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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Violano Virtuoso Roll #2846
- Description (Brief)
This music roll was made by Mills Novelty Company in Chicago, Illinois, about 1928-1929. It is Roll #2846, playable in a Violano Virtuoso player. The tune list for this roll is as follows:
Roll #2846 - Record Breaking Dance Tunes
14077: Rose of Yesterday (fox trot), Irving Berlin, copyright 1928, Irving Berlin
14078: You Took Advantage of Me from "Present Arms" (fox trot), Fields, Hart & Rodgers, copyright 1928, Harms, Inc.
14079: Out of the Tempest (waltz), Edward Grossman & Ted Ward, copyright 1928, Harms, Inc.
14080: Sonny Boy (fox trot), Al Jolson, De Sylva, Brown & Henderson, copyright 1928, De Sylva, Brown & Henderson)
14081: What D'ya Say from "George White's Scandals" (fox trot), De Sylva, Brown & Henderson, copyright 1928, De Sylva, Brown & Henderson- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1928-1929
- maker
- Mills Novelty Company
- ID Number
- MI.73.20
- accession number
- 289515
- catalog number
- 73.20
- maker number
- 2846
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
certified proof
- Crowdsourcing
- Transcribed by Smithsonian digital volunteers
- Location
- Currently not on view
- BEP certification date
- 1924-08-23
- plate date
- 1910-03-17
- series date
- 1902
- issuing authority
- U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Treasurer of the United States
- McClung, Thomas Lee
- Register of the Treasury
- Vernon, William Tecumseh
- issuing bank
- Washington Park National Bank of Chicago
- depicted
- Harrison, Benjamin
- manufacturer
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- ID Number
- NU.297219.006160
- accession number
- 297219
- catalog number
- 297219.006160
- bank charter number
- 3916
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Pituitary Liquid, Obstetrical, Liquor Pituitarii, .5 cc
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1928
- maker
- Armour and Company
- ID Number
- MG.M-02671.02
- catalog number
- M-02671.02
- accession number
- 106774
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
certified proof
- Crowdsourcing
- Transcribed by Smithsonian digital volunteers
- Location
- Currently not on view
- BEP certification date
- 1923-05-11
- plate date
- 1921-06-21
- series date
- 1902
- issuing authority
- U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Treasurer of the United States
- White, Frank
- Register of the Treasury
- Elliott, William S.
- issuing bank
- West Englewood National Bank of Chicago
- depicted
- Harrison, Benjamin
- manufacturer
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- ID Number
- NU.297219.007323
- accession number
- 297219
- catalog number
- 297219.007323
- bank charter number
- 12004
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
certified proof
- Crowdsourcing
- Transcribed by Smithsonian digital volunteers
- Location
- Currently not on view
- BEP certification date
- 1929-02-01
- plate date
- 1911-07-12
- series date
- 1902
- issuing authority
- U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Treasurer of the United States
- McClung, Thomas Lee
- Register of the Treasury
- Napier, James Carroll
- issuing bank
- National Bank of the Republic of Chicago
- depicted
- Harrison, Benjamin
- manufacturer
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- ID Number
- NU.297219.006289
- accession number
- 297219
- catalog number
- 297219.006289
- bank charter number
- 4605
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Aldine Square, Chicago
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1943
- 1946
- 1945
- ca 1940
- ca 1941
- 1942
- 1938
- 1923
- 1934
- 1922
- 1914
- maker
- Levy, Beatrice Sophia
- ID Number
- 2016.0380.25
- catalog number
- 2016.0380.25
- accession number
- 2016.0380
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Violano Virtuoso Roll #2550
- Description (Brief)
This music roll was made by Mills Novelty Company in Chicago, Illinois, about 1922-1925. It is Roll #2550, playable in a Violano Virtuoso player. The tune list for this roll is as follows:
Roll #2550 - Hand Played Classical Roll
9661: Medley of Old Favorites, arr. by J.F. Stelzl, My Old Kentucky Home, The Mocking Bird, Wearin' of the Green, Turkey In the Straw, Comin' Thru the Rye, Old Irish Washerwoman, Annie Laurie, Dixie – Finale
9662: Sometine from "Sometime" (song), Friml-Young, copyright 1918, G. Schirmer
9663: Somewhere a Voice Is Calling (ballad), A.F. Tate, copyright 1911, Harms, Inc.
