[SIGCIS-Members] Peter Naur papers (ALGOL 60)

[david nofre]

Dear Paul,

Thank you very much for sharing this with us. This is very valuable
material. Very few participants in the early days of the Algol project have
left behind personal archival material.

Best regards,

David Nofre




On Mon, 10 Nov 2025, 20:38 Paul McJones via Members, <
members at lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

> The References section of Peter Naur’s paper “The European Side of the
> Last Phase of the Development of ALGOL 60” in the first HOPL conference [1]
> includes an item that begins:
>
> ALGOL 60 documents (1959–1960). Unpublished technical memoranda prepared
> in connection with the ALGOL 60 conference in Paris, 1960, Jan. 11–16.
> During the conference the available documents were numbered 1 to 30. Here
> the numbers 31 and 201 to 221 have been used for further related documents.
>
>
> and continues with a long numbered sequence of items.
>
> [1] R. L. Wexelblat, editor. History* of Programming Languages I*. ACM,
> New York, 1981. https://dl.acm.org/doi/book/10.1145/800025
>
>
> I’ve long wished I could see the actual items. Recently I learned that
> Naur's son Thorkil donated Naur’s papers to the Niels Bohr Institute and
> scanned and curated all the ALGOL 60 papers (plus some related ALGOL 58
> items) and posted them online at the Dansk Datahistorisk Forenings (Danish
> Data History Association):
>
> Peter Naur og Algol 60. (Danish: Peter Naur on Algol 60)
>
> https://datamuseum.dk/wiki/Peter_Naur_og_Algol_60
>
>
> An overview of Algol 60 development, sources, and Peter Naur's involvement.
>
>
> Peter Naur. Hvorledes Algol 60 blev til (Danish: How Algol 60 was
> created). Colloquium at the Datalogisk Institut, 10 March 1972.
>
> Transcript.
> https://datamuseum.dk/wiki/Peter_Naur_Algol_60_DIKU_Kollokvium_1972-03-10
>
> Audio. https://datamuseum.dk/wiki/Bits:30009181
>
>
> Peter Naur Algol 60 Documents. (Danish)
>
> https://datamuseum.dk/wiki/Peter_Naur_Algol_60_Documents
>
>
> The papers and notes by Naur and others during his involvement with Algol
> 60 during 1959 and 1960 (plus a 1970 letter to Donald Knuth serving as a
> key to many of the documents).
>
>
> Most of the actual papers are in English.
>
> I’ve also incorporated links to the individual items in the Standards:
> evolving algorithmic language
> <https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/ALGOL/standards.html> section
> of my History of ALGOL
> <https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/ALGOL/>web site.
>
>
> Paul McJones
> paul at mcjones.org
>
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