Guide to the John R. Ehrman collection

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
February 2017


Title: John R. Ehrman collection
Identifier/Call Number: X5621.2010
Contributing Institution: Computer History Museum
Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 9.5 Linear feet, 7 record cartons, 1 half manuscript box, and 1 microfiche box
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1966-1995
Date (inclusive): 1956-2005
Abstract: The John R. Ehrman collection documents Ehrman’s work in programming at IBM and Stanford University, and his membership with SHARE, an early user group for programmers of IBM mainframe computers. Material dates from 1956 to 2005, with the bulk from 1966 to 1995. Much of the collection’s focus is on programming, with an emphasis on FORTRAN and its related languages, and consists mainly of manuals, reference guides, books, technical reports, specifications, and program listings. Nearly half of the material is published by IBM. The rest of the collection is published by Stanford University’s Computer Science Department and SLAC, SHARE, and other universities, associations, and companies.
Languages: Collection material is primarily in English, with a small amount of material in French.
creator: John R., Ehrman, 1935-

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 as owner of the material.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of Item], [Date], John R. Ehrman collection, Lot X5621.2010, Box [#], Folder [#], Catalog [#], Computer History Museum.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of John Ehrman, 2009.

Biographical/Historical Note

John R. Ehrman was born in Richmond, Virginia on July 5, 1935. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from Oberlin College in 1956. Ehrman was first introduced to programming and computers during his time at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he managed the Academic Computer Center and taught introductory programming courses from 1963 to 1965. He also received his PhD from U of I in theoretical physics in 1963. After finishing at U of I, Ehrman moved on to Stanford University, where he provided computer support to physicists and engineers, worked in the Computation Center of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), and taught students in IBM Assembler Language programming. Ehrman worked and taught at Stanford from 1966 to 1983. In March of 1983, Ehrman began a 33-year career at IBM, ending as senior programmer in 2016. During his time at IBM, Ehrman created and led development of IBM's High Level Assembler (HLASM), gave presentations at many user group conferences, and visited customer sites to provide advice and assistance. Throughout his career, Ehrman has been an active member of the user group, SHARE. Ehrman first became a member of SHARE in 1964, and his membership activities include designing an early instance of the group’s logo, serving as project manager for various Assembler and FORTRAN-related initiatives, chairing the Fortran Standards Committee, serving on the SHARE Board of Directors, and cofounding the annual SHARE Academy: Assembler Bootcamp with Michael Stack. Ehrman retired from IBM and SHARE in 2016.

Scope and Content of the Collection

The John R. Ehrman collection contains material collected or created by Ehrman that documents his work at IBM and Stanford University, and his membership with SHARE. Records date from 1956 to 2005, with the bulk from 1966 to 1995. Most of the collection consists of manuals, reference guides, books, technical reports, specifications, and program listings. Much of the records’ focus is on programming, with an emphasis on FORTRAN and its related languages.
Nearly half of the collection is made up of material published by IBM, with some of it pre-dating Ehrman’s employment there. A significant portion of the IBM material is related to the IBM System/360 and IBM System/370 and their operating systems, the Basic Assembly Language (BAL) and its successors, and other programming languages.
Though containing less material, the records related to Stanford and SHARE provide a background in the development of FORTRAN and other languages and programs. The Stanford records highlight the ACME (Advanced Computer for Medical Research) time-sharing system, typesetting and typography programming, and the programming languages MORTRAN and FORTRAN. The SHARE material contains a large amount of records specific to the group’s involvement in the development of FORTRAN, in addition to records related to SHARE meetings and technical reports.
The final series in the collection contains manuals, specifications, technical reports, books, program listings, conference proceedings, catalogs, and newsletters from a variety of companies, associations, and universities not represented in the first three series. Topics vary, but much of the material is about FORTRAN and related languages, computer design, and programming.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into 4 series:
Series 1, IBM records, 1965-1997
Series 2, Stanford University technical reports and manuals, 1966-1983
Series 3, SHARE records, 1964-2005
Series 4, Other organizations records, 1956-1991

Separated Material

Books, software, and physical objects were separated from the main collection, including packaged Apple Computer software, floppy disks, and a KoalaPad tablet. Issues of the periodical SHARE Secretary's Distribution (SSD) were also separated from the collection. To view catalog records for separated material search the CHM catalog at http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/search/ .

