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

Name: IBM

Patent Order Punch Card with Synchronous Motor Patent Papers

This orange punch card, used by the U.S. Patent Office, is attached to a copy of the patent papers the card describes. The card has 53 columns versus the standard IBM 80-column punch card.
Description
This orange punch card, used by the U.S. Patent Office, is attached to a copy of the patent papers the card describes. The card has 53 columns versus the standard IBM 80-column punch card. It is marked PO-33, PATENT ORDER (Letter Unit) on the left edge, and IBM D7 7517 on the bottom edge.
The following information is punched and printed on the card: the patent number (1913948), customer number (11530), month (01), day (29), and serv. code (6M).
The patent papers requested (5 pages) were for patent number 1,913,948 filed on May 2, 1932 by David Perlman for a Synchronous Motor. His patent was for improvements in electrically operated time-pieces.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
IBM
ID Number
2017.3122.03
nonaccession number
2017.3122
catalog number
2017.3122.03
patent number
1,913,948

Advertising Button, IBM, Personal Computer

This circular button has black text on a white background. It reads: The IBM Personal Computer. It also has a black and white image of Charlie Chaplin standing next to a table with an IBM desktop computer on it. A red flower is part of the image.Currently not on view
Description
This circular button has black text on a white background. It reads: The IBM Personal Computer. It also has a black and white image of Charlie Chaplin standing next to a table with an IBM desktop computer on it. A red flower is part of the image.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c 1981
maker
IBM
ID Number
2009.3071.003
catalog number
2009.3071.003
nonaccession number
2009.3071

Documentation, IBM System/360 Models 25, 30, 40, 50, 65, 75, 85, and 195

This paper pamphlet describes the components of an IBM 360 system. This is the fifth edition. It relates to object 2013.0129.02.Currently not on view
Description
This paper pamphlet describes the components of an IBM 360 system. This is the fifth edition. It relates to object 2013.0129.02.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1970
maker
IBM
ID Number
2013.0129.03
accession number
2013.0129
catalog number
2013.0129.03

Advertising Button, Microsoft Inc., OS/2

This circular button has white text on a red background. It reads: I WON OS/2 2.0. . Text written in black permanent marker on the reverse side of the button reads: CDX 492 (1 of 3).Currently not on view
Description
This circular button has white text on a red background. It reads: I WON OS/2 2.0. . Text written in black permanent marker on the reverse side of the button reads: CDX 492 (1 of 3).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c 1992
maker
IBM
ID Number
2009.3071.008
catalog number
2009.3071.008
nonaccession number
2009.3071

Software and Documentation, PS DOS v2.10 by IBM

This IBM storage box holds a copy of the Disk Operating System instruction manual and software diskettes for the IBM branded version of Microsoft’s MS-DOS, version 2.10.
Description
This IBM storage box holds a copy of the Disk Operating System instruction manual and software diskettes for the IBM branded version of Microsoft’s MS-DOS, version 2.10. Early in 1983, IBM released IBM PC DOS version 2.0, a completely rewritten microcomputer operating system that included support for hard disks and at the same time, introduced the subdirectory-based file system. Version 2.10, released in September 1983 with the new IBM PCjr, not only fixed several bugs but supported all IBM PC models.
References:
“IBM Disk Operating System” version 2.10 instruction manual.
“PC Mag,” July 10, 1984.
“Byte,” November 1983, Vol 8, No. 11, p. 293.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1983
maker
Microsoft Corporation
IBM
ID Number
2012.3098.026
catalog number
2012.3098.026
nonaccession number
2012.3098

Advertising Button, Microsoft Inc., OS/2

This circular button has white text on a dark blue background. It reads: I HAVE OS/2 2.0. Text written in black permanent marker on the reverse side of the button reads: 4/92 CDX.Currently not on view
Description
This circular button has white text on a dark blue background. It reads: I HAVE OS/2 2.0. Text written in black permanent marker on the reverse side of the button reads: 4/92 CDX.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c 1992
maker
IBM
ID Number
2009.3071.007
catalog number
2009.3071.007
nonaccession number
2009.3071

Advertising Button, IBM, C Set/2

This rectangular button has a white background. Text in black reads: IBM C Set/2 It'll Change Your Perspective on Application Development. The button also has an image of a rainbow and clouds and grass. Text written in black ink on the reverse side of the button reads: 92.
Description
This rectangular button has a white background. Text in black reads: IBM C Set/2 It'll Change Your Perspective on Application Development. The button also has an image of a rainbow and clouds and grass. Text written in black ink on the reverse side of the button reads: 92. Another mark reads: Printed in Canada.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c 1992
maker
IBM
ID Number
2009.3071.018
catalog number
2009.3071.018
nonaccession number
2009.3071

