Guide to the Adele Goldberg papers

Finding aid prepared by Bo Doub, Kim Hayden, and Sara Chabino Lott
Processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant.
Computer History Museum
1401 N. Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View, CA, 94043
(650) 810-1010
research@computerhistory.org
December 2015


Title: Adele Goldberg papers
Identifier/Call Number: X5774.2010
Contributing Institution: Computer History Museum
Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 15.209 Linear feet, 12 record cartons, 1 half manuscript box
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1973-1998
Date (inclusive): 1973-2010
Abstract: The Adele Goldberg papers consist of Goldberg’s working files related to the development and licensing of Smalltalk, a programming language she co-developed at Xerox PARC, plus periodicals, books, manuals, conference material, and reports related to object-oriented programming and other computer science topics Goldberg was interested or involved in. The collection also contains videotapes of some of Goldberg’s public talks. Records date from 1973 to 2010, with the bulk of material from 1973 to 1998.
Languages: The collection is primarily in English, with a small amount of material in Japanese and French.
creator: Goldberg, Adele, 1945-

Processing Information

Collection processed by Bo Doub and Kim Hayden, 2015.

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

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.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of Item], [Date], Adele Goldberg papers, Lot X5774.2010, Box [#], Folder [#], Catalog [#], Computer History Museum.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Adele Goldberg, 2009.

Biographical/Historical Note

Adele Goldberg was born July 7, 1945, in Cleveland, Ohio. She received a BA in mathematics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and a master’s in information science from the University of Chicago. In 1969, Goldberg began studying for her PhD in information science at Stanford University as a visiting University of Chicago student; she then became a research associate at Stanford while working on her dissertation. She earned her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1973.
After receiving her PhD, Goldberg went to work at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC) as a laboratory and research associate, and in 1979 she became the manager of its System Concepts Laboratory. At Xerox PARC, Goldberg was a co-creator of the highly influential programming language Smalltalk-80, along with Alan Kay, Dan Ingalls, and other designers. The first object-oriented programming language, Smalltalk introduced many of the characteristics seen in personal computers today, including the graphical user interface, overlapping windows, point-and-click menus, dragging and dropping, and icons. Goldberg wrote much of the documentation for Smalltalk-80, including the books Smalltalk-80: The Language and Its Implementation (1983), Smalltalk-80: the Interactive Programming Environment (1984), and Smalltalk-80: The Language (1989), co-written with David Robson and considered the definitive books on the subject.
From 1984 to 1986, Goldberg was the president of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). In 1988, she co-founded a spin-off business from Xerox called ParcPlace Systems that commercialized Smalltalk-80 and provided licensing of and support for it. She left ParcPlace in 1995, and in 1999 she co-founded the technological consulting firm Neometron. She has also acted as CTO for various companies, served on advisory boards, and designed online college courses in math and science.

Scope and Content of the Collection

The Adele Goldberg papers contain Goldberg’s working files relating to the programming language Smalltalk; periodicals, manuals, and other publications she collected throughout her career; and material relating to conferences and other events she participated in. The records span 1973 through 2010 with the bulk of the collection being from 1973 to 1998.
Goldberg’s Smalltalk files document the development, licensing, and documentation of various versions of Smalltalk – from its beginnings at Xerox PARC to its licensing and use elsewhere. Her collection of periodicals, books, and manuals form a comprehensive body of knowledge on object-oriented programming (OOP) and also on what Xerox PARC was researching and developing throughout the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s.
Conferences and events relating to object-oriented programming and other facets of Goldberg’s work are also well-documented in this collection. Aside from the textual conference proceedings and material, there are videos of Goldberg’s public talks contained in this collection’s unprocessed audiovisual material – including keynote speeches at ACM’s 1986 SIGCHI (Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction) and the 1989 SCOOP conference.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into 5 series:
Series 1, Smalltalk, 1973-2010, bulk 1973-1995
Series 2, Periodicals, technical papers, and articles, 1973-1998
Series 3, Conferences, workshops, and symposia, 1974-2000
Series 4, Books and manuals, 1978-1996
Series 5, Unprocessed AV material, 1978-1997
Series 6, Unprocessed software, 1995

Separated Material

Ephemera were separated from the main collection, including pins, buttons, and T-shirts relating to Smalltalk or conferences that Goldberg attended. To view catalog records for separated material search the CHM catalog at http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/search/ .

Related Collections at CHM

Adele Goldberg oral history, Lot X5823.2010, catalog number 102701984 (pdf) and 102702319 (video).

Related Collections at Other Repositories

Adele Goldberg oral history for the IEEE History Center, http://ethw.org/Oral-History:Adele_Goldberg .

