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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Counter from a Hollerith Tabulating Machine
- Description
- This is a single counter from a Hollerith tabulating machine. It has square brass pieces on top and bottom, with a brass mechanism in between. A paper-covered metal dial on top is divided around the edge into 100 equal parts. Two hands are on the face of the dial. Advancing the small hand by 100 (one revolution) advances the large hand by one. Hence the counter can read up to 9,999.
- A mark around the center of the dial reads: THE HOLLERITH (/) ELECTRIC TABULATING SYSTEM (/) PATENTED, 1889.
- Compare to the dials on MA.312895.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1890
- ID Number
- MA.335638
- catalog number
- 335638
- accession number
- 1977.0114
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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A Fundamental Punched Card Method for Technical Computations
- Description
- This paper describes the use of punched card equipment to solve technical problems, particularly those relating to the design of aircraft. The author, Everett Kimball, Jr., wrote this as technical advisor to the Machine Tabulating Division of the Bureau of the Census.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1945
- maker
- Kimball, Jr., Everett
- ID Number
- 1995.3080.04.11
- nonaccession number
- 1995.3080
- catalog number
- 1995.3080.04.11
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Hollerith Pantograph Card Punch
- Description
- This cast-iron object has a metal base that holds, at the top front, a sheet of plastic with holes in it, marked with the categories of the 1890 U.S. Census of population. In back of this is a holder for a punched card. A long arm, pivoted at the back, extends over the card and the plastic sheet. It has two projections on it. One fits into holes in the plastic sheet and the other punches holes in the card.The action is similar to that of a pantograph - hence the device is called a pantograph punch.
- A mark on the plastic template reads: THE TABULATING MACHINE COMPANY, WASHINGTON, D.C. (/) System Patented January 8, 1889.
- For related objects see MA.312895 and MA.312897. Compare 2011.3121.01 and MA.317982.03.
- The Tabulating Machine Company was formed by Herman Hollerith in 1896 and merged to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in 1911.
- Reference:
- Leon E. Truesdell, The Development of Punch Card Tabulation in the Bureau of the Census 1890–1940, Washington: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1965, pp. 43–44.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1900
- maker
- Tabulating Machine Company
- ID Number
- MA.312896
- accession number
- 171118
- catalog number
- 312896
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Book of U.S.. Patents Issued to Herman Hollerith
- Description
- This bound volume includes printed copies of twenty-nine U.S. patents from the period 1886 to 1910. Twenty-eight of them were issued to Herman Hollerith, one (for an adding machine) was taken out by Tolbert Lanston and assigned to Hollerith. A mark on the spine reads: U.S.PATENTS (/) TO (/) H. HOLLERITH.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1886-1910
- maker
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- ID Number
- 1977.0114.07
- accession number
- 1977.0114
- catalog number
- 1977.0114.07
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
U.S. Bureau of the Census Tabulating Machine
- Description
- From 1890 through 1950, information collected in the decennial United States census of population was punched onto cards and compiled using tabulating machines. At first the Bureau of the Census rented machines on the design of Herman Hollerith. Concerned by the high rental charges, it decided to develop tabulating equipment in its own shop.This tabulating machine was first used in the 1920 Census and then, after modification, in the 1930 Census.
- The device accommodates 24-column cards. It has 60 four-position electromagnetic friction-driven counters with printing wheels and 50 electromagnetic relays, each with three contacts. The reading head contains individual wire brushes and contacts for each hole to be read. When a brush passes through a hole in a card, it encounters a contact and in turn activates the relays and counters.
- References:
- Accession File.
- L. E. Truesdell, The Development of Punch Card Tabulation in the Bureau of the Census 1890–1940, Washington: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1965.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1920
- maker
- U. S. Census Bureau
- ID Number
- MA.316863
- accession number
- 229657
- catalog number
- 316863
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Sorter for U.S. Bureau of the Census Tabulating System
- Description
- From 1890 through 1950, information collected in the decennial U.S. census of population was punched onto cards and compiled using tabulating machines. At first, the Bureau of the Census rented machines on the design of Herman Hollerith. Concerned by the high rental charges, the Bureau decided to develop tabulating equipment in its own shop. This horizontal card sorter is one result of that effort.
- The iron and steel instrument is designed for the mechanical, single-column sorting of 24-column cards. Cards are fed from the left.The device mechanically senses any one column at a time and sends cards to one of 12 pockets or, if no punch exists, into the thirteenth or reject pocket. A wooden shelf is at the front of the pockets and another one on the left side of the machine. A motor drives the sorter.
- As presently stored, one crate contains the sorter, and the second contains a metal piece painted black that has 12 pockets that apparently fits below.
