Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials, 1930-2000, bulk 1960-1985

Summary

Abstract:

The Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials at the Computer History Museum is comprised of catalogs, correspondence, design drawings, manuals, program listings, promotional materials, specifications, technical notes and technical reports from a wide variety of computer-related companies and institutions. The Collection covers 1930 through 2000, encompassing 440 linear feet of materials.

Extent:

440 linear feet

Language:

Languages represented in the collection: English

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], [Item Date], Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials, Lot X3067.2005, Box ID [#], Accession [#], Computer History Museum.

Background

Scope and content:

The scope of the Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials spans the rise of the information age in the twentieth century. This includes, among other areas, documents representing pre-computing technologies, mainframe computers, minicomputers, personal computers, computer input and output (I/O) devices, computer storage and memory devices, software development, supercomputing and networking materials. The Collection covers 1,400 individual companies or institutions.

The Collection consists of over 10,000 documents including marketing brochures, manuals, design drawings, catalogs, program listings, promotional materials, specifications, technical notes and technical reports from 1930 to 2000. The bulk of the materials span the dates 1960 to 1985. The Collection is organized alphabetically by the name of the originating institution or company and then loosely by document creation date.

Some companies are represented by hundreds of documents while others may have only one document represented. Due to the large size of the collection, we have not included a listing of every folder in the collection but a list of the fifty-eight computer companies that have twenty-five or more documents represented. To search for a particular computer company or product, please use the Computer History Museum's online catalog at: http://archive.computerhistory.org/search/.

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is the most represented company spanning 1936 to 2002 and encompassing over 1,700 documents and 75 linear feet of shelf space. The second most-represented materials relate to the producers of the UNIVAC line of computers (under the names Remington-Rand and Sperry Rand Corporation) and comprising over 440 documents spanning from 1940 through 1986. Control Data Corporation (CDC) and Cray Research, Inc. are also well represented in the collection.

Acquisition information:

The provenance is unknown for the Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials. The material came from a variety of different sources most likely as documentation for physical objects that were added to the museum's collection. The collection thus began in the 1970s when The Computer Museum was founded in Massachusetts. At that time, Gwen Bell, the museum's first curator, arranged documents alphabetically by originating institution or company. This system of arrangement has been maintained.

When processing began in 2005, a found in collection lot number of X3067.2005 was assigned to the materials known as The Company Collection. The collection was processed by Computer History Museum staff, interns and volunteers from 2005 to 2007.

Rules or conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Related resources

Separated material:

Since the Computer History Museum is also the repository for the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) corporate records, documents from DEC have not been processed as part of the Company Collection.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Analog computers
Calculators
Computers
Computer Industry
Computer input-output equipment
Computer Software
Computer Storage Devices
Computer systems
Electronic Data Processing
Electronic Digital Computers
Hybrid Computers
Punched card systems
Supercomputer Industry
Tabulating Machines
Teletypewriters

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The Computer History Museum can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claims of the copyright holder. Permission to copy or publish any portion of the Computer History Museum's collection must be given by the Computer History Museum.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], [Item Date], Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials, Lot X3067.2005, Box ID [#], Accession [#], Computer History Museum.

Location of this collection:

Computer History Museum

1401 Shoreline Blvd.

Mountain View, CA 94043, US

Contact:

(650) 810-1010

research@computerhistory.org

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