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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Remington Rand Univac Minimum Latency Calculator Slide Rule
- Description
- This circular device was an aid to programming the UNIVAC solid state computer. It consists of a paper disc, with equal divisions running from 1 to 200 near the edge, and a clear plastic rotating disc. These are pivoted together at the center. The upper disc is marked in red with two perpendicular diameters. The lower disc is marked: MINIMUM LATENCY CALCULATOR FOR THE UNIVAC SOLID-STATE COMPUTER. The UNIVAC had a magnetic storage drum on which locations were specified numerically. The latency calculator allowed programmers to write code for the machine to make the most efficient possible use of the drum memory.
- The back of the instrument gives a list of instruction codes and corresponding execution times for words. It is marked: Remington Rand Univac. It is also marked: U1767 Rev. 1 PRINTED (/) IN (/) U.S.A. The rule was received in a paper bag.
- Reference: Sperry Rand Corporation, Simple Transition to Electronic Processing, UNIVAC Solid-State 80, (1960), 18–26.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1950
- maker
- Remington Rand Univac
- ID Number
- 2005.0271.01
- accession number
- 2005.0271
- catalog number
- 2005.0271.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Pamphlet,705 Autocoder System Manual of Information
- Description
- This manual replaces the first version of 1956.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1957
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1995.3080.04.20
- nonaccession number
- 1995.3080
- catalog number
- 1995.3080.04.20
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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BP-16309 BSC Punch Cards for AFL-CIO Publications
- Description
- Punched cards were used not only in government, business, and universities, but by labor unions. These white, eighty-column punch cards are printed in gray. They have spaces for the name, address, local number and ledger id number of member of the AFL-CIO. A mark along the left edge reads: AFL-CIO PUBLICATIONS. A mark on the right edge reads: BP-16309 BSC. The cards were received in a tabulating machine (reproducer) with catalog number 336301.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1955
- ID Number
- MA.305981.08
- accession number
- 305981
- catalog number
- 305981.08
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Pamphlet, IBM Electronic Data Processing Machines Type 705
- Description
- This is the preliminary manual of operation for the IBM 705 electronic data processing system, as revised in February, 1956.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1956
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1995.3080.04.18
- nonaccession number
- 1995.3080
- catalog number
- 1995.3080.04.18
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Book, Methods of Operations Research
- Description
- This pioneering textbook on operations research was coauthored by Philip M. Morse (1903-1985), a professor of physics at M.I.T., and quantum chemist George E. Kimball (1906-1967), who also was on the faculty there. During World War II the two men worked for the U.S. Navy on a project relating to the mathematical analysis of Nazi U--boat operations. After the war, they envisioned a more general theory of mathematical analysis of industrial, governmental, and military operations, which is presented here.
- 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. The copy is not annotated.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1951
- maker
- Morse , Philip M.
- Kimball, George E.
- ID Number
- MA.319872.10
- accession number
- 1975319872
- catalog number
- 319872.10
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Punch Card Probe
- Description
- This cylindrical metal stainless steel rod is about 8" long and resembles a crochet hook. The metal is serrated along the middle part of the rod. One end is hooked, the other is flattened and U-shaped. The donor worked with tabulating machines and then computer equipment from the 1940s into at least the 1960s.
- Reportedly the hook was used to line up punched cards and the flattened end to complete holes that had not punched properly.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1950
- 1950, roughly
- ID Number
- 2006.3088.01
- nonaccession number
- 2006.3088
- catalog number
- 2006.3088.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Pamphlet, Data-Processing Flow Charts for Motor Freight Carriers
- Description
- This illustrated advertising pamphlet presents flow charts for applications of the UNIVAC Solid State Computer to the accounting problems of trucking concerns. It has Remington Rand Univac number U2922A.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1959
- author
- Remington Rand Univac. Division of Sperry Rand
- ID Number
- 1997.3012.04.36
- catalog number
- 1997.3012.04.36
- nonaccession number
- 1997.3012
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Pamphlet, 705 Autocoder System Macro-Instruction Manual
- Description
- Thisillustrated pamphlet describes new methods of "preparing programs" for the IBM 705 electronic data processing machine, compiling instructions written "in a simple notation" and automatically translating them into a language understood by the machine.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1957
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1995.3080.04.21
- nonaccession number
- 1995.3080
- catalog number
- 1995.3080.04.21
- 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
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National Cash Register, Class 51
- Description
- In the 1950s Americans increasingly bought groceries in supermarkets, which served large numbers of customers. Consumers selected their own goods, and took them to a clerk who rang up sales. To make transactions as efficient as possible, the National Cash Register Company introduced machines that dispensed coins automatically, avoiding time and errors associated with making change. This change-making cash register went on the market in 1954, with a new model in 1958. This example was given to the Smithsonian by NCR in 1959, on the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the company.
- Reference:
- Accession file.
- date made
- 1959
- maker
- National Cash Register Company
- ID Number
- MA.316702
- accession number
- 225455
- catalog number
- 316702
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Graduate Record Examination Punch Cards
- Description
- The Carnegie Foundation, and later the Educational Testing Service, used several forms of punched card in compiling and reporting information on the tests it administered. Three types are included here. All relate to Graduate Record Examination Individual Report Cards. One has the number IBM 138707 (four examples), one IBM 140086 (eleven examples), and another IBM 140088 (three examples). One card is punched.
