[SIGCIS-Members] Burroughs Corporation in South Africa

Tue Jul 22 12:15:45 PDT 2025

. . . and for the rest of you reading Jeff's note, the corporate records
are so comprehensive that when I was starting to do research on the history
of information technology companies, I seriously considered writing a
history of Burroughs, because not only was the firm important, but all its
papers were in one place.  Doesn't get any better than that for an
historian.  I was working for IBM at the time and chose instead to write
histories of IBM.  Burroughs Corporation remains a huge opportunity for an
historian.  If I was younger and lived in Minneapolis I would be all over
this topic.  Models of how to write such corporate histories are all over
the place.  Jim

On Tue, Jul 22, 2025 at 2:07 PM Jeffrey Yost via Members <
members at lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

> 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."*
> *Blockchain & Society* <https://www.blockchainandsociety.com>* (crit.
> inq. essays & resources)* (Founder/Leader)
>
> *Interfaces: Essays and Reviews in Computing and Culture
> <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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-- 
James W. Cortada
Senior Research Fellow
Charles Babbage Institute
University of Minnesota
jcortada at umn.edu
608-274-6382
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