Related Collections at CHM

John Ehrman papers, Lot X3468.2006.
John Ehrman manual collection, Lot X4155.2008.
Gift of John Ehrman, Lot X7492.2015.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Assembly languages (Electronic computers)
Computer programming
FORTRAN
International Business Machines Corporation
SHARE (Association)

 

IBM records, Series 1, 1965-1997

Series Scope and Content

This series consists of material published by IBM and collected by Ehrman. Many of the records in this series pre-date Ehrman’s career at IBM, which began in 1983. Types of material in this series include manuals, reference guides, books, technical reports, and course material and student workbooks from training and education internal to IBM. The IBM System/360 and IBM System/370 are well-documented in this series -- especially material relating to their operating systems and the Basic Assembly Language (BAL), which was used in programming the S/360 and S/370. Successors of BAL, commonly referred to as “Assembler” languages, are also prevalent in this material. Other technologies that frequently appear in this series include IBM’s RISC System/6000 (RS/6000), PL/I, High-Accuracy Arithmetic (ACRITH), FORTRAN, and FORMAC (FORmula MAnipulation Compiler). Also included is a 1995 analyst report created by D.H. Andrews Group for IBM titled “IBM's Software Strategy.” This series is arranged chronologically.
 

102773955 FORMAC technical reports 1965

 

102773956 1054 paper tape reader and 1055 paper tape punch manuals 1965-1966

 

102773958 Systems reference library - IBM System/360 Operating System 1966-1969

 

102773957 IBM System/360 Operating System manuals 1966-1972

 

102773961 IBM System/360 principles of operation 1967; 1970

 

102773959 PL/I reports, technical papers, and course material 1967-1969; 1981; 1983

 

102773960 IBM System/360 student workbooks and course material 1967-1970

 

102773962 Number systems and introduction to IBM data processing systems student workbooks 1968

 

102773963 Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) for the Southern Pacific Company 1968

 

102773964 IBM 29 card punch reference manual 1968-08

 

102773965 Assembler languages programmer's guides and technical reports 1968-1982

 

102773966 Basic Programmer Training (BPT) course material 1969

 

102773968 Reference summary booklets and reference cards 1970-1994

 

102773967 More about computers 1971

 

102773969 Brief survey of languages used for systems implementation 1971-10

 

102773970 Training notebook for Information Management System (IMS) 1972

 

102773972 ASCII art from impact printer 1972-1974

 

102773973 IBM System/370 principles of operation 1973; 1981-1987

 

102773974 Introduction to the IBM 3850 Mass Storage System (MSS) 1975-1977

 

102773975 IBM internal course on processor architecture 1978

 

102773971 Compiler design course material ca. 1978

 

102773976 System/370 Fortran H extended 1980-1981

 

102773977 Vocabulary for data processing, telecommunications, and office systems 1981-07

 

102773978 A personal history of APL 1982-10

 

102773979 Extended exponent range for FORTRAN users 1984

 

102773980 GUIDE/SHARE Language Futures Task Force final report 1984-11

 

102773981 IBM high-accuracy arithmetic (ACRITH) guides and descriptions 1984-1990

 

102773982 Vectorization and vector migration techniques 1986-06

 

102773983 Programming process architecture workflow chart 1986-10

 

102773984 Engineering and scientific subroutine library 1988-11

 

102773985 IBM's software strategy 1995-12

 

102773986 RISC System/6000 (RS/6000) guides 1995-1997

 

102773987 National language design guide : designing internationalized products 1996-10

 

Stanford University technical reports and manuals, Series 2, 1966-1982

Series Scope and Content

This series comprises technical reports and manuals published by Stanford University while Ehrman worked there. Material dates from 1966 to 1982 and is from the Computation Center, Computer Science Department, Electrical Engineering Department, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Computer Systems Laboratory, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), and Stanford Research Institute (SRI). Half of the material is related to three subjects: ACME (Advanced Computer for Medical Research), a time-sharing system developed by the Stanford Computation Center for the Stanford School of Medicine; typesetting and typography programming; and the programming language MORTRAN. Other topics include FORTRAN, algebraic algorithms, floating point systems, and programming. There are also two reports that present the questions and solutions from Stanford University's Computer Science Department comprehensive examinations from 1972 to 1978 and qualifying examinations from 1965 to 1978. Donald E. Knuth, Gio Wiederhold, Christopher J. Van Wyk, and Charles T. Zahn are the authors of many of the reports. This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
 

102773530 ACME technical notes and manuals 1966-1975

 

102773539 Brief survey of computer languages for symbolic algebraic manipulation, A 1968

 

102773531 Comprehensive and qualifying examinations in computer science 1978-1979

 

102773532 Floating-point technical reports 1967-04

 

102773533 MORTRAN technical papers and manuals 1973-1982

 

102773528 Other Stanford University Computer Science Department technical reports 1971; 1979; 1981

 

102773535 Programming and problem-solving seminar proceedings 1977-04; 1979-12

 

102773536 Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory technical reports 1970; 1976-11

 

