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WEHC 2012
by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo 12 Aug '10

12 Aug '10

Dear all Following Tom's heads up to the BHC next year, the deadline for the first call of the World Economic History Congress is fast approaching: http://www.wehc2012.org/ I think that our panel on computers in banking in the previous meeting at Utrecht (2009) was successful and well received. We are thus canvassing for interest for a second, perhaps more general panel. We hope to accommodate contributions from other sectors other than retail banking. One suggestion has been looking at the role of consultants in the construction of the enterprise. But as I said, there is no agenda at the moment so do let us know if there is interest. The WEHC events tend to be quite large and international. Expressions of interest and tentative topics to me and cc Carles Maixe-Altes (maixe(a)udc.es) Happy sand castling for those not already on hols, Bernardo University of Leicester (UK)

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research funding available for studies at Univ. of Minnesota Anderson Library, home of the Babbage Institute
by Bernadette Longo 11 Aug '10

11 Aug '10

The Charles Babbage Institute is housed in the Elmer Anderson Library at the University of Minnesota. The call for proposals below would cover travel for research at the Babbage Institute...Bernadette Longo Announcing the Elmer L. Andersen Research Scholars Program http://blog.lib.umn.edu/lib-web/news/2010/07/ela_scholars.html The Elmer L. Andersen Research Scholars Program supports scholarly research projects using materials from the Libraries' rare and special collections. Named for former governor and University of Minnesota regent Elmer L. Andersen, the new program honors the Governor's passion for collecting and for expanding the use of the collections. The Research Scholars program is available to scholars including faculty, graduate, postgraduate, and independent researchers using the collections in the Department of Archives and Special Collections <http://special.lib.umn.edu/>. This program is not available to currently enrolled University of Minnesota graduate or undergraduate students. The program will provide annual support for up to two research projects that require use of one or more of the collections. Awards range from $500 to $2,000 and provide funds for travel, housing and other research related costs. The final research product (e.g., journal article, documentary film) must acknowledge the Libraries' support and be deposited with the University Libraries.

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Business History Conference CFP: Knowledge Theme, Deadline Oct 1, conf March/Apr 2011 St Louis
by Thomas Haigh 09 Aug '10

