[SIGCIS-Members] Help on Coffee and Computing

Thu Jul 23 06:45:42 PDT 2020

Everyone has been wonderful and generous with your thoughts and leads.  It
seems you are as excited about coffee as everyone else in the computer
world.  It is becoming clearer to me that there are certain "material
culture" issues that can guide us to understanding the world of computing.
Besides coffee mugs, lapel pins, postcards and all that stuff we would get
at COMDEX, for example, just opens up all kinds of avenues for the study of
computing culture.  And yes, it seems every industry loved its coffee and
other trinkets.  Thank you for your thoughts, I have a lot to ponder.  Jim

On Tue, Jul 21, 2020 at 1:43 PM mike at willegal.net <mike at willegal.net> wrote:

>  I can relate to some of these comments.
>
> Cisco, where I have employed since 1997, used to have coolers with a large
> variety of free beverages available to all employees.  I had one friend
> that said that when the free drinks went away, so would he, and he did
> leave not so long after the free drinks disappeared.
>
> I also used to fill my cup directly from the outflow from the old style
> brewing machines.
>
> At one point Encore Computer, charged employees a quarter a cup for coffee
> on the honor system.  Eventually the coffee became free to employees, but
> management didn’t tell us and they used the funds to sponsor a year end
> holiday party.
>
> Here is a story. More than 15 years ago, I fairly frequently travelled
> back and forth between Boston and San Jose on the “Nerd Bird."  Over time,
> I had established the habit of staying on east coast time, even when out in
> California.  Visiting San Jose, during the intense effort of a new hardware
> bring up, the team stayed and worked through a weekend.  Sunday morning, I
> woke up, as usual, about 4 or 5 AM local time.  Not having anything to do
> in the hotel room, I decided to go into the office and get a head start on
> the days efforts.  I arrived in the large, dark and apparently empty,
> office building at something like 5 AM that Sunday morning.  With the
> lights out, no one in sight,  I found that the coffee machine was in the
> middle of brewing a fresh pot of coffee.  It was a very eerie thing.
> Eventually, I ran across a guy from another team that had come into the
> office early that morning and needed his cup of “Joe.”
>
> Eventually I had to give up on all caffeinated beverages, as I often
> didn’t drink them during weekends and would then end up with a splitting
> headache on Sunday.
>
>
> -Mike Willegal
>
>
>
>
> On Jul 21, 2020, at 1:08 PM, Marc Weber <marc at webhistory.org> wrote:
>
> Mugs are also well represented in our collection at the Computer History
> Museum… you’ll get 470 hits when you search on “mug” in our online catalog
> <https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/search/?s=mug&f=physicalobject>.
> In fact we have essentially stopped collecting them as a result.
> We also have a Peet’s Dash Button
> <https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102777941>.
> Best, Marc
>
> Marc Weber <http://www.computerhistory.org/staff/Marc,Weber/>  |
> marc at webhistory.org  |   +1 415 282 6868
> Curatorial Director, Internet History Program
> Computer History Museum, 1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View CA 94043
> computerhistory.org/nethistory  |  Co-founder, Web History Center and
> Project
>
> On Jul 21, 2020, at 09:44, Henry E Lowood <lowood at stanford.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi Jim,
> You might want to browse through the Doug Menuez photography collection at
> Stanford.  About 10,000 of the images are online (out of about
> 200-250,000).  He captures quite a bit of the culture in companies like
> Apple, NeXT, Adobe, etc., mostly 1980s.  I am sure you will find many
> coffee mugs there!
> Here is a link to the online exhibit created from the images in this
> collection:
> https://exhibits.stanford.edu/menuez
> Hit “browse” to see a selection of companies represented.
> Henry
>
> Henry Lowood, PhD
> Harold C. Hohbach Curator, History of Science & Technology Collections;
> Curator, Film & Media Collections
> HASG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall
> Stanford University Libraries
> Stanford CA 94305-6066
> PH: 650-723-4602
> EM: lowood at stanford.edu
>
> *From:* Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> *On Behalf Of *Kidwell,
> Peggy
> *Sent:* Tuesday, July 21, 2020 4:09 AM
> *To:* Staiti, Alana <StaitiA at si.edu>; James Cortada <jcortada at umn.edu>;
> members at sigcis.org
> *Subject:* Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Help on Coffee and Computing
>
> I would add to Alana's fine list:
>
> https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1867086 (a
> photograph)
>
> https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/NMAH.AC.0324_ref460 (a
