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<p class="MsoNormal">I write in preparation for next month’s meeting in Philadelphia. Those of you staying late will be able to hear about punch cards, particularly punch cards in the Smithsonian collections, as symbols of the spread of computing from the
nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. This is the result of a cataloging project based on looking at eighty-odd punch cards and groups of punch cards in Smithsonian mathematics and computer collections (as well as one from textiles). A small matter that
interests me is who actually made and/or distributed the cards. Sometimes this was a manufacturer like IBM or Remington Rand UNIVAC. At other times, businesses seem to have specialized in printing punch cards – or at least distributing them. At present, I’m
still mystified as to who made/distributed the punch cards listed below, and would welcome identifications:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:-.25in">1. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>A punch card marked ISC 5081. This isn’t the IBM card by that name, though It looks like it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:-.25in">2. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Another IBM clone, the MIDCO C-5081.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:-.25in">3. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The Pryor 5280<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:-.25in">4. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The NECS/WIC-282<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:-.25in">5. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The ths 942/3/2367 – this was designed for use in Stockholm<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:-.25in">6. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>A card designed for use at the University of Wisconsin with the name OEI M73926 – we also have a punch card with number OEI E19618 used at the DeVry Institute
of Technology in Chicago<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:-.25in">7. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>SDC A1004 punch cards – used in Canada<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:-.25in">8. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>BP-16309 BSC punch cards<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Many thanks!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Peggy Kidwell<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Curator of Mathematics<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">National Museum of American History<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Smithsonian Institution<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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