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<p class="MsoNormal">Hello SIGCIS!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have the opportunity to do a research paper for a Spring term historiography course and I’d like to depart from the themes of the assigned readings and return to research in the realm of computing history. Given the chronological constraint
of 1877 as the upper year, I can get just a bit into the beginning timeframe of James Cortada’s
<i>Before the Computer</i> and had been thinking that devices like de Colmar’s Arithmometre (1820) must have made their way across the Atlantic and inspired some emulation or other ideas. The good people at the reference section of the LOC have given me some
useful background and I’ve rec’d some valuable tips on patent search and organization methodologies. I have just started to search the patent history (calculators, adding machines, etc.), but any advice or insights on 19<sup>th</sup> century American “computing”
from the group are greatly appreciated.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Happy Holidays & New Year!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="color:black">Regards, Dave<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><b><span style="color:black">Dave Foster</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">PhD Student</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="color:black">Department of History<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><b><span style="color:#861106;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Texas Tech University</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="color:black">davidfos@ttu.edu<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="color:#174E86;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;background:white">linkedin.com/in/david-w-foster</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="color:black">806-282-4856<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="color:black"><img width="73" height="87" style="width:.7604in;height:.9062in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D916C2.C746E940" alt="47HZJ4QTcZx7w2e2Swgm4zzzgs9v9DxTQbyVFNkAgAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC"></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#7030A0">Learner | Intellection | Context | Ideation | Input<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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