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Goldberg, Adele, 1945-
Kay, Alan (Alan Curtis), 1940-
Object-oriented programming (Computer science)
Smalltalk (Computer program language)
Smalltalk-80 (Computer program language)

 

Smalltalk, Series 1, Bulk, 1973-1998 1973-2010

Series Scope and Content

This series contains Goldberg’s files on the programming language Smalltalk – including memoranda, program listings, notebooks, correspondence, manuals, newsletters, and promotional material. This material dates from 1973 to 2010 with the bulk from 1973 to 1995. A large part of this series consists of manuals for various versions of Smalltalk and systems related to Smalltalk. The earliest manuals in this series were published by Xerox PARC, starting with early versions of the language such as Smalltalk-72. As Xerox began licensing Smalltalk-80 and subsequent versions for outside use and distribution, other companies – notably ParcPlace Systems – started publishing manuals and other material related to Smalltalk, which are also included in this series. Much of the correspondence and notebooks in this series relate to the development of Smalltalk’s source code, its licensing and distribution, and the publication of papers and books about the technology. Of special interest in this series is material regarding the production of a book titled Smalltalk: Dreams and Schemes by Adele Goldberg, David Robson, and Larry Tesler. This book eventually became 3 published Smalltalk books, which subsequently formed the basis for much of the legal disclosure in the copyright infringement lawsuit that Apple Computer, Inc. filed in 1988 against Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard. Another highlight of this series is material relating to a project called “Twinkle,” which proposed that Xerox create a smaller Star Workstation for students, learning, and education. In this donation's lot files, Goldberg describes this 1982 project as accomplishing many of the innovations of a 1984 Macintosh system, but implemented on earlier 68000 technology. This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
 

102739342 Adele Goldberg and Smalltalk photographs ca. 1982

 

102739394 Alan C. Kay papers 1977-1993

 

102739395 ENVY/Developer and VisualWorks 2.0 1994

 

102739396 L. Peter Deutsch papers 1983-1987

 

102739397 Model-view-controller (MVC) 1982-1986

 

102739343 NoteTaker ca. 1979

 

102739390 Object-oriented programming promotional material 1994-1995

 

102739393 ParcPlace promotional material and newsletters 1988-1992

 

102739341 Shazam 1973-1976

 

102739321 Smalltalk : dreams and schemes 1978-1983

 

102739402 Smalltalk animation kit 1978

 

102739386 Smalltalk course material 1978; 1983

 

102739401 Smalltalk file directory 2010

 

102739348 Smalltalk history 1980-1983

 

102739366 Smalltalk manuals by various publishers 1975-1990

 

102739373 Smalltalk manuals published by ParcPlace 1988-1995

 

102739370 Smalltalk manuals published by Xerox 1976-1987

 

102739400 Smalltalk memoranda 1973-1982

 

102739339 Smalltalk newsletter 1983

 

102739398 Smalltalk presentation material 1985-1994

 

102739382 Smalltalk press and clippings 1983-2002

 

102739403 Smalltalk program listings 1974-1983

 

102739384 Smalltalk reference and status reports 1982-1983

 

102739361 Smalltalk syntax 1976-1981

 

102739337 Smalltalk-80 : the language and its implementation 1982

 

102739350 Smalltalk-80 Dandelion project 1982-1983

 

102739399 Smalltalk-80 Fuji Xerox video ca. 1985

 

102739340 Smalltalk-80 licensing and distribution 1981-1983

 

102739344 Smalltalk-related technical papers and reports 1975-1990

 

102739352 TinyTalk 1978-1980

 

102739353 Twinkle 1982

 

102739346 Virtual Memory Interest Group 1976-1980

 

102739336 World Class Objects 1994

 

102739360 Xerox research centers ca. 1975

 

Periodicals, technical papers, and articles, Series 2, 1973-1998

Series Scope and Content

This series consists of magazines, journals, articles, and technical papers and reports that date from 1973 to 1998. A large amount of material in this series is made up of periodicals published by SIGS Publications Inc. that are related to object-oriented programming and technology, including Hotline on Object-Oriented Technology, Journal of Object-Oriented Programming, C++ Report, Object magazine, and The Smalltalk Report. There is also a large number of technical reports from Xerox PARC’s blue and white report series, the Université de Genève Centre Universitaire d’Informatique, and the Carnegie Mellon University Department of Computer Science. This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
 

102739323 C++ report 1988-1996

 

102739320 Carnegie-Mellon University technical reports 1976-1989

 

102739325 First class 1988-1994

 

102739538 Forbes 1990-03

 