09 Aug '10

As usually I'm forwarding the BHC call for papers. We've organized SIGCIS panels in some previous years. This year should be a particularly good fit - the theme is "knowledge" which includes networks, tacit knowledge, the information economy, etc. Also note the presence of Richard R. John and Matthias Kipping on the panel - the former has studied the US Post Office as an information network, and the latter is known for his work on management consulting. Both are familiar with the history of technology and have some interest in IT. The conference is a little smaller than SHOT, fairly friendly, and is held in conjunction (details below) an excellent doctoral student symposium that several members of our community have taken advantage of previously. Indeed it's been an inspiration for the (rather more modest) "dissertations in progress" session in our own workshop. Though the part where they discuss "employment opportunities in business history" must require some faith - my impression is that business history is getting much more interesting and diverse intellectually but that business schools (with the notable exception of Harvard) have been rather actively purging it from their disciplinary makeup. Still, if you think of yourself as primarily a social or cultural historian with an interest in topics related to business then you'll be far less marginal at the conference than you might suppose. As always feel free to use this list to seek contributions for any panel proposals. Tom From: Carol Lockman [mailto:clockman@Hagley.org] Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2010 2:48 PM To: Carol Lockman Subject: BHC call for papers Hi All: Just a reminder! Best for the rest of the summer, C. Carol Ressler Lockman BHC Hagley Center PO Box 3630 Wilmington DE 19807 CALL FOR PAPERS Business History Conference (BHC), 2011 St. Louis, Missouri, 31 March 2011 to 2 April 2011 Conference Theme: "Knowledge" The history of business has for millennia been entwined with the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge. Artisans have jealously guarded trade secrets; merchants have networked to improve their access to information on market trends; promoters have fostered business education; scientists and engineers in corporate research and development laboratories have devised innovative artifacts, techniques, and theories; management consultants, journalists, and business academics have hailed the emergence of a "knowledge industry"; business leaders, philanthropists, and academic administrators have established universities and foundations to nurture innovation; and, most recently, lawmakers and computer programmers have created an Internet that has facilitated the creation of new kinds of knowledge that have transformed the conduct of business, public affairs, and private life. In keeping with the recent expansion in the mandate of the Business History Conference (BHC) to embrace not only the dynamics of business decision-making, but also the relationship of economic institutions to culture, politics, and society, our 2011 annual meeting takes "Knowledge" as its theme. Knowledge embraces, but is not confined to, the human capital generated and sustained by entrepreneurs, middle managers, and technical professionals; the tacit knowledge of clerks and factory workers; the cultural messages broadcast by advertisers and public relations professionals; the learning paths of institutions that contribute to the generation, circulation, and preservation of knowledge; the intellectual history of constructs like the "knowledge economy"; and the relationship of knowledge-generating economic institutions to government, the professions, and communications networks. While we hope that many of the proposals could be fit under this rubric, and in keeping with a venerable BHC tradition, the program committee welcomes proposals on topics that are not directly related to the conference theme. The BHC program committee for 2011 consists of the following individuals: Mark R. Wilson (chair), University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Teresa da Silva Lopes, University of York, Great Britain; Matthias Kipping, York University, Canada; Jocelyn Wills, Brooklyn College; Richard R. John (BHC President-elect), Columbia University. Potential presenters may submit proposals for individual papers or entire panels. Individual paper proposals should include a one-page (300 word) abstract and one-page curriculum vitae (CV). Panel proposals should include a cover letter stating the rationale for the panel and the name of its contact person; a one-page (300 word) abstract and author's CV for each paper (up to three); and a list of preferred panel chairs and commentators with contact information. The BHC awards the Herman E. Krooss Prize for the best dissertation in business history by a recent Ph.D. in history, economics, business administration, the history of science and technology, sociology, law, communications, and related fields. A "recent Ph. D." is defined as a Ph. D. whose degree is less than three years old. If you wish to apply for this prize, please send a letter to the Krooss Prize Committee expressing your interest along with a one-page CV and one-page (300 word) dissertation abstract. After the Krooss committee has reviewed the proposals, it will ask semi-finalists to submit copies of their dissertations. Finalists will present summaries of their dissertations at a plenary session of the 2011 BHC annual meeting in St. Louis. The K. Austin Kerr Prize is awarded for the best first paper delivered by a new scholar at the annual meeting of the BHC. A "new scholar" is defined as a doctoral candidate or a Ph. D. whose degree is less than three years old. If you wish to participate in this competition, please notify the BHC program committee in your proposal. Proposals accepted for the Krooss Prize are not eligible for the Kerr Prize. The Halloran Prize in the History of Corporate Responsibility is awarded for a paper presented at the annual meeting of the BHC that makes a significant contribution to the history of corporate responsibility. Corporate responsibility is understood to embrace the many ways in which the firm relates to the political realm and the wider society The deadline for receipt of all proposals is 1 October 2010. Acceptance letters will be sent by 15 December 2010. Presenters are expected to submit abstracts of their papers for posting on the BHC website. In addition, presenters are encouraged to post electronic versions of their papers prior to the meeting and to submit their papers for inclusion in the BHC's on-line proceedings, "Business and Economic History On-Line." To offset some of the costs of attending the conference, the BHC offers modest financial grants to graduate students who are presenting papers; information will be sent out once the program has been set. Please send proposals for papers, panels, or the Krooss Prize to BHC2011(a)Hagley.org. If you do not have access to the Internet, you may send hard copies to Roger Horowitz, Secretary-Treasurer, Business History Conference, P. O. Box 3630, Wilmington, DE 19807, USA. Phone: (302) 658-2400; fax: (302) 655-3188. The Oxford Journals Doctoral Colloquium in Business History will be held in conjunction with the BHC annual meeting. This prestigious workshop, sponsored by BHC and funded by Oxford University Press, will take place in St. Louis at the conference site Wednesday evening 30 March 2011 and all day Thursday 31 March 2011. The colloquium is limited to ten students. Participants work intensively with a distinguished group of BHC-affiliated scholars that includes at least two BHC officers. The colloquium will discuss dissertation proposals, relevant literatures and research strategies, and employment opportunities in business history. This colloquium is intended for doctoral candidates in the early stages of their dissertation projects. If you are interested in being considered for this colloquium, please submit to Roger Horowitz by 1 December 2010 (at the address listed above) a statement of interest, a CV, a preliminary or final dissertation prospectus of 10-15 pages, and a letter of support from your dissertation supervisor (or prospective supervisor). All participants receive a stipend that will partially cover the costs of their attendance at the annual meeting. The colloquium committee will notify all applicants of its decisions by 10 January 2011.

