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
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Page 1 of 621
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Cannel Coal
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1890
- ID Number
- DL.150433
- catalog number
- 150433
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ember Tongs
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1890
- ID Number
- DL.167068
- catalog number
- 167068
- accession number
- 26981
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Safety Matches
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1896
- ID Number
- DL.175962
- catalog number
- 175962
- accession number
- 31372
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Pilocarpin Hydrobrom.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1893
- maker
- E. Merck
- ID Number
- MG.142298
- catalog number
- 142298
- accession number
- 27022
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Pilocarpin Salicyl
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1893
- maker
- E. Merck
- ID Number
- MG.142301
- catalog number
- 142301
- accession number
- 27022
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Fireplace Bellows (Blower)
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1892 - 1893
- ID Number
- DL.167038
- catalog number
- 167038
- accession number
- 26981
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Fireplace Bellows
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1892 - 1893
- ID Number
- DL.166987
- catalog number
- 166987
- accession number
- 26981
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
chair
- date made
- 1891
- ID Number
- DL.315340.0079
- catalog number
- 315340.0079
- accession number
- 315340
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
chair
- date made
- 1891
- ID Number
- DL.315340.0082
- catalog number
- 315340.0082
- accession number
- 315340
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Coley's Mixture - A Mixed Culture of Streptococcus Pyogenes and Bacillus Prodigiosus
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1898
- maker
- Parke, Davis and Company
- ID Number
- MG.142333
- accession number
- 33542
- maker number
- 588049
- catalog number
- 142333
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Scrimshaw Sperm Whale’s Tooth
- Description
- On the main side of this carved tooth is a generic American sailing ship without any of the conventional attributes of whaling, merchant or naval vessels. It has only a large American flag at the stern to set it apart.
- What makes this tooth unusual is the carving on the reverse side. It is a picture of a medieval archer, complete with quiver, arrows, sword and shield. An American flag completes the ensemble, and the archer is capped with a little hat with a feather off to one side. This is almost certainly derived from an image in a contemporary magazine, perhaps of a costumed archer from some sort of a public performance (opera, play, musical group). On long whaling voyages, magazines and newspapers were prized commodities, and whalemen often cut out the pictures, pasted them on polished whale’s teeth and pinpricked through the image to derive an outline for further carving. The pinpricks on this image clearly outline the major details and in this way, even a sailor who couldn’t draw freehand could produce a fine carving on a sperm whale’s tooth.
- date made
- 1875-1899
- ID Number
- DL.65.1132
- catalog number
- 65.1132
- accession number
- 256396
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Reflector Oven
- Description
- Reflector oven made in two parts, a four-sided, angled-top hood open at front and bottom and a four-sided, angled-bottom base on two strap legs with a lift-out tray in its open top; two tab hinges along the bottom back edge of the hood fit into slots in the rim of the base. Hood has a wire ring handle at front center; base has two, arched, molded strap handles soft-soldered at top center of its sides. Hood and base have wire-rolled rims and folded seams, while the removable tray is made of one piece, cut and folded, with a turned-out, horizontal rim and two circular wire rings riveted at inside center of its ends. No marks.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1860-1890
- ID Number
- DL.257491.0085
- catalog number
- 257491.0085
- accession number
- 257491
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Reflector Oven
- Description
- Semicylindrical reflector oven with angled slots on its straight sides for the crank-handled, three-slot, roasting spit, and a hinged door with scrolled hasp handle on its curved back decorated with an embossed incurved-corner rectangle. Two, arched, molded strap handles are soft-soldered at both ends on the back above the door, while two arched strap feet are soft-soldered to the underside. Small spout at bottom of right side for draining drippings. Wire-rolled rims and folded seams; heavy-gauge wire along the front side edges is looped at top and reinforced with the spiraling ends of that along the bottom. No marks.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1860-1890
- ID Number
- DL.257491.0097
- catalog number
- 257491.0097
- accession number
- 257491
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
engine
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1890 - 1895
- ID Number
- DL.68.0660A
- catalog number
- 68.0660A
- accession number
- 278084
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
passenger car
- date made
- ca 1890 - 1895
- ID Number
- DL.68.0660C
- catalog number
- 68.0660C
- accession number
- 278084
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Anti-Diphtheritic Serum No. 4 - Vial Contains 2000 Normal Anti-toxic Units
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1898
- maker
- Parke, Davis and Company
- ID Number
- MG.142329.02
- accession number
- 33542
- catalog number
- 142329.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Anti-Tetanic Serum - Parke, Davis & Co.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1898
- maker
- Parke, Davis and Company
- ID Number
- MG.142335.02
- accession number
- 33542
- catalog number
- 142335.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Anti-Tetanic Serum - Parke, Davis & Co.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1898
- maker
- Parke, Davis and Company
- ID Number
- MG.142335.03
- accession number
- 33542
- catalog number
- 142335.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Anti-Streptococcic Serum - Parke, Davis & Co.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1898
- maker
- Parke, Davis and Company
- ID Number
- MG.142334.03
- accession number
- 33542
- catalog number
- 142334.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Anti-Tubercle Serum
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1898
- maker
- Parke, Davis and Company
- ID Number
- MG.142331
- catalog number
- 142331
- accession number
- 33542
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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