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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">We have one of those arithmeters in our
<a href="https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/collections/object/2006.004.001?query=arithmeter&resultIndex=0">
collection</a>. Debbie Warner wrote a good article in the small journal Rittenhouse about this particular instrument. Look for J.A.V. Turck’s 1921 “Origin of Modern Calculating Machines” and Ernst Martin’s “The Calculating Machines: Their History and Development”
(1925 but translated and published by MIT in 1992. Peggy Kidwell is the true expert on this subject!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Debbie Douglas<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:black">Deborah G. Douglas, PhD </span></b><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Helvetica-Light;color:black">• Director of Collections and Curator of Science and Technology, MIT
Museum; Research Associate, Program in Science, Technology, and Society • Room E28-320B • 314 Main Street • Gambrill Center • Cambridge, MA 02142 • <a href="mailto:ddouglas@mit.edu">ddouglas@mit.edu</a> • 617-253-1766 telephone • 617-253-8994 facsimile • <a href="http://mitmuseum.mit.edu">http://mitmuseum.mit.edu</a> •
she/her/hers</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">From:
</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of JoAnne Yates via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org><br>
<b>Date: </b>Friday, December 23, 2022 at 2:08 PM<br>
<b>To: </b>Foster, David <davidfos@ttu.edu>, members@lists.sigcis.org <members@lists.sigcis.org><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Seeking Information on Adding Machines, Mechanical Calculators, etc. Designed and Used in the U.S. Prior to 1877<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Hello, Dave—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">On pp. 25-26 (and associated footnotes) of my book
<i>Structuring the Information Age: Life Insurance and Technology in the Twentieth Century,
</i>I talk about devices used by insurance firms and actuaries in the late 19<sup>th</sup> century, including the “Arithmeter” that American actuary Elizur Wright invented (based on European models) and began marketing to insurance firms in 1869. It didn’t
compete well with its British rival, Tate’s Arithmometer, but some American insurance firms used it during this period.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Good luck on your paper,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">JoAnne<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">JoAnne Yates<span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management, Emerita<span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sloan School of Management<span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">MIT E62-335<span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">100 Main St.<span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cambridge, MA 02142<span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Foster, David via Members<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, December 23, 2022 12:49 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> members@lists.sigcis.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [SIGCIS-Members] Seeking Information on Adding Machines, Mechanical Calculators, etc. Designed and Used in the U.S. Prior to 1877<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Hello SIGCIS!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">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></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Happy Holidays & New Year!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black">Regards, Dave</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black"> </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black">Dave Foster</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">PhD Student</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black">Department of History</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#861106;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Texas Tech University</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black"><a href="mailto:davidfos@ttu.edu">davidfos@ttu.edu</a></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#174E86;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;background:white">linkedin.com/in/david-w-foster</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black">806-282-4856</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black"><img border="0" width="73" height="87" style="width:.7604in;height:.9062in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D916D6.B47D4020" alt="47HZJ4QTcZx7w2e2Swgm4zzzgs9v9DxTQbyVFNkAgAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC"></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#7030A0">Learner | Intellection | Context | Ideation | Input</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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