[SIGCIS-Members] Burroughs Corporation in South Africa

[Jeffrey Yost]

Hi Bernard,

Interesting sounding project, having the Burroughs Collection here, and
having read William S. Burroughs' books, including *Junkie *to *Naked
Lunch, *while I was in college, I often wondered about him and his
corporate family. Yes, Burroughs Corporation was quite active in South
Africa. CBI has the Burroughs Corporate Records Collection which details a
tremendous number of aspects of the company, a really extensive corporate
collection, from the 1880s American Arithmometer days in St. Louis, to the
move of HQ to Detroit and renaming as Burrough Adding Machine and later
Burroughs Corporation (and expanding around the world including South
Africa and elsewhere in Global South as well as Europe...). The collection
is over 600 boxes, spans all functional areas, and is divided into 111
Series or Sub Collections. There are collections on International, on
Plants, etc. The general statement on the collection and links to the 111
Sub Collections is below. We had a digitization project a quarter century
ago and did detailed cataloguing of 500 select Burroughs images and put
them online on University Libraries UMedia of UMN, but I don't think there
are any of Burroughs' South Africa among those 500, actually I think it
came to 520.  UMedia is Univ. of Minnesota wide, the 520 Burroughs images
(by keyword searching the combo of Burrough and Still Images) are here  UMedia
Burroughs Corporation photos
<https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/search?facets%5Btypes%5D%5B%5D=Still+Image&q=burroughs>

We have many, many thousands of additional Burroughs photos so we might
have some in the sub series that are relevant in either print or negatives.
While not digitized, the Finding Aid for each sub series is processed down
to the folder level, so it should list if photos exist based on subject
area.  There are also many illustrations of corporate facilities, line
drawings on letterhead and other material.

One thing regarding potential cultural influences you might find
interesting is Burroughs Farms, which was a large recreation wooded area
with lakes West of Detroit, hundreds of acres of land where the corporation
rewarded workers and their families--swimming, hiking, horseback
riding....probably archery as well (all in corporate paternalistic
fashion). I've wondered if William S. Burroughs spent any time there?
(William S. Burroughs killed his wife Joan Vollner in Mexico City in 1951
in an archery "accident.")

Collection: Burroughs Corporation records | University of Minnesota
Archival Finding Aids
<https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/3/resources/222>

Also, feel free to contact the CBI Archivist and Curator Amanda Wick if
wanting additional info on anything. Amanda's email is abwick at umn.edu

Best, Jeff

**   *   *   *   *   **
*Jeffrey Yost, Ph.D. *
*Director, Charles Babbage Institute for Computing, Information & Culture*
*Research Professor, University of Minnesota*

*Just Code: Power, Inequality and the Political Economy of IT (Johns
Hopkins U. Press out in Nov. 2025 co-edited w/ Gerardo Con Diaz)
<https://press.jhu.edu/books/title/12804/just-code> *
*Making IT Work: A History of the Computer Services Industry (MIT Press)
<https://amzn.to/3gqe4R6>*
*Studies in Computing and Culture book series, Johns Hopkins U. Press
<https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/series/studies-computing-and-culture>
*Co-Editor
(w/ Con Diaz)
*PI, NSF-funded CBI project "Mining a Useable Past: Perspectives,
Paradoxes, and Possibilities with Security and Privacy."*
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essays & resources)* (Founder/Leader)

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<https://cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces> *Co-Editor-in-Chief (w/ Amanda Wick)






On Tue, Jul 22, 2025 at 12:58 PM Bernard Geoghegan via Members <
members at lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

> Hey colleagues,
>
> A shot in the dark: Does anyone have a handy reference or link or
> reproduction to visual illustrations related to Burroughs Corporation
> activities in South Africa, Morocco (a very long shot indeed), or Africa
> more generally? (Apparently they were quite active in South Africa.) I’m
> working on something related to writer William S. Burroughs’ indirect links
> to high tech via the family biz, esp in the Global South. There’s great
> visuals of Burroughs Corporation around North American activity, like SAGE
> and NORAD, I haven’t seen much that is from the wider world. Bonus points
> for visuals with great design or architectural components.
>
> Best wishes, Bernard
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