[SIGCIS-Members] Bush's rapid selector--photo documentation?

[Bernard Geoghegan]

Dear Colleagues,

 

I hope you are all well in these challenging times. 

 

I’m writing with a brief research question: Does anyone know of where I might find visual documentation of Vannevar Bush’s 1930s “rapid selector,” which I don’t think got much beyond prototype stage? A 1949 article by John C. Green, “The Rapid Selector—An Automatic Library,” depicts a version improved and updated by others (that article states “After the war a number of interested persons again took up the problem of the Rapid Selector. Among them were Ralph Shaw, Librarian of the Department of Agriculture, and a group of persons who had originally worked with Dr. Bush, and were now independently organized as Engineering Research Associates, with headquarters in St. Paul). However, I’m wondering if anyone has come across photos, diagrams, etc., from its incarnation at MIT in the 1930s. 

 

Thanks for any feedback, stay safe.

 

Bernard 

 

 

 

-- 

Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan

Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Digital Media

Chair of the UG Assessment Board, Digital Culture

www.bernardg.com

 

Department of Digital Humanities

King's College London 

The Strand Building

Room S3.08

WC2R 2LS

 

Office: +44 (0)20 7848 4750Dear Colleagues,

 

I hope you are all well in these challenging times. 

 

I’m writing with a brief research question: Does anyone know of any visual documentation of Vannevar Bush’s 1930s “rapid selector,” which I don’t think ever got much beyond prototype stage? A 1949 article by John C. Green, “The Rapid Selector—An Automatic Library,” depicts an apparently improved and updated version. However, I’m wondering if anyone has come across photos, diagrams, etc., from its incarnation at MIT in the 1930s. 

 

Thanks for any feedback, stay well.

 

 

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