Hi Evan, Marc, For backstories of the Memex, I’m a big fan of Colin Burke’s “Information and Secrecy: Vannevar Bush, Ultra, and the Other Memex.” My, Code: From Information Theory to French Theory<https://www.dukeupress.edu/code>, examines the roots of the Memex and its predecessor, the Rapid Selector, in eugenics and biopolitics. If anyone wants a review copy of the book (it starts shipping next month, I think), please feel free to request one here<https://www.dukeupress.edu/Information-For/Booksellers-Media-Review-Copies/Request-Review-Copies>, or write me directly. It’s highly significant that around 1939 when Bush left MIT for the Carnegie Institution—at the time he was working on varied information sorting devices—he quickly sought to reform the infamous Eugenics Records Office with the resources of the Carnegie. The ERO, like the interwar and wartime data devices Bush was working on, was based on the idea of sorting and collecting “records.” Hence, Bush’s suggestion to his former student, Claude E. Shannon, to write his PhD at the ERO—part of Bush’s larger project throughout the 1930s and 1940s to computationally and logically order science, in its varied data problems, in initiatives running from bioengineering to the Memex. Below, two brief excerpts from Code: From Information Theory to French Theory: “Bush and his colleagues envisioned the Rapid Selector as a general-purpose information processor suited to the analysis of genetic, business, library, and statistical data. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the Rockefeller Foundation had provided lavish support for the development of microphotography, a forerunner of microfiche, for documentation in the humanities. As such, the foundation stood out as an excellent candidate to support Bush’s work with the selector. Warren Weaver recorded in his notes from a 1937 meeting, “Sometime ago federal authorities asked him [Bush] to consider the problem of devising mechanical aids for rapidly locating fingerprints. . . . B[ush] worked out a system which would permit the examination of approximately 1,000 per second.” Considering the problem of rapidly sorting fingerprints, Weaver wrote, “it then occurred to him [Bush] that this scheme was possible for development into a new technique for making available the stored literature of the past.” In this manner biological and bibliographical data might be processed by the same techniques of automation exploited by mechanical computers….” (Geoghegan, Code, p. 32) “Bush left MIT to assume the presidency of the Carnegie Institution, another of the great robber baron philanthropies and a sponsor of the Eugenics Record Office (ERO) in Cold Spring Harbor. By the late 1930s the deep and abiding biological racism propounded by the ERO had fallen out of fashion, and Bush sought to reset it on rigorous scientific foundations. Bush seized upon Shannon’s theory of relay switching as a model of how a haphazard, unscientific method could be rendered orderly and logical with applied mathematics. Bush later explained, “It occurred to me that, just as [Shannon’s] special algebra had worked well in his hands on the theory of [binary] relays, another special algebra might conceivably handle some of the aspects of Mendelian heredity.” Writing to ERO psychologist Barbara Stoddard Burks, who had mined the ERO’s sprawling records for evidence of a genetic basis for intelligence, Bush explained that he had suggested to Shannon that he “try his queer algebra” in the analysis of genetic problems. This offered a chance for Bush, who had intermittently championed bioengineering over the past decade at MIT, to realize his efforts to bring logical and computational analysis to bear on an infamously complex problem deemed of pressing social importance.” (Geoghegan, Code, p. 48) Best wishes, Bernard From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Marc Weber via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org> Date: Wednesday, 16 November 2022 at 08:16 To: Koblentz, Evan <evank@njit.edu> Cc: members@SIGCIS.org <members@sigcis.org> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] What inspired Bush's Memex? Bush was aware of a lot of prior work on related ideas in Europe for information technology, including that of Paul Otlet<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Otlet> and his Mundaneum, the World Brain article and later book<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Brain> by H.G. Wells, not to mention the actual microfilm retrieval mechanism built into a desk by Emanuel Goldberg<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Goldberg> at Zeiss-Ikon in the early 1930s (Bush couldn’t patent certain aspects of the Memex because of Goldberg’s prior work). Bush’s really important twist on prior work was to use two microfilm readers in parallel, thus allowing hypertext links between them and the sharing of “trails” made up of such links between users. The start of the Web gallery<https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/the-web/20/370> in our Revolution<https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/topics#exhibition> exhibition very briefly talks about the work above except for Goldberg. For books Professor Michael Buckland of UC Berkeley wrote Emanuel Goldberg and his Knowledge Machine<https://www.amazon.com/Emanuel-Goldberg-His-Knowledge-Machine/dp/0313313326/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1XDL8JJQMPQV7&keywords=michael+buckland&qid=1668573113&sprefix=michael+buckland,aps,167&sr=8-3> about the Memex’s precursor, as well as numerous articles. Paul Kahn of Brown University wrote From Memex to Hypertext<https://www.amazon.com/Memex-Hypertext-Vannevar-Minds-Machine/dp/0125232705/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LG514Y333H3C&keywords=vannevar+bush+paul+kahn&qid=1668572978&sprefix=vannevar+bush+paul+kahn,aps,133&sr=8-1>, G. Pascal Zachary wrote an excellent biography of Bush<https://www.amazon.com/Endless-Frontier-Vannevar-Engineer-American-ebook/dp/B077721CMV/ref=sr_1_2?crid=GNW04BN9A1L4&keywords=vannevar+bush&qid=1668572875&sprefix=vannevar+bush,aps,372&sr=8-2> and Bush wrote an autobiography<https://www.amazon.com/Pieces-Action-Vannevar-Bush-ebook/dp/B0B15CCH7N/ref=sr_1_1?crid=GNW04BN9A1L4&keywords=vannevar+bush&qid=1668572946&sprefix=vannevar+bush,aps,372&sr=8-1>. Best, Marc p.s. here’s a quote from Wikipedia on Goldberg’s microfilm retrieval machine and the Memex: “...At the same Congress Goldberg introduced his "Statistical Machine," a document search engine that used photoelectric<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoelectric> cells and pattern recognition<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_recognition> to search the metadata<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata> on rolls of microfilmed<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfilm> documents (US patent 1,838,389, 29 December 1931). This technology was used in a variant form in 1938 by Vannevar Bush<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush> in his "microfilm rapid selector," his "comparator" (for cryptanalysis), and was the technological basis for the imaginary Memex<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memex> in Bush's influential 1945 essay "As we may think.” On Nov 15, 2022, at 18:56, Koblentz, Evan via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org<mailto:members@lists.sigcis.org>> wrote: Does anyone have documentation, or good theories, about how/where Vannevar Bush was inspired to develop his ideas for the speculative Memex? I know that he was privy to the latest computer developments, but how did he make the jump from plugboards and punch cards to a virtual encyclopedia and hypertext? _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org<http://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

