Thanks a lot, Jim.
Happy Holidays and best wishes from Paris!
Pierre

De: "James Cortada" <jcortada@umn.edu>
À: "Pierre Mounier-Kuhn" <mounier@msh-paris.fr>
Cc: "Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan" <bernardgeoghegan2010@u.northwestern.edu>, "David Foster" <davidfos@ttu.edu>, "Foster, David via Members" <members@lists.sigcis.org>
Envoyé: Samedi 24 Décembre 2022 13:51:55
Objet: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Seeking Information on Adding Machines, Mechanical Calculators, etc. Designed and Used in the U.S. Prior to 1877

Pierre, Happy Holidays friend!  Her article is a chapter in a book published in 2016.  Description: https://brill.com/display/book/9789004324930/B9789004324930_006.xml
I suggest you go to Google Scholar, too, because she has written several related articles that might be of interest to you, some of which you can download and were published by the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing.

Jim

On Sat, Dec 24, 2022 at 6:27 AM Pierre Mounier-Kuhn via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

Thanks, Bernard, for thus duly blowing Peggy's trumpet!

I would love to read her essay “Mathematical Instruments Changing Hands at World’s Fairs, 1851–1904”, whose title promises stimulating dialogues with my own paper.

 Is it accessible online?

Best wishes and merry Christmas to all.

Pierre Mounier-Kuhn


De: "Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan" <bernardgeoghegan2010@u.northwestern.edu>
À: "Peggy Kidwell" <kidwellp@si.edu>, "Foster, David via Members" <members@lists.sigcis.org>, "Pierre Mounier-Kuhn" <mounier@msh-paris.fr>, "David Foster" <davidfos@ttu.edu>
Envoyé: Samedi 24 Décembre 2022 09:03:01
Objet: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Seeking Information on Adding Machines, Mechanical Calculators, etc. Designed and Used in the U.S. Prior to 1877

Hi All,

 

Since Peggy didn’t mention it, I will: Her essay “Mathematical Instruments Changing Hands at World’s Fairs, 1851–1904” is a great and highly relevant, too!

 

Best, Bernard

 

From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Kidwell, Peggy via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org>
Date: Friday, 23 December 2022 at 23:26
To: Foster, David via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org>, Pierre Mounier-Kuhn <mounier@msh-paris.fr>, Foster, David <davidfos@ttu.edu>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Seeking Information on Adding Machines, Mechanical Calculators, etc. Designed and Used in the U.S. Prior to 1877

You might also wish to check out the “web object groups” on adding machines, calculating machines, and adders on the web page of the Smithsonian’sNational Museum of American History. In addition to a general introduction and a list of resources, there are descriptions of individual types of machine. Within each section, the machines are arranged chronologically. Be sure to click on the title of an object to bring up more information. 

Good luck!

 

Peggy Kidwell

NMAH

From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Foster, David via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org>
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2022 2:09 PM
To: Pierre Mounier-Kuhn <mounier@msh-paris.fr>
Cc: members <members@lists.sigcis.org>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Seeking Information on Adding Machines, Mechanical Calculators, etc. Designed and Used in the U.S. Prior to 1877

 

External Email - Exercise Caution

Thank you, sir! I just downloaded your paper.

 

I will follow up! Greatly appreciated.

 

Best/Dave

 

From: Pierre Mounier-Kuhn <mounier@msh-paris.fr>
Date: Friday, December 23, 2022 at 12:36
To: Foster, David <davidfos@ttu.edu>
Cc: members <members@lists.sigcis.org>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Seeking Information on Adding Machines, Mechanical Calculators, etc. Designed and Used in the U.S. Prior to 1877

This email originated outside TTU. Please exercise caution!

 

Hello Dave.

 

I am very interested in this topic. Recently I attempted to sketch an economic history of this nascent industrial sector, with this exploratory paper written from a European point of view:

https://www.academia.edu/41536923/Lindustrie_des_calculatrices_un_leadership_fran%C3%A7ais_suivi_dune_domination_germanique_et_am%C3%A9ricaine_The_Calculator_Industry_in_the_XIXth_century_An_Early_French_Leadership_Swept_Away_by_New_Entrants

 

I would be glad to discuss the matter with you and other connoisseurs within SIGCIS. Certainly de Colmar’s Arithmometre made its way across the Atlantic, both as direct exports from the Paris workshop or as later clones (Burckhardt, Saxonia through Carl Reuter, etc.). That it "inspired some emulation or other ideas" is obvious, if only with the very name of Felt's "Comptometer". Toward 1900, some 15 companies in Europe were making and marketing Arithmometre clones, so it would be surprising not to find similar ventures in America, along with makers of more modern designs.

 

Happy Holidays & New Year to all!

 

 

De: "Foster, David via Members" <members@lists.sigcis.org>
À: "members" <members@lists.sigcis.org>
Envoyé: Vendredi 23 Décembre 2022 18:48:52
Objet: [SIGCIS-Members] Seeking Information on Adding Machines, Mechanical Calculators, etc. Designed and Used in the U.S. Prior to 1877

 

Hello SIGCIS!

 

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 Before the Computer 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 19th century American “computing” from the group are greatly appreciated.

 

Happy Holidays & New Year!

 

Regards, Dave

 

Dave Foster

PhD Student

Department of History

Texas Tech University

davidfos@ttu.edu

linkedin.com/in/david-w-foster

806-282-4856

47HZJ4QTcZx7w2e2Swgm4zzzgs9v9DxTQbyVFNkAgAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC

Learner | Intellection | Context | Ideation | Input

 


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This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org


--
James W. Cortada
Senior Research Fellow
Charles Babbage Institute
University of Minnesota
jcortada@umn.edu
608-274-6382