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Syllabus Repository -- please contribute (soon!)
by Thomas Haigh 04 Aug '10

04 Aug '10

Hello Everyone, Over the summer we've been working hard to get the SIGCIS website tidied up, including some work behind to scenes to migrate to the latest version of the Drupal content management system. So you'll notice a slightly different look at www.sigcis.org. We're also making a push to expand and update some of the content areas. As well as getting the Member Contributions area up and running this includes spring cleaning the Syllabus Repository: http://www.sigcis.org/syllabi. This is intended as a central resource for classes dealing with all aspects of the history of computing. One priority is to make this a true repository, not just a page of links. As you're well aware, links can decay very rapidly. This is particularly true for syllabi. In addition an ever greater proportion of syllabi are hidden inside course management systems and so nobody can see them in the first place. We've already fixed some broken links, and are working with the creators of some of the currently listed syllabi to move from just linking to them to holding a local copy. This work is still in progress, so look for more improvements soon at. If you previously sent material to Joe November but have not heard from us in the last month (and do not see it posted) then please accept my apologies and send it again as explained below. We're now ready to put out a call for new and better syllabi. Please send them to my Ph.D. student assistant, Edward Benoit at eabenoit(a)gmail.com. Ed can work with you to get them into shape and he will handle the uploading. However please send them in the next week or two, as Ed's research assistanceship will be finishing at the end of this month. Guidelines: . We prefer to receive syllabi as a single attached .PDF or MS Word file as they will be posted as one document. Include as much detail as you feel comfortable sharing - discussion questions, readings, notes, etc are all welcome as well as a simple list of dates and topics. However if necessary Ed can handle the job of consolidating several files down into a single syllabus. . If the syllabus is currently available online please include a URL as well as the attached archival version. . Please include in the email an explicit permission to us to post the syllabus online at www.sigcis.org. We will accept this in good faith, but of course will comply with the relevant provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act if contacted by an institution claiming to hold copyright over your syllabus and asking us to remove it. . If you are not willing to have us host the syllabus at www.sigcis.org we would still be happy to link to it instead. But as mentioned above, our experience is that links are much less useful. Best wishes, Tom Haigh www.tomandmaria.com/tom

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FW: ASIST History Fund Awards announced
by Thomas Haigh 03 Aug '10

03 Aug '10

Congratulations to our own Andy Russell on this. One of the organizers of these awards has praised the quality of submissions from SIGCIS members, so don't be shy to send your own proposals when the 2011 call comes around. Tom From: sighfis-l-bounces(a)asis.org [mailto:sighfis-l-bounces@asis.org] On Behalf Of WILLIAMS, ROBERT Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 3:04 PM To: sighfis-l; asis-l Subject: [Sighfis-l] ASIST History Fund Awards announced I am pleased to announce the following winners of the ASIST History Fund grant award and best paper award for 2010: Best paper award: Sarah Buchanan (UCLA), for her paper: "Names the Same?: The Los Angeles Chapter of ASIST upon its Semicentennial." The award has a $500 prize. History Fund grant award: Andrew Russell (Asst. Prof., Stevens Institute of Technology), for his proposal, "An open world: ideological origins of network standards." The grant is for $1,000. Congratulations to these two folks for their fine work. The ASIST History Fund Advisory Board consists of the following people: Michael Buckland Trudi B. Hahn Samantha Hastings Julian Warner Robert V. Williams, ASIST History Fund awards coordinator, 2010 School of Library and Information Science University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 Ph: 803-777-2324 E-mail: bobwill(a)sc.edu Home Web page: http://www.libsci.sc.edu/bob/frontpg.htm

