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. 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. Other artifacts range from personal computers to ENIAC, the Altair, and the Osborne 1. 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
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Page 1 of 127
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ENIAC
- Date made
- 1947
- maker
- University of Pennsylvania
- ID Number
- COLL.ENIAC.000001
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
MacKichan Software Packet
- Description
- This is part of a small collection of material collected from advertisers at the January, 2004, Joint Mathematics Meeting, a conference of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America. The blue and white folder includes printed materials, a business card, and a cd-ROM.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- MacKichan Software, Inc.
- ID Number
- 2004.3019.04
- catalog number
- 2004.3019.04
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3019
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Mouse Pad, MacKichan Software, Inc., Scientific Suite
- Description
- This is part of a small collection of material collected from advertisers at the January, 2004, Joint Mathematics Meeting, a conference of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America. The shiny hard-top mouse pad has a non-skid rubber bottom layer. It displays a multi-color computer representation of a geometric surface.This is part of a small collection of material collected from advertisers at the January, 2004, Joint Mathematics Meeting, a conference of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America. The shiny hard-top mouse pad has a non-skid rubber bottom layer. It displays a multi-color computer representation of a geometric surface.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- MacKichan Software, Inc.
- ID Number
- 2004.3019.05
- catalog number
- 2004.3019.05
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3019
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Mouse Pad, MacKichan Software, Inc. Scientific Word
- Description
- This is part of a small collection of material collected from advertisers at the January, 2004, Joint Mathematics Meeting, a conference of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America. The very flexible rubber mouse pad has a woven top. It displays a multi-color geometric surface on a yellow background.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- MacKichan Software, Inc.
- ID Number
- 2004.3019.06
- catalog number
- 2004.3019.06
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3019
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Mouse Pad, Mathematica 5
- Description
- This is part of a small collection of material collected from advertisers at the January, 2004, Joint Mathematics Meeting, a conference of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America. The.matte hard-top mouse pad shows an orange geometric surface on a black background.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2004.3019.07
- catalog number
- 2004.3019.07
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3019
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Pamphlet, Casio Educational Products Catalog
- Description
- This is part of a small collection of material collected from advertisers at the January, 2004, Joint Mathematics Meeting, a conference of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America. It is a.catalog of products for mathematics education sold by Casio.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 2002-2003
- maker
- Casio Computer Company
- ID Number
- 2004.3019.08
- catalog number
- 2004.3019.08
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3019
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Folder, Texas Instruments K-8 Classroom Technology and Resources
- Description
- This is part of a small collection of material collected from advertisers at the January, 2004, Joint Mathematics Meeting, a conference of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America. These materials describe classroom technology for grades K-8 and related resources sold by Texas Instruments. The folder includesf brochures and pamphlets as well as two cd-ROM discs.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 2001
- maker
- Texas Instruments
- ID Number
- 2004.3019.09
- catalog number
- 2004.3019.09
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3019
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
The Guardian IMY2KC Baseball Cap
- Description
- In the early days of electronic computers, memory was not as efficient or inexpensive as it is today. To save memory space, programs stored as few digits as possible for dates. In COBOL, for instance, January 1, 1999, was stored as 010199. As Year 2000, or Y2K for short, approached, it became apparent that there might be serious problems because many large-scale systems were based on older programs. Simply, the problem with storing only two digits for the year is that a year written as “00” might be read by a computer as the year 1900 instead of the year 2000. If left unfixed, computer hardware, software, and communications worldwide could have malfunctioned. The impact of the “Millennium Bug” might have been catastrophic because the use of computers and networks has become integral to our lives: banking, communications, transportation, medicine, and even cooking is rarely done without some kind of computerized assistance.