102773537 Stanford Computer Systems Laboratory technical reports 1978-1980

 

102773529 Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) technical reports 1972; 1974

 

102773538 Typesetting and typography technical reports 1978-1980

 

SHARE records, Series 3, 1964-2005

Series Scope and Content

This series contains material collected or created by Ehrman from 1964 to 2005 while he was a member of SHARE. A quarter of the material is related to SHARE’s involvement in the development of FORTRAN, including a presentation on the 25th anniversary of FORTRAN by IBM’s Elliott Nohr, issues of the SHARE Fortran Project Newsletter, and FORTRAN program libraries. Another large part of this series is made up of material collected for use during SHARE's 20th, 30th, and 50th anniversaries, including proceedings from the first three SHARE meetings in 1955, a brief history of SHARE and its meetings, reminiscences of past SHARE meetings, and a transcript from the 1972 SHARE Meeting of Pioneers. Also included are reports and papers published by SHARE, and SHARE songbooks, which were used at the Esprit de Corps session, known as the SHARE or HASP sing-along, at annual SHARE meetings and include familiar songs with the lyrics rewritten so they are related to SHARE and HASP. This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
 

102773520 Bumper sticker undated

 

102773523 Program library 1964-1968

 

102773527 Reports and papers 1969-1980

 

102773519 SHARE background information 1972-2005

 

102773518 SHARE Europe (SEAS) booklets 1989; 1992

 

102773526 SHARE Fortran 25th anniversary presentation 1982

 

102773525 SHARE Fortran project newsletter 1971; 1985-1996

 

102773521 SHARE songbooks 1989-1992

 

102773522 Strategic concerns of the members of SHARE booklets 1990-1992

 

Other organizations records, Series 4, 1956-1991

Series Scope and Content

This series contains material collected by Ehrman that was published by companies, associations, and institutions other than those represented in the first three series of the collection. Material dates from 1956 to 1991. The majority of material is made up of manuals, specifications, and technical reports, but there are also books, program listings, conference proceedings, catalogs, and newsletters. Topics vary, but most of the material is about FORTRAN and related languages, computer design, and programming. Much of the material was published by universities, including an IBM 7090 program library from the University of Illinois; University of Michigan Terminal System program descriptions and manuals; and FORTRAN-related specifications and manuals from Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, and University of British Columbia. There are a large number of technical reports from Bell Laboratories, and a smaller number from Argonne and Los Alamos National Laboratories, University of Illinois, University of California at Santa Cruz, and other organizations. The Association for Computing Machinery has a large number of newsletters in this series from it SIGSAM and FORTRAN groups. Xerox PARC, Raytheon, Terrapin, and Microsoft all have material in this series, as well. This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
 

102773545 Argonne National Laboratory technical reports 1966-1967

 

102773543 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) newsletters 1966-1991

 

102773548 Augment precompiler technical summary reports 1976; 1979

 

102773568 Basic machine principles 1972

 

102773566 Bell Laboratories computing science technical reports 1972-1981

 

102773552 CFORMAC : Conversational FORMAC main program 1983-08

 

102773550 Computer design evaluation using programming language primitives 1973-12

 

102773561 Computer power and human reason : from judgment to calculation 1976

 

102773556 FORTH dimensions newsletter 1980-03

 

102773567 FORTH Inc. promotional package 1973

 

102773557 FORTUNE manual 1972

 

102773558 Guide to LSI implementation, A 1980-01

 

102773544 IF interactive FORTRAN compiler 1973-1979

 

102773549 Industrial Real-Time FORTRAN (IRTF) standard draft 1981

 

102773546 Los Alamos National Laboratory technical reports 1970; 1972

 

102773562 Merrill's expanded guide to computer performance evaluation using the SAS system 1990

 

102773554 Microsoft Applesoft compiler system for Apple II 1983

 

102773542 MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory memos 1970-1971

 

102773541 NATO Science Committee software engineering conference reports 1969-1970

 

102773540 R:BASE 3.1 : relational database concepts in practice 1991

 

102773565 REDUCE 2 manual 1973-03

 

102773555 Research in machine-independent software programming 1968-12-21

 

102773547 System Development Corporation product descriptions 1970; 1974

 

102773559 Terrapin Logo language for the Apple II : tutorial 1983

 

102773553 Tube, transistor, and diode descriptions 1956

 

102773564 University of Illinois Digital Computer Laboratory IBM 7090 program library 1962

 

102773563 University of Illinois manuals and technical reports 1962-02-12; 1969-12-01

 

102773534 University of Michigan Terminal System (MTS) 1976-1977

 

102773551 Using the CMS System Product Interpreter 1986

 

102773560 West of Eden : the end of innocence at Apple Computer 1989