Featured Member Site
Charles Babbage Institute
211 Elmer L. Andersen Library
222 - 21st Avenue South
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455
CBI entrance
Contact: R. Arvid Nelsen, Archivist, or Stephanie
Crowe, Assistant Archivist
Telephone: 612-624-5050
Email: cbi@umn.edu
Website: http://www.cbi.umn.edu
Conditions of Access
CBI is open to the public from 8:30 to 4:15 Monday-Friday U.S.
Central Time. Appointments are encouraged to ensure availability
of materials, and can also be made for Saturday between 9:00
and 1:00. Additionally, off-site researchers can generally be
accommodated via e-mail, telephone, or our online chat service.
CBI suite
Holdings
The CBI Archives collects, preserves and provides access to
rich archival collections and rare publications documenting the
history of information technology, from the era of tabulators
and electromechanical calculators in the period prior to World
War II, through the development of the electronic digital computer,
mainframes, mini and microcomputers, software and networking.
Volume
Over 5,000 linear feet of paper-based records, approximately
150,000 photographs, and nearly 400 oral histories.
Overview
CBI archives
CBI historians design and administer research projects in the
history of information technology and engage in original research
that is disseminated through scholarly publications, conference
presentations, and the CBI website. CBI archivists collect, preserve,
and make available for research primary source materials relating
to the history of information technology. The archival collection
consists of corporate records, manuscript materials, records
of professional associations, oral history interviews, trade
publications, periodicals, obsolete manuals and product literature,
photographs, films, videos, and reference materials. CBI also
serves as a clearinghouse for resources on the history of information
technology.
Finding aids to many of CBI’s collections are available
on our website at http://www.cbi.umn.edu/collections/archmss.html and
can be searched at http://discover.lib.umn.edu/findaid/.
About 550 images from the Burroughs Corporation Records are digitized
and available on our website at http://www.cbi.umn.edu/images/index.html,
and many of our oral histories have been transcribed and are
available on our website at http://www.cbi.umn.edu/oh/index.phtml.
CBI archive records
Origins and Governance
- 1978: Founded by Erwin and Adelle Tomash as the International
Charles Babbage Society; office opened in Palo Alto, California.
- 1979: American Federation of Information Processing Societies
becomes principal sponsor of the Society; Society renamed the
Charles Babbage Institute; companies and individuals in the
information industries offer support.
- 1980: University of Minnesota enters into a legal agreement
to sponsor and house the Charles Babbage Institute; a new supporting
entity, the Charles Babbage Foundation, is created to govern
the Institute as a partner with the University.
- 1989: University of Minnesota assumes all authority for the
Charles Babbage Institute; CBI becomes an organized research
unit of the University.
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