102739532 HOOPLA! ca. 1989

 

102739322 Hotline on object-oriented technology 1989-1993

 

102739326 Journal of object-oriented programming 1988-1996

 

102739327 Object magazine 1991-1997

 

102739537 Open computing 1994-12

 

102739328 Other articles and technical papers 1983-1993

 

102739329 PC AI 1992-1996

 

102739391 R'D Budget and Policy Project report 1986

 

102739531 Reed 1995-11

 

102739330 Report on object analysis ' design 1994-1996

 

102739324 Saint Silicon clippings and promotional material 1991

 

102739331 Smalltalk report, The 1991-1998

 

102739535 Softwarové noviny 1991

 

102739332 Sony Computer Science Laboratory technical reports 1989-1993

 

102739536 Success 1992-09

 

102739539 TWA Ambassador 1982-06

 

102739333 Universite´ de Gene`ve technical reports 1987-1998

 

102739335 Women in computer science undated

 

102739334 WRL technical note and research report 1986-1989

 

102739338 Xerox PARC technical reports 1973-1995

 

Conferences, workshops, and symposia, Series 3, 1974-2000

Series Scope and Content

This series contains proceedings, preprints, and other material related to conferences, workshops, and symposia from 1974 to 2000. Several of the conferences and symposia are focused on object-oriented programming, including SCOOP 1990, Woodman 1989, TOOLS 6, and the third European Symposium on Object-Oriented Software Development. Also represented are conferences put on by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP). Papers and presentations by Goldberg are included among the material for several conferences and symposia. Also included are two folders containing hand-drawn slides, photographic slides, and handwritten notes for presentations by Goldberg from 1985 and 1986, including a presentation titled "What Do We Really Know About Design" that was given at SIGCHI '86 held in Boston, and a presentation given at the ACM annual conference held in Denver in 1985. This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
 

102739347 ACM Conferences on the History of Computing 1986-1987

 

102739392 Business Engineering with Object Technology seminar ca. 1994

 

102739349 Eurographics 82 1982

 

102739356 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 1994

 

102739355 IISF/ACMJ International Symposium 1994

 

102739345 Information Processing 74 1974

 

102739354 Lecture Notes in Computer Science series 1987-2001

 

102739359 Presentation slides 1985-1986

 

102739351 Seminars and Conference in Object-Oriented Programming (SCOOP) 1990

 

102739358 Third European Symposium on Object-Oriented Software Development 1992

 

102739389 TOOLS 6 1991

 

102739357 Woodman '89 1989

 

Books and manuals, Series 4, 1978-1996

Series Scope and Content

This series is made up of books and manuals published from 1978 to 1996. There are a number of XE programming guides published by Helsinki University of Technology and manual drafts for DEMOS (Discrete Event Modelling on Simula). Also included is a two-volume tutorial on object-oriented computing. Books include those published by Object Management Group, an overview of Xerox 8000 series products, and an autobiography of Harold Hershey Hall. This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
 

102739385 Apple facts 5.96 1996-05

 

102739374 DEMOS manuals 1978

 

102739375 Helsinki University of Technology XE programming guides 1989

 

102739381 HHHiStory : an autobiography 1995-1996

 

102739383 HP NewWave general information manual 1990

 

102739380 KickStart Initiative : connecting America's communities to the information superhighway 1996

 

102739387 Macintosh notebook : MacPaint 1985

 

102739379 More color computer applications : high-resolution graphics 1984

 

102739388 Neptune manual undated

 

102739377 Object Management Group books 1994

 

102739378 Office systems technology : a look into the world of the Xerox 8000 series products 1982

 

102739376 Tutorial : object-oriented computing 1987

 

Unprocessed AV material, Series 5, 1978-1997

Series Scope and Content

This series consists of unprocessed audiovisual material from 1978 to 1997. Included are slides, photographs, VHS and Beta tapes, ephemera, and a personal album with clippings and photographs. Some of the videos document public talks, including “Computer Chronicles Women in Computing, September 1985” and Goldberg’s keynote speech at ACM’s SIGCHI (Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction). Also included are educational and/or promotional videos relating to Xerox PARC, Smalltalk, VisualWave, LearningWorks, and other systems. This series is unarranged.
 

102724548 Adele Goldberg collection of scrapbooks, photographs, and moving images 1978-1997

 

Unprocessed software, Series 6, circa 1995

Series Scope and Content

This series consists of unprocessed software from circa 1995. Included is a full software product in original packaging for VisualWorks from ParcPlace/Digitalk. This series is unarranged.
 

102724549 Unprocessed software ca. 1995