As a longtime lurker on this list, I'm slightly hesitant to jump in promoting my own work—but this does seem like an apt moment to mention my book on Otlet: Cataloging the World: Paul Otlet and the Birth of the Information Age <https://www.amazon.com/Cataloging-World-Otlet-Birth-Information/dp/0199931410> . The question of whether Otlet directly influenced Bush's work remains unresolved. There's no direct evidence or paper trail connecting Bush directly to Otlet, but there is plenty of circumstantial evidence that Otlet's work was "in the air" around the time that Bush was working on the rapid selector and developing his ideas about the Memex. Bush's collaborator Watson Davis <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_Davis> was aware of both Otlet and Wells's work; he attended the 1937 World Congress on Documentation (where Otlet, Wells, and Goldberg all spoke). Davis knew Bush well; he developed a proposal for a Memex-like device in the 1930s, and he edited a journal called Science News Letter to which Bush was a contributor. But Bush was famously stingy about crediting others' work ("As We May Think" contains almost no references), so we may never know for certain whether Otlet directly influenced the Memex A couple of other interesting early-twentieth century forays into "universal" indexing schemes that were influenced by Otlet's work include Wilhelm Ostwald's Die Brücke <https://www.academia.edu/227623/Wilhelm_Ostwald_the_Br%C3%BCcke_Bridge_and_connections_to_other_bibliographic_activities_at_the_beginning_of_the_twentieth_century> ("The Bridge") and Herbert Field's Concilium Bibliographicum <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concilium_Bibliographicum>. Best, Alex -- Alex Wright alex@agwright.com | www.alexwright.com On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 9:42 AM David Brock via Members < members@lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

+1 on Colin!

Bernard, the ERO material is totally new to me. Can’t wait to look at this. +++++++++++++++ David C. Brock dcb@dcbrock.net 40 Russell Street, Greenfield, MA 01301 Mobile: 413-522-3578 Skype: dcbrock Twitter: @dcbrock Pronouns: he, him, his

On Nov 16, 2022, at 2:46 AM, Bernard Geoghegan via Members < members@lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

Hi Evan, Marc,

For backstories of the Memex, I’m a big fan of Colin Burke’s “Information and Secrecy: Vannevar Bush, Ultra, and the Other Memex.”

My, *Code: From Information Theory to French Theory <https://www.dukeupress.edu/code>*, examines the roots of the Memex and its predecessor, the Rapid Selector, in eugenics and biopolitics. If anyone wants a review copy of the book (it starts shipping next month, I think), please feel free to request one here <https://www.dukeupress.edu/Information-For/Booksellers-Media-Review-Copies/Request-Review-Copies>, or write me directly.

It’s highly significant that around 1939 when Bush left MIT for the Carnegie Institution—at the time he was working on varied information sorting devices—he quickly sought to reform the infamous Eugenics *Records* Office with the resources of the Carnegie. The ERO, like the interwar and wartime data devices Bush was working on, was based on the idea of sorting and collecting “records.” Hence, Bush’s suggestion to his former student, Claude E. Shannon, to write his PhD at the ERO—part of Bush’s larger project throughout the 1930s and 1940s to computationally and logically order science, in its varied data problems, in initiatives running from bioengineering to the Memex.