9665: Every Little Movement from "Madame Sherr" (song), Hauerbach-Hoscher, copyright 1909, M. Witmark- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1922-1925
- maker
- Mills Novelty Company
- ID Number
- MI.73.11
- accession number
- 289515
- catalog number
- 73.11
- maker number
- 2550
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Model 1921
- Location
- Currently not on view
- associated date
- 1921 - 1924
- user
- Ostermeyer, Louis H.
- maker
- Hart, Schaffner & Marx
- ID Number
- AF.69568M
- catalog number
- 69568M
- accession number
- 268179
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Arnica Tooth Paste
- Description
- The indications or uses for this product as provided by the manufacturer are:
- an Excellent Article for Use to Whiten and Beautify the Teeth and Sterilize the Mouth. It Imparts a most Delightful Perfume to the Breath. Particularly for Children's Use.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1920
- maker
- C.H. Strong and Company
- ID Number
- 1980.0698.128
- accession number
- 1980.0698
- catalog number
- 1980.0698.128
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Book in Three Volumes, Theoretical Mechanics
- Description
- William Duncan MacMillan, professor of astronomy at the University of Chicago, published this three-part discussion of theoretical mechanics over the years 1927 to 1936. The first volume discusses the statics and dynamics of a particl, the second the dynamics of rigid bodies, and the third the theory of the potential. The volumes are not annotated.
- This copy of the book is from the personal library of William F. Eberth (1905-1976), who spent fifteen years of his career with the Atomic Energy Commission working in South Africa.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1927-1936
- 1927
- maker
- MacMillan, William Duncan
- ID Number
- MA.319872.09
- accession number
- 1975319872
- catalog number
- 319872.09
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
certified proof
- Crowdsourcing
- Transcribed by Smithsonian digital volunteers
- Location
- Currently not on view
- BEP certification date
- 1923-07-14
- plate date
- 1923-05-25
- series date
- 1902
- issuing authority
- U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Treasurer of the United States
- White, Frank
- Register of the Treasury
- Speelman, Harley V.
- issuing bank
- Jackson Park National Bank of Chicago
- depicted
- Harrison, Benjamin
- manufacturer
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- ID Number
- NU.297219.007337
- accession number
- 297219
- catalog number
- 297219.007337
- bank charter number
- 12391
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
"Looking at the World Thru Rose Colored Glasses"
- Description
- This sheet music is for the song, “Looking At the World Thru Rose Colored Glasses,” by Tommy Malie and Jimmy Steiger. It was published by Milton Weil Music Co. in Chicago, Illinois in 1926. There is an inset image of vaudevillian Corinne Arbuckle on the cover.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- publishing date
- 1926
- publisher
- Milton Weil Music Co. Inc.
- ID Number
- 1988.0538.03
- accession number
- 1988.0538
- catalog number
- 1988.0538.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Pituitary Liquid, Obstetrical and Surgical, liquor pituitarii, 1 cc
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1928
- maker
- Armour and Company
- ID Number
- MG.M-02672.04
- accession number
- 106774
- catalog number
- M-02672.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
certified proof
- Crowdsourcing
- Transcribed by Smithsonian digital volunteers
- Location
- Currently not on view
- BEP certification date
- 1928-10-25
- plate date
- 1928-08-01
- series date
- 1902
- issuing authority
- U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Treasurer of the United States
- Tate, Harold Theodore
- Register of the Treasury
- Woods, Walter Orr
- issuing bank
- Hyde Park National Bank of Chicago
- depicted
- Harrison, Benjamin
- manufacturer
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- ID Number
- NU.297219.007351
- accession number
- 297219
- catalog number
- 297219.007351
- bank charter number
- 13235
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Violano Virtuoso Roll #2038
- Description (Brief)
This music roll was made by Mills Novelty Company in Chicago, Illinois, about 1922-1925. It is Roll #2038, playable in a Violano Virtuoso player. The tune list for this roll is as follows:
Roll #2038 - Hand Played Dance Roll
8638: Gray Morn (fox trot), J. Morris Ward & Clinton Standish, copyright 1921, Forster Music Publishers, Inc.
