calculator has a variety of digit and function keys. Above these, on the right side, is a space that holds a cassette tape. Left of this is a small display screen. Above the screen is the printing mechanism with a paper tape 9 cm. (3 1/2") wide. A metal tag glued to the front left reads: WANG 600. A sticker on the back of the machine reads: WANG LABORATORIES INC (/) TEWKSBURY MASS U.S.A. Another mark there reads: MODEL 600 2TP (/) SERIAL NUMBER CC5187.
An electric cord extends from the back. The machine has a plastic cover. The dimensions given do not include cord and cover.
Chinese-born An Wang (1920–1990) came to the United States after World War II to do graduate work at Harvard University. Not wishing to return to a Communist regime, he stayed on to work at the Harvard Computation Laboratory, where he and Way Dong Woo invented magnetic core memory, an important improvement in computer memory for the time. Wang soon left Harvard to establish Wang Laboratories. In the mid-1960s, he invented a transistorized logarithmic electronic calculator that would sell in several forms. The Wang 600 is a modified and less expensive version of the earlier Wang 700. Wang soon turned his attention to the manufacture of minicomputers.
The Smithsonian’s Conservation Analytical Laboratory acquired this Wang 600 in about 1974. When it was replaced in 1983, it was transferred to the NMAH historical collections.
Compare 1983.0171.01, a Wang 700 series calculator, and 1980.0096.01, a Wang LOCI 2.
Reference:
Accession File.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1974
maker
Wang Laboratories
ID Number
2011.0022.01
accession number
2011.0022
catalog number
2011.0022.01

Pamphlet, PDP-8 Course Work

This spiral-bound document, prepared by the training department of DEC, was designed to assist students in understanding PDP-8 computer systems. It has DEC form number I-85.Currently not on view
Description
This spiral-bound document, prepared by the training department of DEC, was designed to assist students in understanding PDP-8 computer systems. It has DEC form number I-85.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965
maker
Digital Equipment Corporation
ID Number
1994.3128.17
catalog number
1994.3128.17
nonaccession number
1994.3128

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

Wang LOCi-2 Card Reader

The Wang LOCI-2 is one of relatively few calculators that had a variety of peripheral equipment. Included in the price of the machine was this metal card reader, painted light blue. It read specially designed punched program cards.
Description
The Wang LOCI-2 is one of relatively few calculators that had a variety of peripheral equipment. Included in the price of the machine was this metal card reader, painted light blue. It read specially designed punched program cards. A card is in the reader.
A mark on the bottom of the card reader reads: Wang Laboratories, Inc. (/) ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS AND DEVICES (/) LOCI CARD READER (/) MODEL NO. [blank] (/) SERLAL NO. 22806 (/) TEWKSBURY, MASS. U.S.A.
For further information about the LOCI II, see 1980.0096.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965 or later
maker
Wang Laboratories
ID Number
1980.0096.01.1
accession number
1980.0096
catalog number
1980.0096.01.1

Wang LOCI-2 Electronic Calculator

One of the first programmable electronic calculators, this instrument was announced in 1964 and sold from 1965. It was designed by An Wang (1920-1990) and his associates.
Description
One of the first programmable electronic calculators, this instrument was announced in 1964 and sold from 1965. It was designed by An Wang (1920-1990) and his associates. Wang, a native of Shanghai, immigrated to the United States after World War II, studied computer science at Harvard University, and worked at the Harvard Computation Laboratory. He started his own business in 1951, producing magnetic core memories and other electronic equipment on order. The LOCI or “logarithmic calculating instrument” was the first product marketed by the company. Two versions of the machine were announced: the LOCI I, which was not programmable, and the LOCI II, which was.
The desktop machine has nine digit keys arranged in an array, as well as a zero bar and a decimal point key. Depressing other keys changes the sign of the number, shifts the decimal point, shifts from the logarithmic to the work register, and shifts from the work to the logarithmic register. Further keys are for arithmetic operations, squares, square roots, inverse squares, inverse square roots, inverse logarithms, and clearance of various registers. To the right are controls for the decrement counter, the program counter, and the operation code. According to company advertising, the machine offers ten-digit precision in addition and subtraction and eight-digit precision in multiplication, division, exponentiation, root extraction, and logarithm computation. It has five storage registers of ten-digit capacity and a ten-digit display, plus a display for the sign of the answer. A cooling fan and a cord are at the back. The card reader attachment that plugs into the back holds program cards.
A tag on the front of the machine reads: LOCI-2. A tag on the back reads: ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS AND DEVICES (/) LOCI II (/) MODEL NO. 2AB (/) SERIAL NO. 2734 (/) TEWKSBURY, MASS. U.S.A. A paper tag on the back of the machine indicates that it was serviced 4/28/68, 9/12/68, and 2/9/71.
According to a 1964 flier, the machine was to sell for $4,750.00. Kenney says that the initial price was $6,500. Wang Laboratories would go on to sell the 300 series of calculators (from 1966) and the 700 series (from 1969), and to manufacture minicomputers and networked microcomputers.
For related objects and documents, see 1980.0096.02 through 1980.0096.10.
Compare 1980.0096.01 with the later 1983.0171.01 (a Wang Series 700 calculator), and the even later 2011.0022.01 (a Wang Series 600 calculator).
References:
There is an extensive discussion of the LOCI II at the website of the Old Calculator Museum. See:http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wangloci.html
Wang Laboratories, Inc., “LOCI-2 Open New Vistas to your Personal Computing . . .,” Tewksbury, Ma., 1964. This is 1980.0096.08. A similar leaflet describes the LOCI-1 and has museum number 1980.0096.07.
Charles C. Kenney, Riding the Runaway Horse: The Rise and Decline of Wang Laboratories, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1992.
date made
1965 or later
date received
1980
maker
Wang Laboratories
ID Number
1980.0096.01
catalog number
1980.0096.01
accession number
1980.0096

