Collection context
Summary
- Abstract:
- The Community Memory records are made up of material from 1974 to 2000, with the bulk from 1974 to 1991, that document the development and implementation of the first computer-based public bulletin board, Community Memory (CM), which was created and operated by a cooperative nonprofit entity called the Community Memory Project, based in Berkeley, California. CM-specific material includes administrative records, promotional material, discussion board printouts, usage statistics, designs and specifications, manuals, and training records. Also included are materials collected, but not created, by CM, including reports and essays, computing manuals, books, conference and workshop material, and articles and newsletters. The majority of the non-CM material reflects the sociopolitical ethos of CM, focusing on social issues and technology.
- Extent:
- 32.59 Linear feet, 21 record cartons, 3 manuscript boxes, and 5 custom boxes of varying sizes
- Language:
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], [Date], Community Memory records, Lot X3090.2005, Box [#], Folder [#], Catalog [#], Computer History Museum.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Community Memory records contain material authored and collected by members of the Community Memory Project. The collection spans 1974 to 2000, with the bulk of the material being from 19694 to 1991. Parts of the collection that were created by employees and users of CM include administrative records, promotional material, discussion board printouts, usage statistics, designs and specifications, and manuals and training records. CM's administrative records document a wide variety of activities devoted to running the nonprofit, including material related to planning and research, finance, funding, legal issues, and personnel. There is also a small amount of unprocessed audiovisual material.
The promotional parts of the collection are mostly composed of overviews summarizing CM's mission and functions and articles and clippings featuring CM. Also included in the collection are printouts of messages and dialogue written at CM terminals by users, along with directories and indices that were made to collate posts about certain topics together. Related to these discussion board printouts are the usage statistics that were also printed by CM members documenting how people used the terminals and what kind of searches and messages they wrote to browse and interact with other users. Material that reveals how the terminals were set up and operated are contained in the "designs and specifications" series and records relating to the training of CM users, volunteers, and employees are contained in the "manuals and training records."
The parts of this collection that were collected, but not created, by the CM community are made up of reports and essays, computing manuals, books, conference and workshop material, and articles and newsletters. The majority of the non-CM essays, books, and articles reflect the sociopolitical ethos of CM in that they focus on social issues in computing, including works on gender, economics, power, and community and how those topics intersect with technology. The computing manuals of this collection are primarily related to Plexus systems, Unix, and the C programming language.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Community Memory (CM) was the first computer-based public bulletin board, operating from 1973 through 1992 with most terminals located in public spaces in Berkeley, California, such as libraries, senior centers, co-ops, and laundromats. Born out of the Free Speech and countercultural movements of the 1960s, CM's purpose was to provide a free community-based space that linked people together through the unmediated sharing of ideas and knowledge, collective planning, and classified ads via messages and discussion forums.
Working as a nonprofit called Resource One Inc., which was dedicated to making computers available to the counterculture, Lee Felsenstein, Efrem Lipkin, Ken Colstad, and other developers created CM using a donated mainframe computer. The terminals, which consisted of a computer display and keyboard that was originally housed in a cardboard box, then later in a wooden one, were networked and messages were indexed, making all content available and searchable on any CM machine at any location. While messages were free to read, adding a message cost 25 cents. Posting could be anonymous or signed, and registration was not required.
The first terminals operated from 1973 to 1974 at Leopold's Records, a communal house, and Whole Earth Access Store in Berkeley; Vocations for Social Change in Oakland; and the San Francisco Public Library's Mission branch. Although it was popular, the group temporarily shut down the project because they could not easily replicate the equipment and languages being used, and the computer that acted as the central hub in the network was not sufficient to support expansion of the project.
The three men regrouped and in 1977 created a collectively run nonprofit entity called the Community Memory Project to support CM (this group was interchangeably referred to as the Community Memory Project and Community Memory). They developed their own software, a database called Sequitur, and a communications package called X.dot, and began placing terminals with the overhauled system throughout Berkeley. That pilot program ran from 1984 to 1988, after which they made adjustments based on research and evaluations, then released new terminals in 1989 in Berkeley and licensed their software for similar systems to be set up in places like San Francisco State University and Los Angeles' Electronic Cafe. Due to a shortage of funding and inconsistent marketing and outreach, Community Memory shutdown in 1992.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Lee Felsenstein, 2003.
- Processing information:
-
Collection processed by Bo Doub and Kim Hayden, June 2015.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged into 12 series:
Series 1, Administrative records, 1974-2000, bulk 1977-1991
Series 2, Promotional material, outreach, and press, 1974-1991
Series 3, Discussion board printouts, 1974-1991
Series 4, Usage information and statistics, 1985-1991
Series 5, Designs and specifications, 1977-1991
Series 6, Manuals and training records, 1981-1992
Series 7, Non-CM reports and essays, 1964-1991
Series 8, Non-CM manuals, 1974-1990
Series 9, Non-CM books, 1967-1991
Series 10, Non-CM conference and workshop material, 1976-1991
Series 11, Non-CM articles and newsletters, 1971-1993
Series 12, Unprocessed AV material, ca. 1990-1996
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Materials in boxes 6, 9, and 12 contain social security numbers. Researchers must use redacted photocopies of this restricted material for research. All other material is open for research.
- Terms of access:
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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 as owner of the material.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], [Date], Community Memory records, Lot X3090.2005, Box [#], Folder [#], Catalog [#], Computer History Museum.
- Location of this collection:
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1401 Shoreline Blvd.Mountain View, CA 94043, US
- Contact:
- (650) 810-1010