The Smithsonian Computer History Project and Some Personal Recollections

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview on the Smithsonian computer history project and other personal recollections of the author. The project at the Smithsonian originated with a contract signed by the American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS) and the Smithsonian's National Museum of History and Technology (NMHT) in 1967. Cuthbert Hurd, Isaac Auerbach, and Walter Carlson were three of the individuals who conceived the importance of Preserving the History of Computing . The chapter presents the possibility of mechanizing sequential series of calculations, checks, and procedures in a binary code resulted in a complex calculated named Bell Labs MODEL I.