Hi Jim,
You might want to browse through the Doug Menuez photography collection at Stanford. About 10,000 of the images are online (out of about 200-250,000). He captures
quite a bit of the culture in companies like Apple, NeXT, Adobe, etc., mostly 1980s. I am sure you will find many coffee mugs there!
Here is a link to the online exhibit created from the images in this collection:
https://exhibits.stanford.edu/menuez
Hit “browse” to see a selection of companies represented.
Henry
Henry Lowood, PhD
Harold C. Hohbach Curator, History of Science & Technology Collections; Curator, Film & Media Collections
HASG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall
Stanford University Libraries
Stanford CA 94305-6066
PH: 650-723-4602
EM: lowood@stanford.edu
From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org>
On Behalf Of Kidwell, Peggy
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2020 4:09 AM
To: Staiti, Alana <StaitiA@si.edu>; James Cortada <jcortada@umn.edu>; members@sigcis.org
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Help on Coffee and Computing
I would add to Alana's fine list:
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/NMAH.AC.0324_ref460 (a
cartoon - though not much coffee shown)
Best -
Peggy Kidwell
From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org>
on behalf of Staiti, Alana <StaitiA@si.edu>
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020 3:53 PM
To: James Cortada <jcortada@umn.edu>;
members@sigcis.org <members@sigcis.org>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Help on Coffee and Computing
External Email - Exercise Caution
Hi Jim,
The National Museum of American History has some mugs in the computing collection featuring company names. Some include fun little sayings. See links below for a few examples. I'm
not sure I can elaborate on coffee culture though! We are still working remotely but if you have specific questions about any of these or other objects I'd be happy to do whatever digging I can do from afar, for the time being.
Be well,
Alana
Alana Staiti (she/her/hers)
Curator of the History of Computers and Information Sciences
National Museum of American History
Smithsonian Institution
From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org>
on behalf of James Cortada <jcortada@umn.edu>
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020 3:41 PM
To: members@sigcis.org <members@sigcis.org>
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Help on Coffee and Computing
External Email - Exercise Caution
The IT community of users, programmers, vendors, etc have for decades had a reputation for being extensive consumers of coffee. In some parts of the IT ecosystem, especially among those who work odd hours, such as programmers, computer
operators, and vendor field engineers. I am studying the corporate ephemera of this industry and its cultural attachments, such as coffee cups and what they tell us about computing. Do any of you have any information, ephemera, or sources and citations on
this specific issue of coffee and computing? I can get many industry folks, such as IBM retirees, to wax eloquently on the subject in their private FB accounts, but that is not enough. Corporate culture is tough to study. Thanks in advance for your help.
Jim
--
James W. Cortada
Senior Research Fellow
Charles Babbage Institute
University of Minnesota
608-274-6382