Advertising Button, Stacker

This circular button has a white rim outside a ring of black triangles. A blue ring and a yellow circle are inside these. Black and red text reads: Stacker for OS/2 & DOS.Currently not on view
Description
This circular button has a white rim outside a ring of black triangles. A blue ring and a yellow circle are inside these. Black and red text reads: Stacker for OS/2 & DOS.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c 1990
maker
IBM
ID Number
2009.3071.015
catalog number
2009.3071.015
nonaccession number
2009.3071

IBM 827213 Punch Cards for the Electronic Computer Project at Princeton University

Two IBM 80-column punch cards, tan. One card has nothing written on the front but the back has a drawing of a circuit, the date FEB 13 1958, and the words Bias Supplies; Wm Pulser; Arithmetic.
Description
Two IBM 80-column punch cards, tan. One card has nothing written on the front but the back has a drawing of a circuit, the date FEB 13 1958, and the words Bias Supplies; Wm Pulser; Arithmetic. The second card has a 5 column, 2 row table drawn in pencil on the front and circuit drawings in pencil on the back.
These two cards were made by IBM for the Electronic Computer Project at Princeton, NJ. This project made the IAS computer, considered by some to be the first American computer (it had stored programs, which the ENIAC did not). These cards may represent the first punch cards used with an American electronic computer.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1955
ca 1955
maker
IBM
ID Number
CI.320250.05
accession number
1958.220575
catalog number
320250.05

International Dial Time Recorder Clock

Showing up for work punctually, at an official time, became expected behavior toward the end of the 19th century, as more and more people worked for others rather than for themselves. Not just the work force's punctuality was at issue.
Description
Showing up for work punctually, at an official time, became expected behavior toward the end of the 19th century, as more and more people worked for others rather than for themselves. Not just the work force's punctuality was at issue. Cost accounting and analysis--recording and scrutinizing expenses for labor, materials and overhead--were getting more attention than ever before. Time was money.
In the 1890s, timekeepers-- clerks who kept track of employees' hours in handwritten logs --found that machines were beginning to replace them, especially in workplaces with large numbers of employees. Thanks to the influence of the advocates of scientific management, nearly every industrial workplace had a time clock, after about 1910. So did many offices. By the early twentieth century the International Time Recording Company supplied an entire line of timekeeping devices, including master clocks, several types of time clocks, and time stamps. Founded in 1900, the firm continuously expanded its product line, underwent several reorganizations and name changes, and emerged in 1924 as the International Business Machine Corporation, familiar today as IBM.
One of the firm's most popular products was the dial time recorder, a clock that could furnish a daily or weekly record of up to 150 employees. Based on the 1888 patent of physician Alexander Dey, the dial time recorder was essentially a spring-driven clock with a cast-iron wheel affixed to its dial side. The rim of the wheel was perforated with numbered holes. As employees pressed a rotating pointer into the hole at their assigned number, the machine recorded the time on a preprinted sheet and rang a bell with each punch. A two-color ribbon printed all regular time in green and all tardiness, early departures, and overtime in red.
This International dial time recorder hung in a factory in the garment district of New York City.
Date made
ca 1912
manufacturer
IBM
ID Number
ME.336750
catalog number
336750
accession number
1978.2237

Advertising Button, IBM, PC jr

This circular button has black text on a white background. It reads: The easy one for everyone. Red text on a white background reads: IBM PC jr. The button also shows Charlie Chaplin reclining with a cane.Currently not on view
Description
This circular button has black text on a white background. It reads: The easy one for everyone. Red text on a white background reads: IBM PC jr. The button also shows Charlie Chaplin reclining with a cane.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c 1984
maker
IBM
ID Number
2009.3071.004
catalog number
2009.3071.004
nonaccession number
2009.3071

Software and Documentation, Personal Editor by IBM and SixPakPlus by AST Research Inc.