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[Members] travel grant opportunity - Elmer L. Andersen Research Scholars Program
by Stephanie Crowe 03 Aug '10

03 Aug '10

Hi all, For anyone who might be interested in a research trip to the Charles Babbage Institute, please see this announcement<http://blog.lib.umn.edu/lib-web/news/2010/07/ela_scholars.html>for a new travel grant program for research in any of the collections in the Department of Archives and Special Collections at the University of Minnesota. The deadline for this year's awards is September 30, with the award announcement to be made a month later. Please pass this announcement along to any interested colleagues, and let me know if you have any questions. http://blog.lib.umn.edu/lib-web/news/2010/07/ela_scholars.html Regards, Stephanie -- Stephanie H. Crowe, Archivist Charles Babbage Institute 211 Elmer L. Andersen Library 222 21st Avenue South University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN 55455 Phone: 612-625-9053 Fax: 612-625-8054 http://www.cbi.umn.edu

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[Members] FW: [ASBH] LAST MONTH REMINDER: Smithsonian Fall Conference Information & Computer Science
by Thomas Haigh 02 Aug '10

02 Aug '10

A friend just sent me this (announcement below). People in the DC area might be interested. The event celebrates one of the great pioneers of the Information Age, Admiral Grace Murray Hopper. Admiral "Amazing Grace" Hopper's scholarship in computer science was the immediate reason for the implementation of COBOL in 1960, thus inaugurating our Information Age. That's not an entirely coherent historical claim, and as one looks closer it seems odder and odder. The oddness lies not just in the fact that there are no historians on the panel (were used to being ignored at anniversaries, after all) but also no computer scientists, business data processing types, or anyone else with an obvious connection to the history of COBOL! See the program at http://www.thechiefinformationgroup.com/conference/smithsonian/1009SIAgenda. pdf. This event may potentially of interest to someone as an example of the way in which Grace Hoppers role as a secular saint of information has spread beyond computer science. Now that would be a good topic for a cultural history panel discussion. Tom To: ASBH ASBH <asbh(a)lists.asbh.org> From: "Dr. Edward Gabriele" <efgabriele(a)comcast.net> Sent by: asbh-bounces(a)lists.asbh.org Date: 08/02/2010 04:23PM Subject: [ASBH] LAST MONTH REMINDER: Smithsonian Fall Conference Colleagues, We are in the last month prior to the Fall 2010 Smithsonian Conference on Information and Computer Science. We need your support to energize greater interest. The summer months are challenging for events such as these. Please pass on this announcement to any and all interested individuals and institutions. Please register ASAP. This conference discusses the importance of knowledge science and information technologies in society, education, and professional life. The conference will be held on Thursday, September 9, 2010, at the Carmichael Auditorium, National Museum of American History, 14th and Constitution Avenue NW in DC. The conference is entitled: "From Knowledge to Wisdom: Reflections on 50 Years of the Information Age." The event celebrates one of the great pioneers of the Information Age, Admiral Grace Murray Hopper. Admiral "Amazing Grace" Hopper's scholarship in computer science was the immediate reason for the implementation of COBOL in 1960, thus inaugurating our Information Age. The conference will be an open panel discussion on the significance of knowledge science by very distinguished academic experts in the arts and sciences. The panelists will discuss the impact that knowledge technologies are having on human culture --- whether for the good or otherwise. The discussion will be highly informative and provocative especially for the way in which computing affects our leadership in human services and our ability to relate with each other in our professions, in family and in society. The event is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Smithsonian's Office of Sponsored Projects, in partnership with The Navy Medicine Institute for the Medical Humanities and Research Leadership. Please register at the following: http://www.thechiefinformationgroup.com/conference/smithsonian/index.php?c_i d=16 The registration site also includes a downloadable PDF with fuller details. Note: If you are using plain text email formats, you will need to copy and paste the entire URL into your browser and proceed from there. The URL begins with http and ends with c_id=16. If you have any questions about logistics, please contact: Julie O'Dell at O'DellJ(a)si.edu For technical issues with registration, email: conference(a)thechiefinformationgroup.com Please feel free to forward this to colleagues, friends, and others who may be interested. _______________________________________________ ASBH mailing list ASBH(a)lists.asbh.org =