- The cards were produced under U.S. Patent 1,772.492, taken out by Clair D. Lake in 1930 and assigned to IBM. The Graduate Record Examination was first administered in 1937 and kept the New York City address shown on the cards through at least 1951.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1950
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1995.3080.03
- nonaccession number
- 1995.3080
- catalog number
- 1995.3080.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Pamphlet, Type 705 Practice Problems
- Description
- This document is a set of practice problems for an IBM electronic data processing machine.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1955
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1995.3080.04.17
- nonaccession number
- 1995.3080
- catalog number
- 1995.3080.04.17
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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IBM 417110 Punch Card with Bell Telephone Laboratories Logo
- Description
- This yellow paper eighty-column punch catd has rounded corners, with the uppler left corner truncated. The Bell Telephone Laboratories logo is at the center. A mark on the card reads: GENERAL APPLICATIONS CARD (/) BELL TELEPHONE LABORATORIES, INCORPORATED. Another mark reads: MILITARY MANUFACTURING INFORMATION DEPT. Another mark reads: IBM 417110. A final mark reads: E7583-E(7-57).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1957
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1996.0142.03
- catalog number
- 1996.0142.03
- accession number
- 1996.0142
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Pamphlet, IBM Electronic Data-Processing Machines Type 705 Case Study Problems
- Description
- The problems described in this pamphlet concern "exception payrool" and "file maintenance."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1957
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1995.3080.04.19
- nonaccession number
- 1995.3080
- catalog number
- 1995.3080.04.19
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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IBM Machine Load Computer Slide Rule
- Description
- This plastic rectangular instrument calculated the time required for different types of IBM punched card equipment to process given numbers of cards. The black side is for accounting machines, sorters, and collators. The white side is for card punches, verifiers, and auxiliary machines. These machines were in use from roughly 1953 through 1959. The white side is marked: IBM; International Business Machines Corp. (/) 590 Madison Ave. New York 22, N.Y. (/) Patent Applied For. It is also marked THINK and MADE IN U.S.A. An instruction card is provided. A tan envelope is marked: IBM (/) MACHINE LOAD COMPUTER (/) AND DESCRIPTIVE FOLDER (/) Form 20-8704-1. No patent record was located.
- Benjamin S. Mulitz, the donor, worked with punched card equipment and then with computers from 1940 until 1985. He used both Remington Rand and IBM products. He was employed by the U.S. government and then in the wholesale drug industry.
- Reference: accession file.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1953-1959
- maker
- International Business Machines Corporation
- ID Number
- 2006.0174.02
- accession number
- 2006.0174
- catalog number
- 2006.0174.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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UNIVAC Punch Cards for the AFL-CIO
- Description
- Punched cards were used not only in government, business, and universities, but by labor unions. These ninety-column paper punch cards are pink, green and white, and white with a green stripe. The first pink card is marked: FIELD ENGINEERING SERVICE REPORT. The green and white cards are marked: CUSTOMER ENGINEERING SERVICE REPORT. The white card with one green stripe is marked: AFL-CIO PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS, indicating the user. The last pink card is marked: UNIVAC P-11782
- The cards were received in a Remington Rand interpreter with catalog number 336300 (305981.03).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1955
- ID Number
- MA.305981.09
- accession number
- 305981
- catalog number
- 305981.09
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Burroughs Cash Register Model
- Description
- This manufacturer's model of a cash register has a metal case painted black and four columns of black and white digit keys. To the right of these is an operating bar and various function keys. At the left is a paper tape. At the top are indicator digits in an enclosed case. At the front are two rows of register wheels. A box below is in the shape of a cash drawer. The clearance key is on the right front.The machine has a black cord.
- This example is from the collection of the Patent Department of Burroughs Corporation. According to the accession file, it was an invention of Walter Pasinski. A patent case relating to it was abandoned March 5, 1953.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1950
- maker
- Burroughs Adding Machine Company
- ID Number
- 1982.0794.19
- catalog number
- 1982.0794.19
- accession number
- 1982.0794
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Leaflet, UNIVAC 60 Computer Simplifies Order Filling and Accounting for Wholesale Drug Firm
- Description
- This leaflet presents an account of the installation of a Univac 60 computer at the Walker Drug Company, a wholesaler in Birmingham, Alabama. The document has Remington Rand Univac form number U3212.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1960
- ca 1957
- author
- Remington Rand Univac. Division of Sperry Rand
- ID Number
- 1997.3012.04.24
- catalog number
- 1997.3012.04.24
- nonaccession number
- 1997.3012
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Mechanism from National Cash Register
- Description
- By 1959 the mechanism for accumulating totals on NCR cash registers had become relatively compact. This cash register component from that period has the counters needed to represent eight totals along one shaft. It is somewhat smaller than the mechanism for a single total used in 1894. This smaller mechanism was used in cash register MA.316702.
- Reference:
- Accession file.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1959
- maker
- National Cash Register Company
- ID Number
- MA.316704
- accession number
- 225455
- catalog number
- 316704
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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National Cash Register, Model 1544 (4D-1)
- Description
- This NCR cash register has four drawers in two columns. It has four columns of plastic digit keys, white for dollars, tens of dollars, and 5 cents, and black for cents. A column of four keys right of the number keys has keys labeled A1, 6, B2 and B2. Right of these is a lever, which can be set on the operation desired, and a motor bar. The paper tape holder is on the right side, the indicators are above the keyboard, and the electric cord is at the back. The serial number is 4931871, the model number 1544 (4D-1).
- The machine was used at Lansburgh department store in downtown Washington, D.C. When City Stores Company purchased Lansburgh, they gave the machine to the Smithsonian.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1952
- maker
- National Cash Register Company
- ID Number
- MA.334906
- maker number
- 4931871
- accession number
- 314157
- catalog number
- 334906
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