This box contains a binder with documentation, software, and keyboard mapping chart for IBM’s Personal Editor version 1.00 released in 1982.
Description
This box contains a binder with documentation, software, and keyboard mapping chart for IBM’s Personal Editor version 1.00 released in 1982. It also holds the documentation for AST Research Inc.’s SixPakPlus memory expansion and /IO card and the SixPak utility programs.
Before the computer mouse, windows, icons and the menus of modern operating systems were commonplace, text editing was completed using commands. Programs like IBM’s Personal Editor facilitated the process by providing pre-defined commands and function keys for commonly used actions (e.g. copy, move, erase, margin, and tab settings). The program also provided the user with the ability to redefine keys to perform repetitive editing tasks.
In the early 1980s, AST Inc. designed add-on expansion cards for IBM personal computers as well as other compatible computers. A typical AST multifunction card would include a RS-232 serial port, parallel printer port, battery-backed clock/calendar, game port, and 384 KB of dynamic random access memory. This 1983 version of the SixPakPlus User’s Manual includes instructions for installing the expansion board and setting the configuration switches. The SuperPak User’s Manual describes the utility programs that accompanied the expansion card. These programs provided the means to maximize the addressable user memory. They allocated a portion of the memory for use as a superfast disk drive and print jobs could run as background tasks thereby freeing the computer for other work.
References:
“PC Mag,” October 1983, p. 521.
“PC Mag,” Dec 4, 1985, p. 231.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1982 - 1983
maker
IBM
AST Research, Inc.
ID Number
2012.3098.028
catalog number
2012.3098.028
nonaccession number
2012.3098

Advertising Button, Microsoft Inc., OS/2

This square button has a black background with encircled "OS/2" logos in red, yellow, green, grey, and blue.Currently not on view
Description
This square button has a black background with encircled "OS/2" logos in red, yellow, green, grey, and blue.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c 1981
c 1992
maker
IBM
ID Number
2009.3071.017
catalog number
2009.3071.017
nonaccession number
2009.3071

Sheets, IBM 360 . . . Emulation of IBM 1401/1460

This document describes use of the IBM1401/1460 emulator for use with the IBM System/360 Model 40, that is to say it discusses ways of useing the Model 40 to run programs written for the IBM 1401 or IBM 1406 with relatively little reprogramming.
Description
This document describes use of the IBM1401/1460 emulator for use with the IBM System/360 Model 40, that is to say it discusses ways of useing the Model 40 to run programs written for the IBM 1401 or IBM 1406 with relatively little reprogramming. The stapled sheets have IBM file number S360-35 and IBM form number C28-6561-2.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966
maker
IBM
ID Number
1994.3128.11
catalog number
1994.3128.11
nonaccession number
1994.3128

IBM Reference Manual, 709/7090 FORTRAN Programming System

This is the 1961 edition of a manual first published in 1958. It includes an errata sheet. The document has IBM, form number C28-6054-2.Currently not on view
Description
This is the 1961 edition of a manual first published in 1958. It includes an errata sheet. The document has IBM, form number C28-6054-2.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1961
maker
IBM
ID Number
1994.3128.08
nonaccession number
1994.3128
catalog number
1994.3128.08

IBM DENKE (THINK) Sign

This rectangular plastic desk sign reads "DENKE" in black lettering. “Denke” is German for “Think,” the slogan developed by Thomas Watson Sr.
Description
This rectangular plastic desk sign reads "DENKE" in black lettering. “Denke” is German for “Think,” the slogan developed by Thomas Watson Sr. when he was a sales manager for the National Cash Register Company, exhorting his salesmen to use their heads, not their feet—their job was to think. As IBM CEO during the 1920s, Watson continued to encourage innovation and “THINK” became a ubiquitous slogan in IBM paraphernalia including notepads, advertising, products—even the title of the company magazine. By 1950 IBM had offices in seventy-nine countries and created “THINK” signs in local languages.
References:
IBM 100, A Culture of Think, accessed September 4, 2014, A Culture of Think
Kevin Maney, The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2003), 147–160.
maker
IBM
ID Number
2013.3049.02
nonaccession number
2013.3049
catalog number
2013.3049.02

