I'm forwarding this for a colleague; please reply to her directly. They seem to be look both for spare parts for an IBM 1440 and for people who used it at the Chicago Police Dept. The Center for Technology & Innovation (http://ctandi.org/history.html) sounds like an interesting emerging site for computer history (among other things). Janet Begin forwarded message:
From: Susan Sherwood <director@ctandi.org> Date: June 2, 2013 10:32:33 AM EDT To: abbate@computer.org Subject: How to find Chicago Police Dept. IT retirees?
Janet
Amy Slaton suggested you might have a lead for finding computer groups, whose members might have worked for the Chicago Police Department IT department in the 1960s and 70s.
The Chicago Police Department had a large installation of IBM 1440 mainframes (issued 1962 using early SMS card technology). We are restoring a 1440 system to operation and are in search of some missing pieces. In particular, we need an selectric typing element, known as an H-Ball for the 1447 console that operators used to control the 1441 CPU. The H-Ball has an unusual layout of programming characters. We're also interested in any spare parts that might have been either taken as souvenirs or surplussed when the department upgraded to more modern equipment.
Any suggestions you have for tracking down parts, manuals, people with memories of the CPD operation, will be appreciated.
Best regards,
Susan Sherwood Executive Director Center for Technology & Innovation 321 Water Street, Binghamton, NY 13901 Future home of TechWorks!
Office 607-723-8600 Mobile 607-624-1090
www.ctandi.org
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: RE: FW: Aloha! - updated - Mission accomplished Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2013 10:40:31 +0000 From: Slaton,Amy <slatonae@drexel.edu> To: Slaton, Deborah <DSlaton@wje.com>, Susan Sherwood <director@ctandi.org> CC: Bill Green <wgreen@stny.rr.com>, "FPETR@aol.com" <FPETR@aol.com>
Hi Susan: Sorry, I can't think of anyone either, but there are probably a lot of employee/union newsletters through which you might reach someone who knows someone who was in IT there.
Also, if mainframes were not widely found at that point (and challenging to use), might the CPD's operators have been active in one of the computing organizations? Maybe you can use their mailing lists or newsletters. For names of those orgs, you could try my friend Janet Abbate [she is abbate@va.tech] or Paul Ceruzzi at the Smithsonian, perhaps.
....Good luck, sounds like a fabulous project! Amy
Amy E. Slaton, PhD Professor Department of History and Politics Drexel University Philadelphia PA 19104 215-895-2463/610-660-8299 (v) 215-895-6614 (f) slatonae@drexel.edu http://STEMequity.com ________________________________________ From: Slaton, Deborah [DSlaton@wje.com] Sent: Friday, May 31, 2013 10:23 PM To: Susan Sherwood Cc: Slaton,Amy; Bill Green; FPETR@aol.com Subject: RE: FW: Aloha! - updated - Mission accomplished
Hi Susan, I am sorry but I don't know of any contacts within the CPD. Does the CPD have a historian? I hope you can obtain the missing part! Deborah
-----Original Message----- From: Susan Sherwood [mailto:director@ctandi.org] Sent: Friday, May 31, 2013 7:15 AM To: Slaton, Deborah; slatonae@drexel.edu Cc: Bill Green; FPETR@aol.com Subject: Re: FW: Aloha! - updated - Mission accomplished
Deb and Amy:
Any chance the WJE IT/IS team or Slaton family friends might have contacts with the Chicago Police Dept IT folks? Apparently, CPD had one of the largest arrays of IBM 1440 mainframes, which is the device we have working (mostly) here in Binghamton. We're looking for spare parts, in particular an H Ball typing element from the 1447 Console Unit. We're hoping someone might have saved it as a souvenir when the system was updated.
Any contact information or leads to potential retired Chicago Police computer guys will be most appreciated.
All the best,
Susan
On 5/30/2013 8:29 PM, Slaton, Deborah wrote:
Susan,
Please see the e-mail below from Dave Felleti. He was able to retrieve the printer and it is Annex I, one of the buildings on our Northbrook campus.
Please let us know when you are able to arrange to have it picked up and Dave will be able to direct the mover to the correct location. You can reach any of us by e-mail or at our general office number (847-272-7400).
Many thanks to Dave for this effort!
Deborah
-----Original Message----- From: Felleti, David Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2013 1:27 PM To: Slaton, Deborah Cc: Scheffler, Michael Subject: Re: Aloha! - updated
Mission accomplished. The printer is in Annex I. Dave