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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Photograph of Ralph Slutz in His Office at the National Bureau of Standards
- Description
- In this small color image a message on the blackboard behind Slutz reads: DEAR (/) RALPH (/) I'm going away to Calif. (/) Pleas don't neglect (/) the plants until I come back. (/) Love ISR. This may be a message from collegue Ida S. Rhodes.
- The photograph is laminated with plastic on front and back. It may have a paper core.
- The object is associated with Margaret Fox.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- early 1950s
- maker
- National Bureau of Standards
- ID Number
- 2013.3034.23
- nonaccession number
- 2013.3034
- catalog number
- 2013.3034.23
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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The Punched Card: Embodying Punched Card Operations in all types of Business and Industry
- Description
- This paperback book has a yellow and turquoise cover. It was published in 1952 by the Punched Card Publishing Company of Detroit, Michigan. The punch card was an early means of date storage that could be read by computers or sorted and calculated by fields by specialized machines. By the 1950s the punched card had moved beyond merely recording census data, and was across the corporate landscape for billing, transportation schedules, libraries, payroll, and inventory management. This book served as a trade publication for the Punched Card Publishing Company, illustrating better business practices and new uses of punch cards and devices for reading them.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1952
- ID Number
- 2013.3049.03
- nonaccession number
- 2013.3049
- catalog number
- 2013.3049.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Mainframe Computer Component, RCA 501 Tape Station
- Description
- This transistorized unit was used to read, write, and erase binary characters on mylar-based magnetic tape for entry into the RCA 501 computer. The central rack assembly has components for reading, writing, and erasing magnetic tape. These include a tape transport mechanism, amplifiers, control circuits, and a power supply. This example has a single tape reel.
- The rack assembly fits into a specially built cabinet, from which it could be removed. In this instance the cabinet is painted blue-gray and white. Each RCA 501 computer had at least 6 tape stations. Depending on the components selected, the entire computer system rented for $11,700 to $20,445 per month. Should a business choose to buy the system, the list price of one magnetic tape station alone was $25,000 – $30,000. This is over twice the price of a typical American single family house at the time.
- The tape station is marked on the inside at the center toward the top: R58111. It is marked on the inside of the lower portion of the cabinet: RCA (/) MI SER 1515 (/) RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA. A plaque attached to the right side of the cabinet is marked : UNIVAC SPERRY RAND (/) SERIES 70. The form of the Sperry Rand trademark on the plaque was, according to trademark records, first used in commerce in 1967.
- References:
- "Tape Station," RCA 501 Electronic Data Processing System, Catalog EDP 581, Camden, N.J.: Radio Corporation of America, 1958.
- Martin H. Weik, "A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems," Aberdeen Proving Ground: Ballistics Research Laboratories, March, 1961, pp. 778-803.
- U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Historical Census of Housing Tables Home Values. Available online.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1959 or later
- date made
- 1959
- maker
- RCA Corporation
- ID Number
- 1979.0418.06
- catalog number
- 1979.0418.06
- accession number
- 1979.0418
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Mainframe Computer Component, Capacitor Bank Delay Line
- Description
- This metal frame contains a cylindrical metal rod with nineteen red and orange tiles soldered to it. The tiles each have an array of six colored circles on them.
- The object is associated with Margaret Fox. May come from the SEAC computer.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1955
- ID Number
- 2013.3034.08
- catalog number
- 2013.3034.08
- nonaccession number
- 2013.3034
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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First Draft of the Programming Language COBOL
- Description
- During 1959 the first plans for the computer language COBOL emerged as a result of meetings of several committees and subcommittees of programmers from American business and government. This heavily annotated typescript was prepared during a special meeting of the language subcommittee of the Short-Range Committee held in New York City in November. COBOL programs would actually run the following summer, and the same program was successfully tested on computers of two different manufacturers in December 1960.
- Reference: Jean E. Sammet, "The Early History of COBOL," History of Programming Languages, ed. Richard L. Wexelblat, New York: Academic Press, 1981, 199-277.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1959
- maker
- Conference on Data Systems Languages. Language Subcommittee of the Short-Range Committee
- ID Number
- 2010.3050.4
- catalog number
- 2010.3050.4
- nonaccession number
- 2010.3050
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Set of Documents Relating to a 1958 High School Course in Computers, with Punch Cards
- Description
- These materials come from an advanced placement senior-level mathematics course taught at Concord High School in Concord, Massachusetts, in the spring of 1958. The teacher, Norton A. Levy, used notes provided by Rollin P. Mayer and Alexander Vanderburgh, Jr., who had associations with Lincoln Laboratories of MIT. The materials were collected and donated by one of the students who took the course, Edward N. (Nicky) Chase. Approximately 102 pages and eight punch cards are included.
- Most of the pages are loose paper although some were stapled together. Most are of letter size while some are smaller. Included are a syllabus, notes taken by the user covering a history of computers and computer programming, classroom worksheets and notes, assignments, and tests. One computer discussed is the IBM 704.
- All the punch cards are in the eighty-column IBM style. One is punched with standard holes for digits, letters of the alphabet, and a few symbols. A mark on the right edge reads: IBM 5081. A second, unpunched card is pink along the top edge. It is marked on the right edge: UAC BINARY CARD #4. It is marked along the bottom: IBM898443. Five punched cards are in an envelope. Four of these are yellow along the top edge and marked along the right edge: UA SAP CARD #1. They are marked along the bottom edge: IBM884391. The fifth of these cards is green along the top edge and marked along the right edge: IBM893099 704 BINARY CARD. The last card, also an IBM 5081, has a series of numbers and letters written in pencil across the top twenty-five columns. The spaces that would need to be punched to indicate these symbols are outlined in green.
- The course included a visit to Lincoln Laboratories with a demonstration of a rocket trajectory plotted by computer. The donor went on to take courses in computers as an undergraduate and moved on to a career in computer graphics. He reports “That’s when I realized that the 1958 demo really was a big deal.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1958
- ID Number
- 2015.3072.01
- catalog number
- 2015.3072.01
- nonaccession number
- 2015.3072
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Newspaper Article on Samuel Alexander, Uncle Sam's Brainkeeper
- Description
- This article by Emile C. Schurmacher describes Samuel Alexander and the SEAC. It ran in The Los Angeles Times on October 26, 1952. The object is glued to paper sheet. It is associated with Margaret Fox.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1952
- maker
- National Bureau of Standards
- ID Number
- 2013.3034.28
- nonaccession number
- 2013.3034
- catalog number
- 2013.3034.28
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
IAS Computer
- Description
- The IAS Computer was named for the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. The computer was built from 1946 to 1951 at the Institute under the direction of John von Neumann, a mathematics professor at both Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. Funds for the computer came from the Institute, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and several military agencies of the U.S. Government. It cost several hundred thousand dollars. The goal of developing the IAS was to make digital computer designs more practical and efficient.
- For further information about the computer, see Willis H. Ware. The History and Development of the Electronic Computer Project at the Institute for Advanced Study (1953). This is available online.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1946-1951
- director
- von Neumann, John
- previous owner
- Institute for Advanced Study
- maker
- von Neumann, John
- Institute for Advanced Study
- ID Number
- CI.320250.01
- catalog number
- 320250
- accession number
- 220575
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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