Guide to the Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials

Sarah Wilson with the aid of Computer History Museum interns and volunteers

Computer History Museum

1401 N. Shoreline Blvd.

Mountain View, California 94043

Phone: (650) 810-1010

Email: research@computerhistory.org

URL: http://www.computerhistory.org

Guide to the Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials

Collection number: X3067.2005

Computer History Museum

Processed by:: Sarah Wilson with the aid of Computer History Museum interns and volunteers
Date Completed:: 2007
Encoded by:: Rebekah Y. Kim

Descriptive Summary

Title: Guide to the Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials

Dates: 1930-2000

Bulk Dates: 1960-1985

Collection number: X3067.2005

Collection Size: 440 linear feet

Repository: Computer History Museum

Mountain View, CA 94043

Abstract: The Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials at the Computer History Museum is comprised of catalogs, correspondence, design drawings, manuals, program listings, promotional materials, specifications, technical notes and technical reports from a wide variety of computer-related companies and institutions. The Collection covers 1930 through 2000, encompassing 440 linear feet of materials.

Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

The Computer History Museum can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claims of the copyright holder. Permission to copy or publish any portion of the Computer History Museum's collection must be given by the Computer History Museum.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of Item], [Item Date], Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials, Lot X3067.2005, Box ID [#], Accession [#], Computer History Museum.

Provenance

The provenance is unknown for the Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials. The material came from a variety of different sources most likely as documentation for physical objects that were added to the museum's collection. The collection thus began in the 1970s when The Computer Museum was founded in Massachusetts. At that time, Gwen Bell, the museum's first curator, arranged documents alphabetically by originating institution or company. This system of arrangement has been maintained.

When processing began in 2005, a found in collection lot number of X3067.2005 was assigned to the materials known as The Company Collection. The collection was processed by Computer History Museum staff, interns and volunteers from 2005 to 2007.

Scope and Content of Collection

The scope of the Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials spans the rise of the information age in the twentieth century. This includes, among other areas, documents representing pre-computing technologies, mainframe computers, minicomputers, personal computers, computer input and output (I/O) devices, computer storage and memory devices, software development, supercomputing and networking materials. The Collection covers 1,400 individual companies or institutions.

The Collection consists of over 10,000 documents including marketing brochures, manuals, design drawings, catalogs, program listings, promotional materials, specifications, technical notes and technical reports from 1930 to 2000. The bulk of the materials span the dates 1960 to 1985. The Collection is organized alphabetically by the name of the originating institution or company and then loosely by document creation date.

Some companies are represented by hundreds of documents while others may have only one document represented. Due to the large size of the collection, we have not included a listing of every folder in the collection but a list of the fifty-eight computer companies that have twenty-five or more documents represented. To search for a particular computer company or product, please use the Computer History Museum's online catalog at: http://archive.computerhistory.org/search/.

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is the most represented company spanning 1936 to 2002 and encompassing over 1,700 documents and 75 linear feet of shelf space. The second most-represented materials relate to the producers of the UNIVAC line of computers (under the names Remington-Rand and Sperry Rand Corporation) and comprising over 440 documents spanning from 1940 through 1986. Control Data Corporation (CDC) and Cray Research, Inc. are also well represented in the collection.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Analog computers

Calculators

Computers

Computer Industry

Computer input-output equipment

Computer Software

Computer Storage Devices

Computer systems

Electronic Data Processing

Electronic Digital Computers

Hybrid Computers

Punched card systems

Supercomputer Industry

Tabulating Machines

Teletypewriters

Separated Material

Since the Computer History Museum is also the repository for the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) corporate records, documents from DEC have not been processed as part of the Company Collection.

Aarhus, University of

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

Ampex Corporation

Apple Computer, Inc.

Atari, Inc.

Autonetics Division, North American Aviation

Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.

Bendix Corporation

Borland International

Burroughs Corporation

Burroughs Corporation. Electrodata Division

Computer Control Company

Computer Research Corporation

Control Data Corporation (CDC)

Convex Computer

Cray Research, Inc. (CRI)

Cromemco, Inc.

Data General Corporation (DG)

Electronic Associates, Inc. (EAI)

Electronic Memories Inc.

Epson America, Inc.

Evans and Sutherland, Inc.

Ferranti Ltd.

General Electric Company (GE)

Harvard University

Heath

Hewlett-Packard Company (HP)

Illinois, University of (Urbana-Champaign)

Intel Corporation

Intergraph

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)

Kendall Square Research Corporation (KSR)

Lockheed Electronics Company, Inc.

Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems (MITS)

Microsoft Corporation

Motorola Semiconductor Products Inc. Microprocessor Operations.

National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA). Ames Reseach Center.

National Cash Register Company (NCR)

National Semiconductor Corporation

Osborne Computer Corporation

Packard Bell Electronics. Packard Bell Computer

Philco Corporation

Prime Computer, Inc. (PR1ME)

Processor Technology Corporation

Radio Corporation of America (RCA)

Rand Corporation

Raytheon Company

Remington Rand Univac

Remington Rand, Inc.

Royal McBee Corporation

Scientific Data Systems (SDS)

Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI)

Sperry Rand Corporation

Sperry Rand Corporation. Remington Rand Univac Division

Sperry Rand Corporation. Univac Data Processing Division

Sun Microsystems

Tandem Computers, Inc.

Tektronix, Inc.

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI)

Wang Laboratories, Inc.

Xerox Corporation

Xerox Data Systems, Inc.

Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center)