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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Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Double Throw Relay
- Description
- This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The twelve-pole double throw relay has a single black coil and two plugs.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1944
- maker
- IBM
- Harvard University
- ID Number
- MA.324285
- accession number
- 248831
- catalog number
- 324285
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Wang LOCI-2 Electronic Calculator
- Description
- One of the first programmable electronic calculators, this instrument was announced in 1964 and sold from 1965. It was designed by An Wang (1920-1990) and his associates. Wang, a native of Shanghai, immigrated to the United States after World War II, studied computer science at Harvard University, and worked at the Harvard Computation Laboratory. He started his own business in 1951, producing magnetic core memories and other electronic equipment on order. The LOCI or “logarithmic calculating instrument” was the first product marketed by the company. Two versions of the machine were announced: the LOCI I, which was not programmable, and the LOCI II, which was.
- The desktop machine has nine digit keys arranged in an array, as well as a zero bar and a decimal point key. Depressing other keys changes the sign of the number, shifts the decimal point, shifts from the logarithmic to the work register, and shifts from the work to the logarithmic register. Further keys are for arithmetic operations, squares, square roots, inverse squares, inverse square roots, inverse logarithms, and clearance of various registers. To the right are controls for the decrement counter, the program counter, and the operation code. According to company advertising, the machine offers ten-digit precision in addition and subtraction and eight-digit precision in multiplication, division, exponentiation, root extraction, and logarithm computation. It has five storage registers of ten-digit capacity and a ten-digit display, plus a display for the sign of the answer. A cooling fan and a cord are at the back. The card reader attachment that plugs into the back holds program cards.
- A tag on the front of the machine reads: LOCI-2. A tag on the back reads: ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS AND DEVICES (/) LOCI II (/) MODEL NO. 2AB (/) SERIAL NO. 2734 (/) TEWKSBURY, MASS. U.S.A. A paper tag on the back of the machine indicates that it was serviced 4/28/68, 9/12/68, and 2/9/71.
- According to a 1964 flier, the machine was to sell for $4,750.00. Kenney says that the initial price was $6,500. Wang Laboratories would go on to sell the 300 series of calculators (from 1966) and the 700 series (from 1969), and to manufacture minicomputers and networked microcomputers.
- For related objects and documents, see 1980.0096.02 through 1980.0096.10.
- Compare 1980.0096.01 with the later 1983.0171.01 (a Wang Series 700 calculator), and the even later 2011.0022.01 (a Wang Series 600 calculator).
- References:
- There is an extensive discussion of the LOCI II at the website of the Old Calculator Museum. See:http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wangloci.html
- Wang Laboratories, Inc., “LOCI-2 Open New Vistas to your Personal Computing . . .,” Tewksbury, Ma., 1964. This is 1980.0096.08. A similar leaflet describes the LOCI-1 and has museum number 1980.0096.07.
- Charles C. Kenney, Riding the Runaway Horse: The Rise and Decline of Wang Laboratories, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1992.
- date made
- 1965 or later
- date received
- 1980
- maker
- Wang Laboratories
- ID Number
- 1980.0096.01
- catalog number
- 1980.0096.01
- accession number
- 1980.0096
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I
- Description
- This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The electromechanical assembly contains a commutator with two plastic pieces, numbered around a circular opening to denote contacts. The numbers are the integers from 0 to 9. In addition the object includes a gear, contacts, a clutch and brushes.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1944
- maker
- IBM
- Harvard University
- ID Number
- MA.324287
- accession number
- 248831
- catalog number
- 324287
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Relay
- Description
- This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The four-pole double-throw relay has one plug. The single coil is silver-colored.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1944
- maker
- IBM
- Harvard University
- ID Number
- MA.324282
- accession number
- 248831
- catalog number
- 324282
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Book, Precalculus Mathematics: A Graphing Approach
- Description
- The advent of the graphing calculator and the personal computer transformed the way many students in the United States learned mathematics. In 1989, the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, assumed that all students in grades nine through twelve would have access to a graphing calculator. Franklin Demana and Bert K. Waits of The Ohio State University had been interested in the use of graphing calculators in mathematics education since for some years. In 1990, they published this textbook for high school use.