- To fix this potential problem, governments and businesses began operations in the 1990s to make sure all necessary computer systems had been checked or converted to new systems to minimize loss of services. The Guardian Life Insurance Company is an example of a large business that needed to fix their systems. The company's Y2K Project Team analyzed over 20 million lines of code and over 17 thousand computer programs and verified that all of their systems were in compliance and ready to go by December 31, 1999. To approach their goals, the Y2K Project Team distributed these baseball caps to internal departments as their systems were confirmed Y2K-compliant. This worked to foster healthy internal competition and cooperation at Guardian and helped the team complete its task. The embroidered letters on the front of each cap read “IMY2KC,” which stands for “I am Y2K Complaint.” The embroidered letters on the back of the cap read “RU,” which stands for “Are you?”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1999
- maker
- Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
- ID Number
- 2004.3020.01
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3020
- catalog number
- 2004.3020.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
The Guardian IMY2KC Baseball Cap
- Description
- This cap is a duplicate of 2004.3020.01
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1999
- maker
- Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
- ID Number
- 2004.3020.02
- catalog number
- 2004.3020.02
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3020
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
2000 Countdown Baseball Cap
- Description
- The Y2K project directors at Guardian Life Insurance in lower Manhattan, used objects such as baseball caps and model trains to promote competition between the divisions and to keep team spirits up as the work moved forward. A model train was displayed in the company lobby, and as a division became Y2K compliant, a car with the division’s name on it was added to the train.
- The Y2K project directors wore this baseball cap to team meetings when they felt the team was losing focus. The cap is embroidered with "Count Down 2000" and has a digital readout that counted down to the year 2000.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1999
- maker
- Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
- ID Number
- 2004.3020.03
- catalog number
- 2004.3020.03
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3020
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Micro Focus, Revolve 2000 Computer Dongle
- Description
- Leading up to the new millennium, many computer companies offered products or services to assist with transitioning computer systems to the year 2000. For example, Micro Focus sold Revolve 2000 that would identify lines of code that could potentially be affected by the change to year 2000. At Guardian Life Insurance the Y2K project directors negotiated a ten-cent cost per line contract with Micro (IBM was offering the same service for $1.25 per line.) Nearly twenty million (20,000,000) lines of code were analyzed by the end of the project. Of that number, less than one percent needed to be updated.
- This dongle is one of twenty Guardian purchased to track the number of lines of code analyzed.
- References:
- Computerworld, September 12, 1994, pg 67.
- Computerworld, November 11, 1996, pg 11 (advertisement).
- InfoWorld, January 15, 1996, pg. 5 (advertisement).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1996
- maker
- Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
- ID Number
- 2004.3020.04
- catalog number
- 2004.3020.04
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3020
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
The Guardian Y2K Project Core Team Photograph
- Description
- At Guardian Life Insurance Company, the Y2K team formed in 1996, consisted of fifty individuals chosen from within the company. By April 2000 the Guardian Life Insurance Company’s Y2K team had completed their task. Less than one percent of the approximately twenty million lines of code analyzed were identified as potentially affected by the year 2000. That number is still nearly 200,000 lines of code that had to be manually reviewed, updated, and tested. As part of the work they discovered and quarantined 2,500 obsolete programs. They had “cleaned house” and improved their disaster recovery procedures.
- Pictured in the photograph is the 12-member core team. From left to right: Spencer Parness, Marianne Puma, Chris Chen, Brian Marshall, Arthur Bonagura, Emilio Rodriguez, Thomas Mannix (Y2K Project Assistant Director, and donor of the Guardian objects), Ann Foyler, Mark Malone, Janet Sokoloff (Y2K Project Director), Joseph Connel, and Armond DePaulo.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1999
- maker
- Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
- ID Number
- 2004.3020.05
- catalog number
- 2004.3020.05
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3020
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
New York Licence Plate, IMY2KC
- Description
- New York License plate, personalized with "IMY2KC." The previous owner of this license plate was the manager of a 5-year Y2K Upgrade Project for Guardian Life Insurance. The plate is red and blue on a white background with the Statue of Liberty on the left.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1990s
- ID Number
- 2004.3020.06
- catalog number
- 2004.3020.06
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3020
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Y2K Sandglass
- Description
- One of the many computer companies offering products or services to assist with transitioning to the year 2000 was TSR, Inc. They provided “Catch 21” a Y2K software solution for IBM-based computer systems. Although Guardian Life Insurance Company did not use the software, they did use the TSR marketing gift, a three-minute sand timer encased in clear and blue acrylic.