8639: Sweet Man O' Mine (fox trot), Roy Turk & J. Russell Robinson, copyright 1921, Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co.
8640: By the Old Ohio Shore (waltz), Mary Earl, copryght 1921, Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc.
8641: Eddie Leonard Blues (fox trot), Val & Ernie Stanton, copyright 1922, Edward B. Marks Music Co.
8642: Thrills (fox trot), Eugene West, copyright 1921, Triangle Music Pub. Co.- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1922-1925
- maker
- Mills Novelty Company
- ID Number
- MI.73.05
- accession number
- 289515
- catalog number
- 73.05
- maker number
- 2038
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Pantograph Sold by the Frederick Post Company, Model 1495
- Description
- A pantograph is an instrument used to duplicate drawings, at different scales if need be. This example consists of four wooden arms held together with pins and a screw-eye with a wooden anchor support under one arm. Two metal screw-eyes are placed in holes which are numbered from 1 to 10. There is a tracer point in one arm, but there no longer is a pencil point.
- A mark stamped on one of the wooden bars reads: 1495 (/) POSTS. Below this is stamped an image of an eagle clutching a shield that is stamped P. This trademark appeared on the first page of the Frederick Post Company Catalog in 1903. By 1921, another trademark was used.
- The pantograph is number 1495 in the catalog of The Frederick Post Company. The company was started by Frederick Post (1862-1936), a native of Hamburg who emigrated to the United States in 1885 and soon settled in Chicago. By the time of the 1900 U.S. Census, he was a manufacturer of artist's materials there. Post imported drawing instruments and slide rules as well as manufacturing them. Whether his firm made this pantograph is not known.
- The instrument is from the estate of the American inventor of tabulating machines Herman Hollerith, Jr. In 1889, Hollerith introduced a device for punching cards for tabulating machines that was called a pantograph card punch. This pantograph dates from after that invention.
- For information about the pantograph card punch, see MA.312896.
- References:
- U. S. Census 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930.
- Catalogs of the Frederick Post Company.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1903-1922
- ID Number
- 1977.0114.04
- accession number
- 1977.0114
- catalog number
- 335636
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Tonsillotome
- Description
- The Sluder-Arrowsmith Tonsil Guillotine had a round opening rather than an oval ring. The form was designed by Greenfield Sluder (1865-1928), an ear, nose and throat physician in St Louis; modified by Hubert Arrowsmith (1865-1931), an ear, nose and throat physician in Brooklyn; and manufactured by V. Mueller & Co., of Chicago.
- Ref: H. Arrowsmith, “Modification of the Sluder Tonsillotome,” The Laryngoscope 24 (1914): 700.
- “Hubert Arrowsmith, Physician, Succumbs,” New York Times (Aug. 10, 1931), p. 15.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- about 1924
- maker
- Mueller, V.
- ID Number
- 1977.0808.007
- accession number
- 1977.0808
- catalog number
- 1977.0808.007
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
5,000 Dollars, Federal Reserve Note, United States, 1928
- Description (Brief)
- One (1) 5,000 dollar note
- United States, 1928
- Obverse Image: Portrait of James Madison.