- According to Museum records, the machine was first used in the processing of Vital Statistics in 1927 and then in the 1930 Census of Population. It was reconstructed in 1959.
- References:
- Accession File.
- L. E. Truesdell, The Development of Punch Card Tabulation in the Bureau of the Census 1890–1940, Washington: U. S. Department of Commerce, 1965.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1927
- maker
- U. S. Census Bureau
- ID Number
- MA.316862
- accession number
- 229657
- catalog number
- 316862
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Punch Board for a Hollerith Pantograph Card Punch
- Description
- This is the celluloid plate from the front of a pantograph card punch. The instrument was patented by Herman Hollerith and used in the U. S. Census of population in 1890. A mark on it reads: THE HOLLERITH ELECTRIC TABULATING SYSTEM (/) System Patented January 8th 1889.
- Compare MA.312896.
- Reference:
- Leon E. Truesdell, The Development of Punch Card Tabulation in the Bureau of the Census 1890–1940, Washington: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1965, pp. 43–44.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1890
- maker
- Hollerith, Herman
- ID Number
- MA.317982.03
- accession number
- 317982
- catalog number
- 317982.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Framed Letter Of Introduction for Herman Hollerith, 1880
- Description
- This handwritten letter of Francis A. Walker, superintendent of the Census, introduces Herman Hollerith, E.M., as a special agent of the Census Office for collecting statistics on power and machinery used in manufacture. The letter is dated March 18, 1880. The chief special agent was William P. Trowbridge, head of the Engineering Department at Columbia University, where Hollerith had studied.
- This letter marks the beginning of Hollerith’s association with the Bureau of the Census.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1880
- ID Number
- MA.317982.07
- accession number
- 317982
- catalog number
- 317982.07
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Hollerith Punch Card for Use in the Baltimore Census of Mortality
- Description
- By the late 19th century, the U.S. government no longer could compile all the statistics it needed by hand. The engineer Herman Hollerith designed a tabulating machine to count Americans by machine. Hollerith tried out his machine by compiling mortality statistics for the city of Baltimore on cards like this one. When this trial was successful, a modified form of Hollerith's card was used for the 1890 Census.
- This card has 32 rows of three circular punch positions along both of its long edges. It could be punched with holes using a punch like that used by a railroad conductor. It is intended for compiling the vital statistics for the city of Baltimore. It includes fields relating to place of origin (United States or Foreign and, once this choice was made, region or country of origin), cause of death, occupation (and possibly spouse's occupation), race, sex, and marital status. Four rows of holes, numbered from 1 to 12, may refer to the month of death, two columns numbered from 0 to 9 may refer to the day of death, and two columns with the numbers from 1 to 11 and 0. This is the earliest punch card of which Truesdell had a specific record.
- References:
- G. D. Austrian, Herman Hollerith: Forgotten Pioneer of Information Processing, New York: Columbia University Press, 1982, pp. 39–40.
- L. E. Truesdell, The Development of Punch Card Tabulation in the Bureau of the Census, pp. 38–39.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1887
- maker
- Hollerith, Herman
- ID Number
- MA.317982.02
- accession number
- 317982
- catalog number
- 317982.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Hollerith Tabulating Machine
- Description
- During the 1880s the engineer Herman Hollerith devised a set of machines for compiling data from the United States Census. Hollerith's tabulating system included a punch for entering data about each person onto a blank card, a tabulator for reading the cards and summing up information, and a sorting box for sorting the cards for further analysis. The tabulator is shown at the center in the photograph.
- Hollerith's tabulating system won a gold medal at the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, and was used successfully the next year to count the results of the 1890 Census. His inventions formed the starting point of a company that would become IBM.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Hollerith, Herman
- ID Number
- MA.312895
- accession number
- 171118
- catalog number
- 312895
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Hollerith Card Sorter
- Description
- During the 1880s the engineer Herman Hollerith devised a set of machines for compiling data from the U.S. Census. Hollerith's tabulating system included a punch for entering data about each person onto a blank card, a tabulator for reading the cards and summing up information, and a sorting box for sorting the cards for further analysis.
- This third part of the system, the sorter, is shown on the right in the photograph. It is an oak box with 26 vertical compartments arranged in two rows. Each compartment has a brass cover that is held in place by an electric catch connected to the tabulator. The sorter is connected by a cable to the tabulator. Once a card is read by the tabulator, a compartment opens in the sorter, indicating where the card should be placed for further counting. The front and back sides of the sorter open so that one may remove stacks of cards from the compartments.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1890
- maker
- Tabulating Machine Company
- ID Number
- MA.312897
- accession number
- 171118
- catalog number
- 312897
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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