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[Members] CBI --> finding guide to Mahoney papers
by Thomas Misa 29 Jul '10

29 Jul '10

Dear colleagues, We were pleased and honored when Jean Mahoney gave Mike's books, papers, and archival collection to CBI. And we are more than happy to have completed a finding guide to the collection and can announce that it is open for research. http://purl.umn.edu/92154 Mike, as you all know, was a scholar of unusual depth and breadth. "Papers contain 38 boxes of Michael S. Mahoney's collection of books and serials related to the history of computing, mathematics, and related fields. The collection also includes 17 boxes of Mahoney's archival materials, including course work, subject files, and publication drafts." There are extensive primary resources on theoretical computer science, including French and German titles. Here are just a tiny sample of items that caught my eye: * Zassenhaus, Hans. The Theory of Groups, 1949 * Svoboda, Antonin. Computing Mechanisms and Linkages, 1964 * Shera, Jesse Hauk, 1903-1982. Information Resources: A Challenge to American Science and Industry, 1958 * Turing Lectures, 1966-1987. * Software Engineering, 1972-1996 * Relational Databases, 1976-2007 * Program Correctness, 1966-2002 Please contact Stephanie Crowe <horow021(a)umn.edu>, CBI's archivist, with any questions --- on this or other CBI collections. Best, Tom Misa

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Scientific Instrument Firms as Computer Manufacturers in the 1950s and 1960s
by David C. Brock 27 Jul '10

27 Jul '10

Dear All, I'm looking for advice in the form of references to any publications that might treat or touch on the topic of scientific instrument firms as electronic computer manufacturers in the 1950s and 1960s. I'm aware of two southern California stories: the efforts at Consolidated Electrodynamics -- which led to the Burroughs' Datatron (http://tjsawyer.com/B205Home.htm) in the early and middle 1950s, and the efforts at Beckman Instruments, Inc. that initiated in the middle 1950s and continued well into the 1960s. I've done some poking around for relevant references, but haven't really found anything. Any ideas? Best wishes, David P.S. I would, of course, welcome any pointers to relevant archival collections. ___________ David C. Brock Senior Research Fellow Center for Contemporary History and Policy Chemical Heritage Foundation Principal, D.C. Brock Consulting 40 Russell Street Greenfield, MA 01301 USA Telephone: 413-773-7130 Mobile: 413-522-3578 Fax: 866-636-4480 dcb(a)dcbrock.net davidb(a)chemheritage.org

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[Members] Call for submissions -- SIGCIS Member Contributions series
by Thomas Haigh 26 Jul '10

26 Jul '10

The Special Interest Group for Computing, Information, and Society (SIGCIS) serves as a foundation for the community development efforts within the history of computing. The discipline as a whole is enriched when scholars share their work with their colleagues. In aid of this goal, SIGCIS invites members to submit their written work to the Member Contributions section of the site. The Member Contributions area is intended to be a place for historians of computing to post work that does not fit into traditional categories such as the book or published journal article. Technical report series and similar online venues are common in the sciences but rare in historical disciplines. Member Contributions could include the following: . Conference presentations that are not destined for publication in their current form, but you feel merit broader consideration. . Works in progress, such as the drafts of book chapters or articles. . Material too lengthy or detailed to be included within a journal publication, such as one finds in traditional technical report series. . Masters' or Ph.D. theses. . Review essays, reports on conferences or exhibitions, etc. Though not peer reviewed, Member Contributions should meet normal academic standards for rigor and factual accuracy. SIGCIS does not claim copyright over these items and will not attempt to restrict subsequent publication of this material elsewhere. However, please do not submit works to which you no longer hold the copyright (e.g. articles published in journals) without permission of the copyright holder. If you have material you would like to be included in the Member Contributions series on the SIGCIS website please contact the SIGCIS Secretary using the email address secretary(a)sigcis.org. The preferred submission format is an Adobe PDF file. Include an abstract of no more than 200 words. Accepted submissions will receive a serial number in the format SIGCIS_MC_1234 and will be added to the SIGCIS website.

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