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Guide to the Charles A. Jortberg collection
X2381.2002
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Title: Charles A. Jortberg collection
Identifier/Call Number: X2381.2002
Contributing Institution:
Computer History Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
18.75 Linear feet,
15 record cartons
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1960-1980
Date (inclusive): 1946-1990
Abstract: The Charles A. Jortberg collection contains materials from 1946 to 1990 which Jortberg amassed during his career in the computer
industry. He worked for IBM, Viatron, and his own firm, Jortberg & Associates, which consulted on high-tech patent litigation
and computer systems integration. The collection includes manuals, reports, catalogs, promotional material, books, articles,
and newsletters from a variety of computer companies, such as Viatron, IBM, DEC, Remington Rand, RCA, Wang, Texas Instruments,
Hewlett-Packard, and others. A small amount of the collection consists of legal documents related to patent applications and
trials.
creator:
Jortberg, Charles A., 1929-1999
Collection processed by Bo Doub and Kim Hayden, 2015.
The collection is open for research.
The Computer History Museum (CHM) can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying
any claims of the copyright holder. Requests for copying and permission to publish, quote, or reproduce any portion of the
Computer History Museum's collection must be obtained jointly from both the copyright holder (if applicable) and the Computer
History Museum.
[Identification of Item], [Date], Charles A. Jortberg collection, Lot X2381.2002, Box [#], Folder [#], Catalog [#], Computer
History Museum.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Charles Jortberg, 2002.
Charles A. Jortberg was born on June 13, 1929, in Portland, Maine. He received his BA from Bowdoin College in 1951. After
graduating, Jortberg briefly served with the National Security Agency and then worked at International Business Machines (IBM)
for 14 years — finishing at IBM as Executive Computer Concepts Instructor and Manager of Sales Training in the New England
region. Jortberg left IBM in the late 1960s and moved to Viatron Computer Systems, working as Marketing Manager. In 1974 he
founded Jortberg Associates, a consulting firm specializing in high-tech patent litigation and computer systems integration.
Jortberg died May 12, 2008, at his home in Naples, Florida.
Scope and Content of the Collection
The Charles A. Jortberg collection is made up of items Jortberg collected throughout his career in the computer technology
field. The records span 1976 through 1990 with the bulk of the collection being from 1960 through 1980.
Jortberg collected a large amount of material related to his employers Viatron and IBM. The Viatron records in the collection
date from 1967 to 1971 and include materials that document the company and its products, including memos, notebooks, design
drawings, system descriptions, patents, proposals, reviews, personnel records, business overviews, and expense reports. IBM
materials date from 1946 to 1984 and include manuals, program libraries, parts catalogs, reports, conference proceedings,
and internal marketing documentation. Almost half of the IBM series is made up of manuals for the 7000 series of computers
and its components.
Also included in the collection is a large amount of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) material from 1963 to 1973, with
a focus on the PDP-10, PDP-6, and LINC computers.
As a patent litigation consultant, Jortberg acquired a small collection of legal documents related to patents. The collection
includes transcripts, legal briefs, court opinions, and correspondence related to the patent infringement appeal case Northern
Telecom Inc. v. Datapoint Corp. (1990), and documents related to two patents, including a patent application and court of
appeals briefing.
The smallest portion of the collection is made up of manuals, promotional material, specifications, books, clippings and reports,
all published by companies and institutions that did not have enough material in the collection to warrant having their own
series. These include Computer Terminal Corporation, National Cash Register Company, Control Data Corporation, Bunker Ramo
Corporation, and Storage Technology Corporation.
The collection is arranged into 11 series:
Series 1, Viatron records, 1959-1974, bulk 1968-1970
Series 2, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) records, 1946-1984, bulk 1958-1973
Series 3, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) records, 1963-1973
Series 4, Remington Rand Inc. records, 1950-1972
Series 5, Radio Corporation of America (RCA) records, 1959-1971
Series 6, General Electric Company records, 1964-1975
Series 7, Wang Laboratories Inc. records, 1967-1986
Series 8, Texas Instruments Inc. records, 1976-1981
Series 9, Hewlett-Packard records, 1968-1977
Series 10, Legal documents, 1982-1990
Series 11, Publications by others, ca. 1957-1989
Related Collections at Other Repositories
Jortberg Associates, 1989, box 17, folder 46, Helen Willa Samuels Papers, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives
Department.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Computer Industry
Digital Equipment Corporation
General Electric Company
International Business Machines Corporation
Jortberg, Charles A.
Radio Corporation of America
Remington Rand, Inc.
Univac computer
Viatron Computer Systems Corporation