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The Wellspring Initiative(part of The Wellspring Initiative)  Digital Collections from the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries include the Allen Newell Collection and the Herbert Simon Collection. The Charles Babbage Institute (CBI) Oral History Collection. The Burndy Library, part of the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology. [Please note: "Monday, May 1, 2006, it was announced that the Burndy Library will move to San Marino, California, this Fall to become part of the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.'] The Computer Conservation Socitey (UK). "The Society was formed in 1989 as an initiative between the British Computer Society and the Science Museum of London. It was a time when the computer industry had existed for about half a century, and when many people had spent a professional lifetime in the industry. The industry had matured, but was still poised for ever greater technological and social changes as it had been from its beginnings in the 1940s. It was time to take stock and reflect on the extraordinary developments to date, and in particular, to be concerned that many of the pioneering people and hardware and software were fast disappearing."
"The Computer History Museum is the world's largest and most significant history museum for preserving and presenting the computing revolution and its impact on the human experience."
"IEEE Annals of the History of Computing covers the breadth of computer history. Featuring scholarly articles by leading computer scientists and historians, as well as firsthand accounts by computer pioneers, the Annals is the primary publication for recording, analyzing, and debating the history of computing. The Annals also serves as a focal point for people interested in uncovering and preserving the records of this exciting field. The quarterly publication is an active center for the collection and dissemination of information on historical projects and organizations, oral history activities, and international conferences." The IEEE History Center: "IEEE is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. The IEEE established the IEEE History Center in 1980, in anticipation of its Centennial celebration in 1984. In 1990, the Center moved to the campus of Rutgers University, which became a cosponsor.The mission of the IEEE History Center is to preserve, research and promote the history of information and electrical technologies."
No, Boswell said, there's more to a history than its texts. "There is," he wrote, "perhaps in every thing of consequence, a secret history which it would be amusing to know, could we have it authentically communicated."
And so with artificial intelligence. Its texts tell us many things of consequence .... But much of this book is also the secret history, amusing to know when it is authentically communicated. The human beings who were present when this art was transformed into a science -- speak for themselves in these pages, communicating not only how it came about, but their personal hopes and dreams as well. And they speak not only in the the interests of authentic history, but for still another reason. That reason is one of several that made me write this book. It's the desire to show that science is above all a human endeavor. - from Pamela McCorduck's Preface (page xii) to her 1979 book, Machines Who Think. Updated in 2004]. National Archive for the History of Computing at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM). "Computing machines became central to technological and social change in the twentieth century; their use determines many aspects of our lives in the twenty-first. British institutions and individuals played an important role in this process. However, the records and artefacts which might help the historian to document it are fast disappearing. The UK National Archive for the History of Computing (NAHC) was created in 1987 as a repository for the documents and images of computer history, and a centre to encourage its study. A rich collection is now available to scholars." Oral History Association. "Oral history is a field of study and a method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. Oral history is both the oldest type of historical inquiry, predating the written word, and one of the most modern, initiated with tape recorders in the 1940s and now using 21st-century digital technologies.The Oral History Association, established in 1966, seeks to bring together all persons interested in oral history as a way of collecting and interpreting human memories to foster knowledge and human dignity." Recovering MIT's AI Film History - Early Artificial Intelligence Research : Caught on Film. "Here you will find a chronology of some of AI's most influential projects and how they worked. It is intended for both non-scientists and those ready to continue experimentation and research tomorrow. Included is a taste of who the main players have been, concepts they and their projects have explored and how the goals of AI have evolved and changed over time. Many will be surprised that some of what we now consider standard tools like search engines, spell check and spam filters are all outcroppings of AI research." Silicon Valley Oral History Project proposal. From SiliconBase ("a Stanford University-based resource for scholars, students, and writers interested in Silicon Valley's past and present"). "[M]uch of the history of Silicon Valley takes place off the record. Personal networks, informal gatherings, and conversation have been important to the Valley's everyday business life since its creation. Interviews can help us reconstruct