- Since the Y2K project had an unchangeable completion date, deadlines had to be met, decisions needed to be made without delay, and the people who could make high level decisions had to attend scheduled meetings. This sand timer was used at several meetings to reinforce these points. If given a response of “we need to get back to you,” the Assistant Project Director would set the timer on the table and give them until the sand ran out for a decision.
- The project was completed on time and Guardian encountered no application outages or loss of business with the transition to the new millennium!
- References: [last accessed 2019-09-23]
- https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/tsr-inc-announces-retirement-of-chairman-ceo-joseph-f-hughes-2017-07-05
- https://trsconsulting.com/trs-consulting-about-us/
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1990s
- maker
- TSR Hobbies
- ID Number
- 2004.3020.07
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3020
- catalog number
- 2004.3020.07
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Hot Sauce Bottle, Y2K Millennium Meltdown R-U-Ready?
- Description
- As the “Millennium Bug” gained media attention, some businesses used the hype to market special millennium foods. From cars to breakfast cereal, companies like the Figueroa Brothers, Inc., cashed in on the Y2K name. This bottle once contained Y2K Millennium Meltdown ¿R-U-Ready? hot sauce, a spicy concoction made with jalapeño peppers.
- The Guardian Life Insurance Company's Y2K Project Team spent over three years working to make their company Y2K compliant. This meant many late nights working and thus many visits to the local restaurants. This bottle of hot sauce was given to the team by the owner of the restaurant most frequented by the team.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1990-1999
- recipient
- Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
- maker
- Figueroa Brothers, Inc.
- ID Number
- 2004.3020.08
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3020
- catalog number
- 2004.3020.08
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Computer Associates Y2K Advertisement
- Description
- This Y2K advertisment was from Computer Associates, a system and application software company now owned by Broadcom of California. The front features a man standing before a very large chalk board pointing to an endlessly long scientific equation. Below the image it reads: “And Now, A Simple Explanation Of How To Prepare For The Upcoming Century Date Change.” On the reverse is a letter from the company’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, Rich Chiarello. The letter invites readers to attend a free 7-hour seminar titled “The CA Discovery 2000 Seminar.” Participants would learn the size of the problem, available options, where to start, and how much it would cost to remediate their Y2K problems.
- References: [last accessed 2019-09-24]
- https://www.newsday.com/business/technology/ca-computer-associates-broadcom-1.19772182
- https://tdwi.org/Articles/2018/09/06/BIZ-ALL-CA-Technologies-Acquirer-to-be-Acquired.aspx
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1990s
- maker
- Computer Associates
- ID Number
- 2004.3020.09
- catalog number
- 2004.3020.09
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3020
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Sex and the City Computer
- 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Hewlett-Packard HP-41X Handheld Electronic Calculator, Engineering Model
- Description
- This is an engineering prototype for an improved form of the HP-41CX, one of the first forms of an Hewlett-Packard handheld electronic calculator that could show letters as well as numbers in the display. The HP-41 series included the HP-41C (introduced 1979 – code name coconut), the HP-41CV (introduced in late 1980), and the HP-41CX (introduced in 1983). In the course of the 1980s, Hewlett-Packard engineers devised a way of building the calculators with fewer chips that cut the cost in half and improved reliability. These were codenamed “halfnut” calculators. This is a model for the “halfnut” version of the HP-41CX, made in about 1985.
- The prototype has a translucent plastic case, and four rubber feet. A plastic template covers the keyboard. This keypad is marked with the functions of the calculator in orange, white, and blue. A latch just below the display releases the template. Under the template are thirty-five plastic keys, marked in white and blue. The calculator lacks the usual keyboard under the keys, having a transparent one instead.