Graphing Calculator and Computer Graphing Laboratory Manual, Precalculus Series

In addition to publishing textbooks that required use of a graphing calculator, Addison-Wesley published a manual describing the use of computer software, Casio graphing calculators, and Sharp graphing calculators with those textbooks.
Description
In addition to publishing textbooks that required use of a graphing calculator, Addison-Wesley published a manual describing the use of computer software, Casio graphing calculators, and Sharp graphing calculators with those textbooks. This document by Alan Osborne and Gregory D. Foley of Ohio State University accompanied a series of textbooks by Franklin Demana and Bert K. Waits.
For one of the related textbooks, see 2000.3037.04.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1990
maker
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
ID Number
2000.3037.03
nonaccession number
2000.3037
catalog number
2000.3037.03

Book, Precalculus Mathematics: A Graphing Approach

The advent of the graphing calculator and the personal computer transformed the way many students in the United States learned mathematics.
Description
The advent of the graphing calculator and the personal computer transformed the way many students in the United States learned mathematics. In 1989, the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, assumed that all students in grades nine through twelve would have access to a graphing calculator. Franklin Demana and Bert K. Waits of The Ohio State University had been interested in the use of graphing calculators in mathematics education since for some years. In 1990, they published this textbook for high school use.
Reference:
P. A. Kidwell, A. Ackerberg-Hastings, and David L. Roberts, Tools of American Mathematics Teaching, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1990
maker
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
ID Number
2000.3037.04
nonaccession number
2000.3037
catalog number
2000.3037.04

Wright Model 2000 Card Punch

This portable key punch for preparing punched cards was manufactured by the Massachusetts firm of Wright Line. Punched cards were central to large-scale data processing in the United States from the introduction of the Hollerith tabulating machine in the 1890s through the 1970s.
Description
This portable key punch for preparing punched cards was manufactured by the Massachusetts firm of Wright Line. Punched cards were central to large-scale data processing in the United States from the introduction of the Hollerith tabulating machine in the 1890s through the 1970s. Tabulating machine manufacturers such as IBM and Remington Rand (later Sperry Univac) rented card punches. Wright Line, founded in 1934, was one of relatively few independent data processing accessory manufacturers. It made and sold a large variety of files, magnetic tapes, card punches, and related machines.
The device is designed for 80-column punch cards such as those made for IBM computers. It has a metal base painted black with 12 number keys and an "S" key. These keys, with their white key tops, are attached to a moveable carriage. A single punch card fits in the carriage. A mark on the top reads: Wright (/) PUNCH (/) MODEL 2600.
This punch came to the Smithsonian from the United States Naval Observatory, a longtime user of tabulating equipment for scientific purposes.
References:
Accession file.
"E. Stanley Wright, Manufacturer, 66," New York Times, September 8, 1959, p. 35.
Wright Line, Data Processing Accessories Catalog ’69, p. 38.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1970
maker
Wright Line
ID Number
2005.0174.01
accession number
2005.0174
catalog number
2005.0174.01

JTC 73752 Punch Card Associated with the MIT Information Processing Center

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

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

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