Museums and Archives

Abstract

This is a new section for the Annals. The Editors-in-Chief have decided to include it in this particular anniversary issue because it provides, in one place, a description of the activities of many of the major museums and archives that are actively concerned with the history of computing. No pretense to completeness is being made. Indeed there are several institutions that deserve space here, but have been left out for a number of different practical reasons. I have, with assistance, managed to obtain information from nine of the largest institutions in America, Britain, and Europe. I welcome future submissions from other organizations and will attempt to provide “update” information from time to time on the ones that are currently planning to open new exhibits or are acquiring new and significant artifacts, manuscripts, or records. The major museums and archives often engage in a number of different activities and the designation of “museum” or “archive” is sometimes blurred. For example, the IEEE Center for the History of Electrical Engineering, while primarily an archive, prepares traveling exhibits; the National Museum of American History, primarily a museum, has a large archive which not only consists of traditional papers but also contains the many oral histories collected by the AFIPS Computer History Project in the 1960s and 1970s. We hope to be able to provide more in-depth accounts of these “sideline” aspects of our major institutions in some future issues.