Model of an IBM System 360 Computer

In 1964 IBM Corporation announced a new family of room-sized computers, the IBM 360 System. It included several models of differing cost and capabilities.
Description
In 1964 IBM Corporation announced a new family of room-sized computers, the IBM 360 System. It included several models of differing cost and capabilities. These embraced a full circle of computer applications, from business data processing to sophisticated science and engineering; hence the name 360. To sell the new product, IBM salesmen used scale models like this one. It shows the smallest IBM 360 System, the 30. Depending on the components selected, it rented for between $2,700 and $20,000 per month. More powerful versions of the System/360 rented for around $115,000 per month.
Components include the central processing unit with control panel (attached is a desk with the printer-keyboard), a disc storage unit, three forms of tape drive, a disk storage drive, and a printer with paper. Most systems also would have included a card punch and a card reader. Each room-sized computer had its own staff who prepared programs on punched cards or magnetic tape, entered them into computers, maintained the circuitry, and delivered results. If an organization acquired one of the machines, most employees would never see it.
The IBM 360 proved a highly successful product worldwide. This model was used by Timothy J. Bergin first in teaching computer science and then in exhibits at American University.
References:
IBM, IBM System / 360 Installation Manual - Physical Planning.
E. W. Pugh, L. R. Johnson and J. H. Palmer, IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991.
date made
ca 1964
date received
2013
maker
IBM
ID Number
2013.0129.02
accession number
2013.0129
catalog number
2013.0129.02

IBM "THINK" Sign

This rectangular orange plastic desk sign reads "THINK" in black lettering. “THINK” was the slogan developed by Thomas Watson Sr. when he was a sales manager for the National Cash Register Company, exhorting his salesmen to use their heads, not their feet—their job was to think.
Description
This rectangular orange plastic desk sign reads "THINK" in black lettering. “THINK” was the slogan developed by Thomas Watson Sr. when he was a sales manager for the National Cash Register Company, exhorting his salesmen to use their heads, not their feet—their job was to think. As IBM CEO during the 1920s, Watson continued to encourage innovation and “THINK” became a ubiquitous slogan in IBM paraphernalia including notepads, advertising, products—even the title of the company magazine. By the 1950s, IBM sales staffs distributed “THINK" signs like this one to their customers. An IBM customer representative gave the donor this sign.
maker
IBM
ID Number
1995.0248.02
accession number
1995.0248
catalog number
1995.0248.02

Advertising Button, IBM, Personal Computer

This circular button has black text on a white background, as well as a red heart that serves as a symbol for the word love. The text reads: I (Heart) my IBM Personal Computer.Currently not on view
Description
This circular button has black text on a white background, as well as a red heart that serves as a symbol for the word love. The text reads: I (Heart) my IBM Personal Computer.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c 1981
c 1984
maker
IBM
ID Number
2009.3071.001
catalog number
2009.3071.001
nonaccession number
2009.3071

IBM Lapel Pin

This circular lapel pin has a butterfly clutch clasp and a gold border.
Description
This circular lapel pin has a butterfly clutch clasp and a gold border. A large dark blue circular section has gold text reading "WORKGROUP SOLUTIONS," a smaller green circlular section has gold text reading "LEADERSHIP," and a smaller gold circle has dark blue text reading "IBM." The reverse and the clasp are of gold-colored metal.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
IBM
ID Number
2009.3071.698
catalog number
2009.3071.698
nonaccession number
2009.3071

Advertising Button, Microsoft Inc., OS/2

This circular button has dark blue text on a white background. It reads: I WANT OS/2 2.0. Text written in black permanent marker on the reverse side of the button reads: PC EXPO NY 6/92.Currently not on view
Description
This circular button has dark blue text on a white background. It reads: I WANT OS/2 2.0. Text written in black permanent marker on the reverse side of the button reads: PC EXPO NY 6/92.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c 1992
maker
IBM
ID Number
2009.3071.009
catalog number
2009.3071.009
nonaccession number
2009.3071

Advertising Button, IBM

This circular button has a white background. In the holographic image, “OEM” in red text alters with the IBM logo.Currently not on view
Description
This circular button has a white background. In the holographic image, “OEM” in red text alters with the IBM logo.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c 1980
maker
IBM
ID Number
2009.3071.012
catalog number
2009.3071.012
nonaccession number
2009.3071

Advertising Button, IBM

This circular button has white text on a dark blue background. It reads: “What's DIS?” and also is marked with the IBM Logo. Text written in black ink on the reverse side of the button reads: CDX '91.Currently not on view
Description
This circular button has white text on a dark blue background. It reads: “What's DIS?” and also is marked with the IBM Logo. Text written in black ink on the reverse side of the button reads: CDX '91.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c 1992
maker
IBM
ID Number
2009.3071.016
catalog number
2009.3071.016
nonaccession number
2009.3071

Button, The Well-Connected Enterprise

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
IBM
ID Number
1987.3128.079
nonaccession number
1987.3128
catalog number
1987.3128.079

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