- Reference:
- P. A. Kidwell, A. Ackerberg-Hastings, and David L. Roberts, Tools of American Mathematics Teaching, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1990
- maker
- Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
- ID Number
- 2000.3037.04
- nonaccession number
- 2000.3037
- catalog number
- 2000.3037.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
JTC 73752 Punch Card Associated with the MIT Information Processing Center
- Description
- This cream-colored eighty-column punch card has an orange stripe across the top. It shows the logo of the MIT Information Processing Center. A mark along the left edge reads: INFORMATION PROCESSING CENTER. A mark along the right edge reads: MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. A mark along the bottom edge at the left reads: JTC73752. A mark along the bottom edge toward the right reads: Printed in U.S.A.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1960s-1970s
- user
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- maker
- Jersey Tab Card Corporation
- ID Number
- 1996.0142.26
- catalog number
- 1996.0142.26
- accession number
- 1996.0142
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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3M Company Merchandise Data Recorder
- Description
- Automatic scanning and processing of informationabout merchandise Is now commonly done with bar code readers. In the 1950s, Howard Davis of the Jordan Marsh department stores began talking with Richad G. Zens about such processing. Engineers Henry Shunk and Joseph Welty of Massachusetts designed such a system, applied for a patent in 1959, and received it in 1963. They assigned the patent to Automatic Records, Inc. of Natick, Massachusetts. The machine used thermo-Fax paper produced by 3M Corporation, and 3M agreed to handle the recording part of the system, Scanners were produced by Automatic Records, a division of Printed Electronics Corporation of Natick. This object is the resulting "3M Merchancise Data Recorder." It has a beige metal case; metal reels and front platform; a plastic front window and on/off switch; a rubber cord, plug and wheel; and a paper tape. A mark on the object reads: 3M (/) MERCHANDISE DATA RECORDER. Another mark reads: MODEL 25AA (/) SERIAL NO. 4011034.
- For related documentation, and the historical information presented here, see 1984.0932.02.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- 3M
- ID Number
- 1984.0932.01
- accession number
- 1984.0932
- catalog number
- 1984.0932.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Steve Jobs preparing presentation at MacWorld Expo
- Description (Brief)
- Steve Jobs preparing presentation at MacWorld Expo, Boston, Massachusetts, August 1997. (Jobs with laptop.)
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1997-08
- depicted (sitter)
- Jobs, Steve
- maker
- Walker, Diana
- ID Number
- 2003.0250.127
- accession number
- 2003.0250
- catalog number
- 2003.0250.127
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Housing
- Description
- This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. More specifically, it is protective housing for card feed and hopper of the Mark
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1944
- maker
- IBM
- Harvard University
- ID Number
- MA.323583
- accession number
- 248831
- catalog number
- 323583
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Output Typewriter
- Description
- This is the output typewriter for printing results from the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I . The electric typewriter has complete number keys. Other keys lack a printing bar. Various reels are attached to the sides of the machine.
- A mark on the fornt of the machine reads: ELECTROMATIC. A tag on the back of the machine lists relevant patents and indicates that the typewriter is a product of the Electric Writing Division of IBM.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1944
- maker
- IBM
- Harvard University
- ID Number
- MA.323582
- accession number
- 248831
- catalog number
- 323582
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Wang 600 Electronic Calculator
- Description
- This desktop programmable printing calculator has a variety of digit and function keys. Above these, on the right side, is a space that holds a cassette tape. Left of this is a small display screen. Above the screen is the printing mechanism with a paper tape 9 cm. (3 1/2") wide. A metal tag glued to the front left reads: WANG 600. A sticker on the back of the machine reads: WANG LABORATORIES INC (/) TEWKSBURY MASS U.S.A. Another mark there reads: MODEL 600 2TP (/) SERIAL NUMBER CC5187.
- An electric cord extends from the back. The machine has a plastic cover. The dimensions given do not include cord and cover.
- Chinese-born An Wang (1920–1990) came to the United States after World War II to do graduate work at Harvard University. Not wishing to return to a Communist regime, he stayed on to work at the Harvard Computation Laboratory, where he and Way Dong Woo invented magnetic core memory, an important improvement in computer memory for the time. Wang soon left Harvard to establish Wang Laboratories. In the mid-1960s, he invented a transistorized logarithmic electronic calculator that would sell in several forms. The Wang 600 is a modified and less expensive version of the earlier Wang 700. Wang soon turned his attention to the manufacture of minicomputers.
- The Smithsonian’s Conservation Analytical Laboratory acquired this Wang 600 in about 1974. When it was replaced in 1983, it was transferred to the NMAH historical collections.
- Compare 1983.0171.01, a Wang 700 series calculator, and 1980.0096.01, a Wang LOCI 2.
- Reference:
- Accession File.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1974
- maker
- Wang Laboratories
- ID Number
- 2011.0022.01
- accession number
- 2011.0022
- catalog number
- 2011.0022.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Harvard Mark I paper tape, IBM ASCC
- Description
- Data was entered into the ASSC Mark I on punched tapes like this one. As many as twenty-four holes could be punched in a single row.
- Reference:
- Harvard Computation Laboratory, A Manual of Operation for the Automatic-Sequence Controlled Calculator, President and Fellows of Harvard College, 1946, especially chapter 2.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1944
- maker
- IBM
- Harvard University
- ID Number
- MA.324289
- accession number
- 248831
- catalog number
- 324289
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Wang Loci-2 Card Reader
- Description
- The Wang LOCI II is one of relatively few calculators that had a variety of peripheral equipment. Included in the price of the machine was this metal card reader, painted light blue. It read specially designed punched program cards. A card is in the reader.
