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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GraphLock Brochure
- Description
- This GraphLock advertising brochure describes their scientific graphing calculator application for mobile phones. The product was designed to bring equality and affordability for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education.
- The application has a lock-down mode which prevents text messages and phone calls from coming in and disables internet access. Teachers can customize the calculator by choosing the features their students can access. The application also allows one to send messages to all students or to individual students.
- This and other objects in this acquisition were collected at the Joint Mathematics Meeting of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America held in January 2017.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 2017
- distributor
- GraphLock Incorporated
- ID Number
- 2017.3121.03
- nonaccession number
- 2017.3121
- catalog number
- 2017.3121.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
WebAssign Brochure
- Description
- This double-sided football shaped advertisement is printed on heavy card stock. The obverse has a red, pale red, and white background designed to look like a laced football. At the bottom in the center it reads “WebAssign®.” The reverse is white with black and red lettering that reads “Keep Your Students in the Game. Check out WebAssign’s Sports Question Bank of sports-theme math and statistics questions designed to increase student engagement. Available free for Web Assign users. This question bank is suitable for any algebra through precalculus course or introductory statistics course. webassign.com/sports.”
- WebAssign is a customizable online instructional application that enables a teacher to deploy homework assignments, tests and practice problems. WebAssign materials focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) disciplines. Course content includes questions, exercises, problems, simulations, videos, tutorials, and digital versions of select textbooks. Topics available include Accounting, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Geoscience, Mathematics, Physical Science, Physics, Social Studies, and Statistics. It purportedly provides quick feedback--topics needing more review are easily determined by both teacher and student.
- This web application permits teachers to use existing courses, create their own, and/or customize existing assignments by adding their own questions.
- It includes options to promote academic honesty such as:
- - Randomized question values - assigns a different value to each student’s question thus each student will have a different answer.
- - Question pool - each student assigned a varied question set.
- - Randomized question order - questions displayed in a different order.
- - Question set changes - new set of questions used for each term.
- - Password protection - set for assignments.
- - Time limit - set for completion of work.
- - Access restriction - only certain IP addresses allowed access.
- - Application restriction - prevents access to any other applications while taking the test.
- This and other objects in this acquisition were collected at the Joint Mathematics Meeting of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America held in January 2017.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 2017
- ID Number
- 2017.3121.04
- nonaccession number
- 2017.3121
- catalog number
- 2017.3121.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Maplesoft Computer Software Button
- Description
- This circular button has black text on a white background that reads: www.maplesoft.com. The background image is an interwoven multi-colored cable.
- Maplesoft™ headquarters are in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The compan is a subsidiary of Cybernet Systems Co. Ltd. in Japan. They specialize in software tools for engineering, science, and mathematics.
- This and other objects in this acquisition were collected at the Joint Mathematics Meeting of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America held in January 2017.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 2017
- ID Number
- 2017.3121.01
- nonaccession number
- 2017.3121
- catalog number
- 2017.3121.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Facebook Family Stickers
- Description
- This sheet of stickers includes the five application icons for the on-line social media applications Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Oculus and WhatsApp. In the lower right corner it reads "Facebook Family".
- Facebook - the social media and networking service which launched in February 2004.
- Instagram - the photo-sharing application for pictures and videos which launched in October 2010.
- Messenger - the instant messaging service which launched in August 2011.
- Oculus - the virtual reality software which launched in July 2012.
- WhatsApp - the instant messaging service that allows sending of text messages, voice and video calls, images and documents over a cellular phone which launched in January 2009.
- This and other objects in this acquisition were collected at the Joint Mathematics Meeting of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America held in January 2017.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 2017
- ID Number
- 2017.3121.02
- nonaccession number
- 2017.3121
- catalog number
- 2017.3121.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Advertising Ephemera - American Statistical Association ASA Connect - Cloud Computing
- Description
- In the twenty-first century, the delivery of computer services via the Internet, using computers independent of the user, is often known as “cloud computing.” Some professional associations have used cloud computing to provide a discussion center for members. This blue plastic giveaway is in the shape of a cloud. It advertises an online forum, the American Statistical Association's ASA Connect. A related paper sheet gives more information.
- A mark on the front of the cloud reads: ASA Connect (/) community.amstat.org.
- The materials were collected at the Joint Mathematics Meeting of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America in January 2015.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 2015
- maker
- American Statistical Association
- ID Number
- 2015.3169.01
- nonaccession number
- 2015.3169
- catalog number
- 2015.3169.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
CRA-W Computing Ressearch Association-Women
- Description
- This white sticker shows the CRA logo in four shades of blue at the top, gray text that reads "CRA-W" and black text that reads "Computing Research Association" in the center, and medium blue text that reads "Women" at the bottom.
- Computing Research Association (CRA) was formed in 1972 to advance computing research and education in industry, academia, and government. The association has four committees, Computing Community Consortium Catalyst (CCC), Computing Research Association Women (CRA-W), Computing Research Association Education (CRA-E), and Computer Research Association Evaluation (CERP).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 2017
- ID Number
- 2018.3049.02
- nonaccession number
- 2018.3049
- catalog number
- 2018.3049.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
GritHub
- Description
- This white sticker shows a black cat with a brown face standing on a blue circle. At the bottom in black text it reads "GitHub."
- GitHub, founded in 2008, has its headquarters in San Francisco, CA. The company’s mission is to connect software developers and make it easy for them to collaborate by providing a software development platform where a user can host and review code, manage projects, and build software alongside other developers. It offers software development applications, custom tools and version control. GitHub, free for public and open source projects, offers secure private repositories with a paid plan.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 2017
- ID Number
- 2018.3049.01
- nonaccession number
- 2018.3049
- catalog number
- 2018.3049.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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