> cartoon - though not much coffee shown)
>
> Best -
>
> Peggy Kidwell
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Staiti,
> Alana <StaitiA at si.edu>
> *Sent:* Monday, July 20, 2020 3:53 PM
> *To:* James Cortada <jcortada at umn.edu>; members at sigcis.org <
> members at sigcis.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Help on Coffee and Computing
>
> *External Email - Exercise Caution*
> Hi Jim,
>
> The National Museum of American History has some mugs in the computing
> collection featuring company names. Some include fun little sayings. See
> links below for a few examples. I'm not sure I can elaborate on coffee
> culture though! We are still working remotely but if you have specific
> questions about any of these or other objects I'd be happy to do whatever
> digging I can do from afar, for the time being.
>
> https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1281495
> <https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Famericanhistory.si.edu%2Fcollections%2Fsearch%2Fobject%2Fnmah_1281495&data=02%7C01%7Ckidwellp%40si.edu%7Cfa6254d427c84c4a6fad08d82ce6870e%7C989b5e2a14e44efe93b78cdd5fc5d11c%7C0%7C0%7C637308715955058625&sdata=2yjToxvJg097T7YaIu%2F3SkDRq6UBv%2BYIWinjh68PGqQ%3D&reserved=0>
> https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1281135
> <https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Famericanhistory.si.edu%2Fcollections%2Fsearch%2Fobject%2Fnmah_1281135&data=02%7C01%7Ckidwellp%40si.edu%7Cfa6254d427c84c4a6fad08d82ce6870e%7C989b5e2a14e44efe93b78cdd5fc5d11c%7C0%7C0%7C637308715955058625&sdata=LsCiXe%2FDc9dbbydoHCscFyN8iDNTLcnhL96cvFJ4QHU%3D&reserved=0>
> https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1281136
> <https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Famericanhistory.si.edu%2Fcollections%2Fsearch%2Fobject%2Fnmah_1281136&data=02%7C01%7Ckidwellp%40si.edu%7Cfa6254d427c84c4a6fad08d82ce6870e%7C989b5e2a14e44efe93b78cdd5fc5d11c%7C0%7C0%7C637308715955068616&sdata=rckja4adawNZnJdJu1f10AplLLTq4zBHSuX1lRVuMsY%3D&reserved=0>
> https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1281137
> <https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Famericanhistory.si.edu%2Fcollections%2Fsearch%2Fobject%2Fnmah_1281137&data=02%7C01%7Ckidwellp%40si.edu%7Cfa6254d427c84c4a6fad08d82ce6870e%7C989b5e2a14e44efe93b78cdd5fc5d11c%7C0%7C0%7C637308715955068616&sdata=if2AKMU52J9PU8oO22NTlBtJJeIDyz%2FYkgwlWyWOtRg%3D&reserved=0>
>
> Be well,
> Alana
>
> *Alana Staiti* (she/her/hers)
> Curator of the History of Computers and Information Sciences
> National Museum of American History
> Smithsonian Institution
> staitia at si.edu
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of James
> Cortada <jcortada at umn.edu>
> *Sent:* Monday, July 20, 2020 3:41 PM
> *To:* members at sigcis.org <members at sigcis.org>
> *Subject:* [SIGCIS-Members] Help on Coffee and Computing
>
> *External Email - Exercise Caution*
>
> The IT community of users, programmers, vendors, etc have for decades had
> a reputation for being extensive consumers of coffee. In some parts of the
> IT ecosystem, especially among those who work odd hours, such as
> programmers, computer operators, and vendor field engineers.  I am studying
> the corporate ephemera of this industry and its cultural attachments, such
> as coffee cups and what they tell us about computing.  Do any of you have
> any information, ephemera, or sources and citations on this specific issue
> of coffee and computing?  I can get many industry folks, such as IBM
> retirees, to wax eloquently on the subject in their private FB accounts,
> but that is not enough.  Corporate culture is tough to study.  Thanks in
> advance for your help.  Jim
> --
> James W. Cortada
> Senior Research Fellow
> Charles Babbage Institute
> University of Minnesota
> jcortada at umn.edu
> 608-274-6382
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>
>
> Marc Weber <http://www.computerhistory.org/staff/Marc,Weber/>  |
> marc at webhistory.org  |   +1 415 282 6868
> Internet History Program Curatorial Director, Computer History Museum
>
> 1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View CA 94043
> computerhistory.org/nethistory
> Co-founder, Web History Center and Project, webhistory.org
>
> _______________________________________________
> This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion
> list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member
> posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list
> archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and
> you can change your subscription options at
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>
>

-- 
James W. Cortada
Senior Research Fellow
Charles Babbage Institute
University of Minnesota
jcortada at umn.edu
608-274-6382
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