Archival History of Computing at MIT, 1950–62

The MIT Digital Humanities Programs, together with the MIT Libraries Department of Distinctive Collections, have digitized and contextualized the majority of archived documents relating to the history of the MIT Computation Center from the 1950s and early 1960s.
Try searching for: Humanities | Whirlwind | Laura | Social science research | Calvin | 704 | Physics
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Digital Humanities: An Enduring Legacy A time without digital humanities is a time long before commercial computers. Even at its earliest, when the hours of computation were meticulously counted and rationed, the investment of technology in the humanities thrived.
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Behind the Scenes How did undergraduates in 2019 immerse themselves in computation of the 1950s? Find out more here.
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Announcement of the IBM 704 In December of 1955, MIT and IBM collaborated in a joint press release to announce that the university would be receiving its own IBM 704 computer. This new device was very advanced for its time, and would significantly impact many fields of study.
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Computing in the 1930s - A Geospatial Timeline A tour and timeline of notable events in the early history of computation.
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“Three Man-Months” One might presume that the primary issue with the computers of the 1950’s was that they were slow. But lack of processing power was not necessarily the bottleneck here.
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Qualifications of a 704 Programmer The idea of a programmer today is much different than what is was 60 years ago in the time of the IBM 704. Instead of your typical college educated, introverted programmer, the MIT Computation Center sought out a different type of demographic.