- Obverse Text: 5000 / FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE / THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL PAY TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS / REDEEMABLE IN GOLD ON DEMAND AT THE UNITED STATES TREASURY, OR IN GOLD OR LAWFUL MONEY AT ANY FEDERAL RESERVE BANK. / SERIES OF 1928 / G00000001A / A 1 / G / THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF CHICAGO ILLINOIS / TREASURER OF THE UNITED STATES / SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY / MADISON / WASHINGTON, D.C
- Reverse Image: Decorative border.
- Reverse Text: 5000 / UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS
- Description
- James Madison was the fourth U.S. president and is often referred to as the “Father of the Constitution” because of his role in writing America’s founding documents. His portrait has been featured on the 5,000 dollar denominations of multiple series of U.S. notes.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1928
- depicted
- Madison, James
- maker
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- ID Number
- NU.78.5.730
- accession number
- 1978.0941
- catalog number
- 78.5.730
- serial number
- G00000001A
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Comptometer Model J With Operator's Lock
- Description
- This full keyboard key-driven non-printing adding machine has eight columns of keys. These are colored white and green, with digits and complementary digits. Keys for odd digits are concave, those for even ones are flat. Key stems become taller going from front to back. The mechanism has a steel cover painted brown. Decimal markers, number wheels, and subtraction levers are at the front of the machine, and a zeroing crank is on the right side. The holes showing the nine number wheels are covered with clear plastic. A red button above the keyboard on the right, and a black knob with an arrow on it is above the keyboard on the left.
- The machine is marked to the left of the keyboard with serial number J279,961. It is marked across the front of the machine: Comptometer. It is marked on a metal plaque on top of the machine in back of the keyboard: TRADE COMPTOMETER MARK. It is also marked there with a series of patent dates, the last of which is: NOV.2.20. It was received with a metal tag that reads: 14.
- The Model J Comptometer was introduced by Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company of Chicago in 1926. Improved design and construction reduced the effort of operating the keys, compared to earlier models. This model also featured a operator’s lock, which locked the Comptometer so that new data could not be entered when a calculation was entered. Rotating the black knob so that the arrow points to the front locked the machine. This example came from the collection of Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company, and was given to the Smithsonian by the successor company, Victor Comptometer Corporation.
- References: U.S. Patent 1,927,856 (granted September 26, 1933).
- Felt & Tarrant, Accession Journal, 1991.3107.06.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1926
- maker
- Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- MA.323644
- maker number
- J279,961
- catalog number
- 323644
- accession number
- 250163
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
certified proof
- Crowdsourcing
- Transcribed by Smithsonian digital volunteers
- Location
- Currently not on view
- BEP certification date
- 1927-01-06
- plate date
- 1911-07-12
- series date
- 1902
- issuing authority
- U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Treasurer of the United States
- McClung, Thomas Lee
- Register of the Treasury
- Napier, James Carroll
- issuing bank
- National Bank of the Republic of Chicago
- depicted
- Harrison, Benjamin
- manufacturer
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- ID Number
- NU.297219.006278
- accession number
- 297219
- catalog number
- 297219.006278
- bank charter number
- 4605
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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- Amusements 33
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- NNC-Certified Proofs-Face-IL-box 6 28
- Mathematics 25
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- Health & Medicine 23
- Science 22
- NNC-Certified Proofs-Face-IL-box 12 11
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- Antibody Initiative: Veterinary Vaccines and Serums 6
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- The Antibody Initiative 6
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object type
- Certified Proof 65
- Exchange Medium 65
- Face 65
- Money 65
- certified proof 65
- Prints 21
- biological 19
- Liquor Pituitarii 18
- Liquor Pituitarii; Biological Extracts; Biologicals; Drugs; Liquid 18
- biological extract, pituitary 18
- bookplate 13
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- Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection 71
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- Science & Mathematics 22
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- Home and Community Life: Domestic Life 14
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- Domestic Furnishings 7
- Antibody Initiative: Veterinary Vaccines and Serums 6
