[SIGCIS-Members] Available : an IT History wall from Vienna, Austria

Thu Jun 2 09:16:23 PDT 2011

Hi James:

An anecdote about the Eames book of the History Wall to amuse you.

In about 1988 out of the blue I had an email from Professor I. Bernard Cohen, of Harvard, who had been IBM's History Consultant on the History Wall Project in the 70s. He said that the first (1973) edition of "A Computer Perspective" had been long out of print, a situation that couldn't be remedied because the photographic plates (of the book's lavishly-illustrated pages) could not be found. But now that Charles and Ray Eames had both passed away, the plates had been discovered among their effects, and a new edition was going to be produced. However it would have to keep exactly the same pagination, because it would be produced from the page plates, so he was going to rewrite his introduction (in the same number of pages) to bring it up to date. And he was inviting me to rewrite the four page epilogue, though this time covering computer developments from 1950-1990, rather than 1950-1970 (but still in four pages).

He said he was asking me because he'd liked a paper he'd seen of mine on roughly this topic. I replied, saying I was flattered by the invitation, but that he must be mistaken, since I'd not written such a paper. (At this time my history writings all concerned the pre-1950 period.) He replied saying it must have been a lecture he'd heard me give - I assured him this couldn't be the case either. However, I became intrigued by the challenge, and produced an incredibly tightly written piece in five sections: The 1950s, The 1960s, The 1970s, The 1980s, and The Future, all within the four page limit.

Some time later, when the new (1990) edition was in press, I had dinner with Bernard in Cambridge, MA. About halfway through the dinner he confessed that he'd just found the paper that he'd recalled reading, and which had prompted his invitation to me. But to his embarrassment he'd found that it was not by me but by Maurice Wilkes!

A little while later I met Maurice and started telling him the tale. Before I got to the end he interrupted and said, rather pointedly: "Yes Brian, you've written a number of such papers haven't you". I replied "Maurice, you had better let me finish the story."

He took it in (fairly) good part.

Cheers

Brian Randell

PS I just checked and was delighted to find that the 1990 edition is still in print.

On 2 Jun 2011, at 14:56, James Cortada wrote:

> That idea is being discussed in Armonk right now
> 
> Dr. Jim (James) W. Cortada
> IBM Institute for Business Value 
> 2917 Irvington Way
> Madison, WI 53713 USA
> jwcorta at us.ibm.com
> 608-270-4462
> 
> <graycol.gif>Brian Randell ---06/02/2011 08:50:37 AM---Hi Jim: Excellent!
> 
> <ecblank.gif>
> From:	<ecblank.gif>
> Brian Randell <Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk>
> <ecblank.gif>
> To:	<ecblank.gif>
> James Cortada/Madison/IBM at IBMUS
> <ecblank.gif>
> Cc:	<ecblank.gif>
> members at sigcis.org, members-bounces at sigcis.org, Petri Paju <petpaju at utu.fi>, softeu at sigcis.org
> <ecblank.gif>
> Date:	<ecblank.gif>
> 06/02/11 08:50 AM
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> Subject:	<ecblank.gif>
> Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Available : an IT History wall from Vienna,	Austria
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Jim:
> 
> Excellent!
> 
> It would be nice if it were still readily available to view, even if just as an explorable virtual museum exhibit (despite the merits of the Eames book).
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Brian Randell
> 
> On 2 Jun 2011, at 13:54, James Cortada wrote:
> 
> > Still exists and the IBM Archives has it.
> > 
> > Dr. Jim (James) W. Cortada
> > IBM Institute for Business Value 
> > 2917 Irvington Way
> > Madison, WI 53713 USA
> > jwcorta at us.ibm.com
> > 608-270-4462
> > 
> > <graycol.gif>Brian Randell ---06/02/2011 07:29:36 AM---Hi: Petri's message prompts the question as to whether the original superb IBM History Wall (that I
> > 
> > <ecblank.gif>
> > From:	 <ecblank.gif>
> > Brian Randell <Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk>
> > <ecblank.gif>
> > To:	 <ecblank.gif>
> > Petri Paju <petpaju at utu.fi>
> > <ecblank.gif>
> > Cc:	 <ecblank.gif>
> > softeu at sigcis.org, members at sigcis.org
> > <ecblank.gif>
> > Date:	 <ecblank.gif>
> > 06/02/11 07:29 AM
> > <ecblank.gif>
> > Subject:	 <ecblank.gif>
> > Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Available : an IT History wall from Vienna,	 Austria
> > <ecblank.gif>
> > Sent by:	 <ecblank.gif>
> > members-bounces at sigcis.org
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Hi:
> > 
> > Petri's message prompts the question as to whether the original superb IBM History Wall (that I believe prompted the development of the Vienna wall) still exists. It was produced in the early 1970s, and is the basis of the Charles and Ray Eames book "A Computer Perspective" (Harvard Univ. Press, 1973). Many years later I saw that it was still at IBM in one of the their central Manhattan buildings, but that was a *long* time ago.
> > 
> > Cheers
> > 
> > Brian Randell
> > 
> > On 26 May 2011, at 13:34, Petri Paju wrote:
> > 
> > > 
> > > Dear all,
> > > 
> > > Attached you can find information on a history wall, compiled in the 1970s, in Vienna. I understand the wall has texts in German and in English - see the docx-file for an example, in the end.
> > > 
> > > Anyone interested and able to find a place for the history wall (they will have another copy left in Vienna) somewhere, please contact:
> > > 
> > > Gerhard.Chroust at jku.at
> > > 
> > > for more information...
> > > 
> > > Thanks,
> > > Petri
> > > 
> > > 
> > > PS. The files also contain some references to Austrian history publications that might be of interest to some of you.
> > > 
> > > -- 
> > > Petri Paju, tutkijatohtori, Turun yliopisto
> > > -- Ph.D. Researcher, Univ. of Turku
> > > http://users.utu.fi/petpaju/ (new article: Computing Close to Iron Curtain: Czechoslovakia and Finland)
> > > http://www.ths.fi/bibliography.htm (new)
> > > <geschwand-angebot.DOCX><$09y$40j-geschwand.PDF>_______________________________________________
> > > This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
> > 
> > 
> > --
> > School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
> > NE1 7RU, UK
> > EMAIL = Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
> > FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> --
> School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
> NE1 7RU, UK
> EMAIL = Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
> FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

--
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell