The Ivan E. Sutherland collection on asynchronous computing ranges in date from 1966 to 1999 and contains materials from Sun Microsystems Laboratories and the Computer Systems Laboratory at Washington University related to asynchronous computing, known widely today as neuromorphic computing. The largest section of the collection consists of subject files pertaining to asynchronous computing research, the majority of which were created by Charles Molnar while he worked at Sun Microsystems from 1990 to 1996. A smaller portion of the collection is made up of bound technical memoranda from the Computer Systems Laboratory at Washington University, which focus on the laboratory's development of macromodules and macromodular computer systems. Types of materials in the collection include technical papers and reports, handwritten notes and diagrams, presentation materials, patent applications, correspondence, memos, code listings, manuals, program libraries, conference proceedings, and literature compilations.

Ivan E. Sutherland is an American computer scientist who is a major figure in computer graphics, virtual reality, and asynchronous computing. Born May 16, 1938, he earned a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, a master's degree from Caltech, and a Ph.D. from MIT in 1963. Sutherland is known for inventing Sketchpad and was a professor at first Harvard University and then the University of Utah. Additionally, he worked as head of the US Defense Department Advanced Research Project Agency's (ARPA) Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO). In 1968 he co-founded Evans and Sutherland with his friend and colleague David C. Evans. He then founded a consulting firm, Sutherland, Sproull and Associates in 1980, which was purchased by Sun Microsystems in 1990 to form the seed of its research division, Sun Microsystems Laboratories.

11.0 Linear feet, 7 record cartons and 3 periodical boxes

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The collection is open for research.