those networks, and record key moments in careers, business deals, and product development that otherwise would be lost. Further, some of the most interesting questions about the Valley concern its culture and social norms. These by definition are unwritten: at best they leave indirect traces. Interviews are often the only way to gather direct information about values, attitudes, motives, and corporate and regional culture." Interviews from The Smithsonian National Museum of American History. "Although the development of modern communications and computers is among the most important aspects of modern American history, historical writing about the development is remarkably sparse. And few of the leaders of the development have written their own memoirs. The Smithsonian Institution is capturing the recollections of some of these people in the form of oral and video histories." Anecdotes. A collection from The Software History Center. "What makes software history so much fun is that most of the people who were active in the early days are still around to talk about it. The industry has changed so rapidly that 'ancient history' is only twenty to thirty years ago so most software pioneers are still relatively young people with their memories intact. They have a lot of fascinating, funny, and revealing stories to tell about the challenges of devising new, useful things to do with computers and creating an industry based on a new kind of technology. We want to collect as many stories as possible, both because these memories are invaluable to the scholars studying the history of software and because these stories are inspiring to today’s entrepreneurs who continue to face the challenges of creating new markets for technology." One Giant Screwup for Mankind - NASA put a man on the moon - then lost the videotape. A grizzled crew of ex-rocket jockeys are on a star-crossed mission to find it. By David Kushner. Wired (January 2007: Issue 15.01). "'Everyone seemed happy to see the guy on the moon.' [Stan] Lebar never even saw the raw transmission; only the few tracking-station engineers did. But as they converted the feed for Mission Control and the worldwide audience, they also recorded it onto huge reels of magnetic tape that were promptly sent to NASA to be filed for safekeeping. Not long ago, Lebar learned why the footage had looked like mush: The transfer and broadcast had degraded the image badly, like a third-generation photocopy. 'What the world saw was some bastardized thing,' says Lebar, now 81. 'Posterity deserves more than that.' Good thing the engineers in Australia recorded the raw feed. Now Lebar and a crew of seasoned space cowboys are trying to get that original footage and show it to the world. There is just one problem: NASA has lost the tapes. ... The potential historical and educational value of the original tapes would be enormous. ... In October 2006, Lebar and [Dick] Nafzger visit the Data Evaluation Lab. It's about to be shut down as a cost-cutting measure. Floor tiles are missing, gutted computers are everywhere, and intestine-like coils of electrical cables burst from the ground. ... They show me the analog recorder, the last link to the original data. This device was slated for the scrap heap as well. But thanks to the persistent pestering of the old Apollo vets, the device and the facility will be spared for the duration of the search." Stanford University Libraries' History of Science and Technology Collections. Maintained by Colyn Wohlmut.
UCLA Oral History Program's Introduction to Oral History. "The introduction of the telephone and other technological innovations since the late nineteenth century no longer made it necessary to write down everything one saw or did, heard or thought. As a result, modern historians increasingly wonder whether traditional written sources are sufficient." The Virtual Museum of Computing (VMoC). "This virtual museum includes an eclectic collection of World Wide Web (WWW) hyperlinks connected with the history of computing and on-line computer-based exhibits available both locally and around the world. It was founded on 1 June 1995, more that tem years ago, so is an example of an 'old' virtual museum itself." Maintained by Jonathan Bowen. Galleries include: Corporate history and overviews, History of computing organizations, Personal collections, and Computer simulators. Why Save Personal Papers? From The Chemical Heritage Foundation. "The published record of science and technology gives only the finished conclusion of a particular series of steps -- it does not reveal those preliminary efforts that were unsuccessful nor how chemists and chemical engineers conceived of their experiments, plans, and interpretations. The processes of research, innovation, and entrepreneurship are found in the informal documents generated by chemical scientists and engineers in the course of their professional activities." The Archives of Women in Science and Engineering (WISE Archives) Oral History Project.  Here's a wonderful example of just how effective a small project can be: The History of Project Delta. "Project Delta was an incredible learning experience that introduced thousands of Delaware high school students to computing in the 1960's and 70's. Delta was founded on the radical idea that computers in education can be run by the students. At Delta, the students ran the computer, installed the terminals at the schools, improved the operating system, and invented early versions of things like e-mail and on-line chat. This web site is dedicated to recording and preserving the history of Project Delta." Check out our OralHistory Resources, some related news,and our collection of interviews |
