<html><body><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000"><div><span style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thanks – indeed the Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company of Antwerp had been since 1925 a subsidiary of ITT, unrelated to AT&T. And unfortunately, ITT archives have been… unevenly saved. Most of our knowledge comes from oral history and from the archives of European partners or clients of local ITT subsidiaries. <br></span></div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;" data-mce-style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: black;" data-mce-style="color: black;"><br data-mce-bogus="1"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;" data-mce-style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: black;" data-mce-style="color: black;">Best,</span><span style="color: black;" data-mce-style="color: black;"></span></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;" data-mce-style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; color: black; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Pierre Mounier-Kuhn</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;" data-mce-style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; color: black; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><br data-mce-bogus="1"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;" data-mce-style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; color: black; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; color: black; font-size: 12pt;">CNRS & Sorbonne Université</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;" data-mce-style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; color: black; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; color: black; font-size: 12pt;">https://cnrs.academia.edu/PierreMounierKuhn</span></p></div></div><div><br></div><hr id="zwchr" data-marker="__DIVIDER__"><div data-marker="__HEADERS__"><b>De: </b>"SHELDON H HOCHHEISER" <SH3710@att.com><br><b>À: </b>"Pierre Mounier-Kuhn" <mounier@msh-paris.fr>, "Cassius Adair" <adairc@newschool.edu><br><b>Cc: </b>"members" <members@sigcis.org><br><b>Envoyé: </b>Jeudi 1 Mai 2025 15:05:27<br><b>Objet: </b>RE: Looking for info on Bell Labs "Special Systems" team<br></div><div><br><style><!--
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0in;text-indent:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'aptos' , sans-serif">There was no relationship at all between Bell Labs (more formally Bell Telephone Laboratories), a subsidiary of the American company AT&T,
and the Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company of Antwerp, which since 1925 had been a subsidiary of another company, ITT, that was completely unrelated to AT&T. Thus, the Antwerp company was not a subsidiary of AT&T or Bell Labs.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0in;text-indent:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'aptos' , sans-serif">As far as the original question, I searched the collection here at the AT&T Archives and History Center and found no information on the
“Special Systems Exploratory Development" unit beyond the articles already cited from the Bell Labs Record.</span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'aptos' , sans-serif;color:#0568ae">Sheldon Hochheiser, Ph.D.</span></b><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'aptos' , sans-serif"></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'aptos' , sans-serif">Corporate Historian</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'aptos' , sans-serif">AT&T Archives and History Center</span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'aptos' , sans-serif;color:#0568ae">AT&T</span></b><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'aptos' , sans-serif"></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'aptos' , sans-serif;color:black">5 Reinman Road, Warren NJ 07059<br>
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<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'aptos' , sans-serif"><a href="mailto:sh3710@att.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><span style="color:#0c2577">sh3710@att.com</span></a></span><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'calibri' , sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'calibri' , sans-serif"> Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Pierre Mounier-Kuhn via Members<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, May 1, 2025 5:42 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Cassius Adair <adairc@newschool.edu><br>
<b>Cc:</b> members <members@sigcis.org><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Looking for info on Bell Labs "Special Systems" team</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:1pt;color:white">HI. A lateral question: had this Bell Labs "Special Systems" team any connexion with the Aiken-inspired computer, built at the Bell Telephone Belgian subsidiary
in Antverp in the 1950s? A reference: Sandra Mols et Marie d’Udekem-Gevers, « Disseminating</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:'times new roman' , serif;color:black">HI.</span><span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black"></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:'times new roman' , serif;color:black">A lateral question: had this Bell Labs "Special Systems" team any connexion with the Aiken-inspired computer, built at the Bell Telephone Belgian subsidiary in Antverp in the 1950s?</span><span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black"></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:'times new roman' , serif;color:black">A reference: Sandra Mols et Marie d’Udekem-Gevers, « Disseminating electronics: Bell Telephone and the emergence of electronic computing expertise in post-war Belgium, c.1945–c1960 »,
<i>IEEE</i> <i>History of Telecommunications Conference</i>, Paris, Sept. 2008. </span>
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<span style="font-family:'times new roman' , serif;color:black">Although the answer of the archivist at Nokia Bell Labs does not sound very promising… And the archives of the Belgian Bell Telephone have either disappeared, or moved to the US.</span><span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black"></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:'times new roman' , serif;color:black">Best,</span><span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black"></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:'times new roman' , serif;color:black">Pierre Mounier-Kuhn</span><span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black"></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black">De: </span></b><span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black">"Cassius Adair via Members" <<a href="mailto:members@lists.sigcis.org" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">members@lists.sigcis.org</a>><br>
<b>À: </b>"members" <<a href="mailto:members@sigcis.org" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">members@sigcis.org</a>><br>
<b>Envoyé: </b>Mercredi 30 Avril 2025 22:00:44<br>
<b>Objet: </b>[SIGCIS-Members] Looking for info on Bell Labs "Special Systems" team</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black">Hi all, </span></p>
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<span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black">I'm looking for any additional information about a team at Bell Labs called " or sometimes just "Special Systems Development." Team was definitely in operation in the mid-1950s, but maybe lasted into
the 1970s. I have a few documents from the <i>Bell Laboratories Record </i>that mention it, but I can't work out what its actual scope / mission is, and the archivist at Nokia Bell Labs said they "don't have more to add." </span></p>
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<span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black">Anyone heard of this team, or teams with titles like this from this era? Any clue if this mystery indicates important Cold War secrecy or just boring corporate vagueness? </span></p>
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<span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black">Cheers,</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black">Cass Adair</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black">Cassius Adair</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black">Assistant Professor of Media Studies</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:'arial' , sans-serif;color:black">The New School</span></p>
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