- Four buttons behind the keys are for turning on the machine, setting user determined key functions, setting programming mode, and setting alphabetic mode. Behind this is the LCD display.
- The top edge has four slots for additional memory or devices. One of these is empty, one of them has a chip encased in plastic, and two of them have plastic frames but no circuitry. The chip enclosed in plastic is a prototype for an infrared “blinkie” transmitter linking the calculator to a printer. Such a transmitter originally was envisioned for calculators in the HP-28 series, but a Hewlett-Packard engineer suggested that HP-41 calculators also could link to the printer.
- A mark along the front edge of the calculator reads: hp HEWLETT • PACKARD 41CX. Text at the top of the back reads: SERIAL NO. However, there is no serial number.
- The donor of this model, David Rabinowitz, was an employee of Hewlett-Packard from 1975 until 1989 and worked on the design of the halfnut form of the HP41CX calculator as well as on HP’s infrared printers.
- The 41C and 41CV sold until 1990, the 41CX until 1991. (another source (http://www.hpmuseum.org/hp41.htm) gives dates of discontinuation of 1985 for the HP-41C, 1990 for the HP-41CV and 1990 for the HP-41CX).
- References:
- W.A.C. Mier-Jedrzejowicz, A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers , Tustin, California: Wilson/Burnett Publishing, 1997, pp. 65–66, 133.
- David G. Hicks, The Museum of HP Calculators, http://www.hpmuseum.org/, accessed July, 2014.
- Accession file.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1982
- maker
- Hewlett-Packard Company
- ID Number
- 2004.0165.01
- accession number
- 2004.0165
- catalog number
- 2004.0165.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
HP 82240A Redeye B Printer, Engineering Model
- Description
- This portable thermal printer is a prototype for the HP 82240A printer developed as an accessory for Hewlett-Packard handheld calculators. Connection to a calculator is through infrared radiation, not by any cord.
- Hewlett-Packard announced that the HP-28C calculator would be supplied with a printer before actually developing the product. The donor, David Rabinowitz, was the project manager for the printer project. R&D specified that the signal between calculator and printer would be infrared. Rabinowitz decided that that it would travel only over about three feet (so as not to interfere with other electronic devices – this had been a problem with the infrared keyboard products like the IBM PC Jr.) Because the product had been announced, the printer was to be available within a year. The prototype dates from 1985 or 1986, and production began not long thereafter.
- The object has a translucent plastic case. It has buttons for on/off, print contrast, and paper advance. A mark toward the bottom left of the case reads: hp HEWLETT (/) PACKARD.
- The infrared filter, a black piece on the front edge of the printer, blocks out light of other frequencies. A small square black detector behind it detects the infrared radiation. The Intel-designed 8050 chip in the case has 256 bytes of RAM and 4096 bytes of ROM. Software in the ROM decodes the signals, times the circuits, and controls the heaters in the print head that heat the thermal paper behind it. These temperature changes caused chemical changes, darkening the paper to print letters, numbers or graphs. Depending on the paper used, the printing was either blue or black.
- The infrared demodulator chip required an operating voltage of 5 volts. The four batteries in the printer produced 6.4 volts when new, decreasing with time to as low as about four volts. A CMOS chip in the printer circuit boosted the voltage to five volts, but printing could be slow when the batteries were low. Using an AC adapter plugged into the wall guaranteed a higher voltage so the motor ran faster and printing was more rapid.
- References:
- Yves Nievergelt, “The Chip with the College Education: the HP-28C,” The American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 94, # 9, November 1987, pp. 895-902.
- Accession File.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1985-1986
- maker
- Hewlett-Packard Company
- ID Number
- 2004.0165.2
- catalog number
- 2004.0165.2
- accession number
- 2004.0165
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
photograph
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1960
- depicted
- Smith, Howard K.
- Kennedy, John F.
- Nixon, Richard M.
- IBM
- ID Number
- 2004.0204.16
- accession number
- 2004.0204
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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