With the help of members of SIGCIS and other kind people, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has just launched a web site relating to the early history of the programming language COBOL.  The occasion for this small project is the fiftieth anniversary of the first successful compatibility test of COBOL programs.  In December of 1960 the same COBOL procedures ran on computers at Remington Rand Univac and at RCA.

You are cordially invited to browse the web site at:  http://americanhistory.si.edu/cobol/.  A small exhibit case showing some of the materials included on the web site will open on the first floor of the museum in the spring of 2011.

Peggy A. Kidwell

Curator of Mathematics

Division of Science & Medicine

MRC671, NMAH

Smithsonian Institution

P.O. Box 37012

Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

address for FedEx and UPS:

NMAH, Smithsonian Institution

12th St. & Constitution

Washington, D.C. 20560

telephone: 202-633-3828

fax: 202-633-9273

email: kidwellp@si.edu