Collection Guide
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Kevles (Barbara L.) collection of computer technology
M1588
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Barbara L. Kevles collection of computer technology
creator:
Kevles, Barbara L.
Identifier/Call Number: M1588
Physical Description:
2.5 Linear Feet
(5 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1993-2006
Abstract: Collection of operating manuals, software, and related material, assembled by journalist Barbara Kevles.
Journalist, author, and archivist Barbara Kevles used the same personal computer from 1993 through 2006. During those fourteen
years, she added only a few essential programs such as financial and security software because of the restrictions placed
by the PC’s miniscule 170 megabyte hard drive. Out of necessity, she kept her operating system, monitor, and printer manuals
as well as allied materials to operate her computer and fix periodic malfunctions as the radically changing computer world
replaced her platform, programs and eliminated support services. She recorded her user problems with an IBM compatible computer
and peripheries in detail in 12 notebooks.
As a result, The Barbara L. Kevles Collection of Computer Technology is comprised of over a hundred published and unpublished
documents, software, and miscellaneous equipment that create a marker from which to measure the rapid evolution of home computer
technology starting in the 1990s through today.
Software and documentation has been placed into boxes without folders. Post-it Notes have been left intact. Photocopies and
author's notes have been re-housed in acid-free folders, maintaining original titles. For the most detailed listing, please
refer to the "The Catalogue of the Barbara L. Kevles Collection of Computer Technology" prepared by Kevles found in Box 1,
Folder 1.
The collection includes guides, manuals, installation software, historic Norton newsletters, hand-written notebooks, correspondence,
demonstration trial software-- all for precedent-setting operating systems, early program applications, analog monitors, seminal
printers, modems, motherboards, internet service providers, financial software, and antivirus programs.
Stanford Special Collections also holds the Barbara L. Kevles Collection on Gordon Parks (M1409):
https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/5659444
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Software is available
for visual review only.
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not
an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission
or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Barbara L. Kevles, 2007. Accession 2007-229.
[identification of item], Barbara L. Kevles collection of computer technology (M1588). Dept. of Special Collections and University
Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Operating systems (Computers)
Computer industry -- United States -- History
Kevles, Barbara L.