- A mark on the bottom of the card reader reads: Wang Laboratories, Inc. (/) ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS AND DEVICES (/) LOCI CARD READER (/) MODEL NO. [blank] (/) SERLAL NO. 22806 (/) TEWKSBURY, MASS. U.S.A.
- For further information about the LOCI II, see 1980.0096.01.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1965 or later
- maker
- Wang Laboratories
- ID Number
- 1980.0096.01.1
- accession number
- 1980.0096
- catalog number
- 1980.0096.01.1
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Wang 700 Electronic Calculator
- Description
- In March of 1968, An Wang saw a prototype of Hewlett-Packard’s HP9100 programmable desktop calculator. This machine reduced the task of finding many scientific functions from programming to pushing a key. In response, Wang Laboratories announced plans for a new set of calculators for the scientific and engineering communities, the series 700 advanced programming calculator. The instrument came on the market in mid-1969.
- A large keyboard at the front of the machine includes keys for entering digits, carrying out arithmetic operations, and finding squares, square roots, and reciprocals. A separate key enters the number pi. Another set of keys performs operations for both logarithms and exponents in base e and base 10. Special function keys above the digit keys are set for trigonometric and hyperbolic functions. A tape cassette on the right above the keyboard allows for entering programs via magnetic tape. Left of the tape drive is a Nixie tube display that shows up to twelve digits in two registers, followed by the sign of the exponent and the exponent.
- A mark on the front left of the calculator reads: WANG. A metal tag at the back reads: Wang Laboratories, Inc. (/) ELECTRONIC CALCULATOR (/) MODEL NO. 700C (/) SERIAL No. 811055-C (/) TEWKSBURY, MASS. U.S.A. Marks on the rightmost column of keys confirm that is a model Wang 700C, having debugging features characteristic of that machine. It was released in 1972. A paper sticker on the right back reads: JUL 8 1970 [sic]. The July date is scribbled over one reading JUN 3. Hence the object dates from at least 1970, most probably about 1972.
- Documentation received with the calculator dates from 1969, 1970, and 1972.
- Reference:
- An extensive discussion of the Wang 720C advanced programming calculator is at The Old Calculator Web Museum.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1972
- maker
- Wang Laboratories
- ID Number
- 1983.0171.01
- catalog number
- 1983.0171.01
- accession number
- 1983.0171
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Harvard Mark I Control Panel, IBM ASCC
- Description
- This is a small part of one of the first machines that could be programmed to carry out calculations automatically. Initially designed to solve scientific problems, it was used during World War II to carry out computations for the United States Navy. It was a one-of-a-kind machine. After the war, IBM would greatly expand its activity in computing to include electronic computers. Harvard began one of the first degree programs in computer science. People who had worked on the Mark I, such as Grace Murray Hopper, also went to work for other early computer manufacturers. More generally, many scholars and ordinary people first learned about "giant brains," as early computers were called, through workshops and press releases of the Harvard Computation Laboratory.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1944
- maker
- IBM
- Harvard University
- ID Number
- MA.323579
- accession number
- 248831
- catalog number
- 323579
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I
- Description
- This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The electromechanical assembly contains seven commutators, each with a plastic piece on top of it with a hole in it, with numbers stamped around the hole to denote contacts. It has a metal frame, gear, contacts, clutch and brushes.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1944
- maker
- IBM
- Harvard University
- ID Number
- MA.324288
- accession number
- 248831
- catalog number
- 324288
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Booklet, A Report of Automatic Records, Inc., with Leaflet on EMC (Electronic Merchandise Control)
- Description
- This booklet describes the development of the 3M Company Merchandise Data Recorder (see 1984.0932.01 for an example). In a plastic pocket at the back of the binder is an advertising leaflet discussing EMC (Electronic Merchandise Control) and showing the system in use.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1965
- ID Number
- 1984.0932.02
- accession number
- 1984.0932
- catalog number
- 1984.0932.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Pamphlet, PDP-8 Course Work
- Description
- This spiral-bound document, prepared by the training department of DEC, was designed to assist students in understanding PDP-8 computer systems. It has DEC form number I-85.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1965
- maker
- Digital Equipment Corporation
- ID Number
- 1994.3128.17
- catalog number
- 1994.3128.17
- nonaccession number
- 1994.3128
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Leaflet, PDP 8 Instruction List
- Description
- This small leaflet gives a list of operations performed by the PDP 8 minicomputer with corresponding mneumonics, codes, and cycles. It has DEC form number 5372.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1965
- maker
- Digital Equipment Corporation
- ID Number
- 1994.3128.14
- catalog number
- 1994.3128.14
- nonaccession number
- 1994.3128
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Relay
- Description
- This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. The a four-pole double-throw relay has one plug. The single coil is black.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1944
- maker
- IBM
- Harvard University
- ID Number
- MA.324281
- accession number
- 248831
- catalog number
- 324281
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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