Below, two brief excerpts from *Code: From Information Theory to French Theor*y:

“Bush and his colleagues envisioned the Rapid Selector as a general-purpose information processor suited to the analysis of genetic, business, library, and statistical data. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the Rockefeller Foundation had provided lavish support for the development of microphotography, a forerunner of microfiche, for documentation in the humanities. As such, the foundation stood out as an excellent candidate to support Bush’s work with the selector. Warren Weaver recorded in his notes from a 1937 meeting, “Sometime ago federal authorities asked him [Bush] to consider the problem of devising mechanical aids for rapidly locating fingerprints. . . . B[ush] worked out a system which would permit the examination of approximately 1,000 per second.” Considering the problem of rapidly sorting fingerprints, Weaver wrote, “it then occurred to him [Bush] that this scheme was possible for development into a new technique for making available the stored literature of the past.” In this manner biological and bibliographical data might be processed by the same techniques of automation exploited by mechanical computers….” (Geoghegan, *Code*, p. 32)

“Bush left MIT to assume the presidency of the Carnegie Institution, another of the great robber baron philanthropies and a sponsor of the Eugenics Record Office (ERO) in Cold Spring Harbor. By the late 1930s the deep and abiding biological racism propounded by the ERO had fallen out of fashion, and Bush sought to reset it on rigorous scientific foundations. Bush seized upon Shannon’s theory of relay switching as a model of how a haphazard, unscientific method could be rendered orderly and logical with applied mathematics. Bush later explained, “It occurred to me that, just as [Shannon’s] special algebra had worked well in his hands on the theory of [binary] relays, another special algebra might conceivably handle some of the aspects of Mendelian heredity.” Writing to ERO psychologist Barbara Stoddard Burks, who had mined the ERO’s sprawling records for evidence of a genetic basis for intelligence, Bush explained that he had suggested to Shannon that he “try his queer algebra” in the analysis of genetic problems. This offered a chance for Bush, who had intermittently championed bioengineering over the past decade at MIT, to realize his efforts to bring logical and computational analysis to bear on an infamously complex problem deemed of pressing social importance.” (Geoghegan, *Code*, p. 48)

Best wishes, Bernard

*From: *Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Marc Weber via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org> *Date: *Wednesday, 16 November 2022 at 08:16 *To: *Koblentz, Evan <evank@njit.edu> *Cc: *members@SIGCIS.org <members@sigcis.org> *Subject: *Re: [SIGCIS-Members] What inspired Bush's Memex? Bush was aware of a lot of prior work on related ideas in Europe for information technology, including that of Paul Otlet <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Otlet> and his Mundaneum, the World Brain article and later book <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Brain> by H.G. Wells, not to mention the actual microfilm retrieval mechanism built into a desk by Emanuel Goldberg <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Goldberg> at Zeiss-Ikon in the early 1930s (Bush couldn’t patent certain aspects of the Memex because of Goldberg’s prior work).

Bush’s really important twist on prior work was to use two microfilm readers in parallel, thus allowing hypertext links between them and the sharing of “trails” made up of such links between users.

The start of the Web gallery <https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/the-web/20/370> in our Revolution <https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/topics#exhibition> exhibition very briefly talks about the work above except for Goldberg.

For books Professor Michael Buckland of UC Berkeley wrote *Emanuel Goldberg and his Knowledge Machine* <https://www.amazon.com/Emanuel-Goldberg-His-Knowledge-Machine/dp/0313313326/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1XDL8JJQMPQV7&keywords=michael+buckland&qid=1668573113&sprefix=michael+buckland,aps,167&sr=8-3> about the Memex’s precursor, as well as numerous articles. Paul Kahn of Brown University wrote *From Memex to Hypertext* <https://www.amazon.com/Memex-Hypertext-Vannevar-Minds-Machine/dp/0125232705/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LG514Y333H3C&keywords=vannevar+bush+paul+kahn&qid=1668572978&sprefix=vannevar+bush+paul+kahn,aps,133&sr=8-1>, G. Pascal Zachary wrote an excellent biography of Bush <https://www.amazon.com/Endless-Frontier-Vannevar-Engineer-American-ebook/dp/B077721CMV/ref=sr_1_2?crid=GNW04BN9A1L4&keywords=vannevar+bush&qid=1668572875&sprefix=vannevar+bush,aps,372&sr=8-2> and Bush wrote an autobiography <https://www.amazon.com/Pieces-Action-Vannevar-Bush-ebook/dp/B0B15CCH7N/ref=sr_1_1?crid=GNW04BN9A1L4&keywords=vannevar+bush&qid=1668572946&sprefix=vannevar+bush,aps,372&sr=8-1>.

Best, Marc

p.s. here’s a quote from Wikipedia on Goldberg’s microfilm retrieval machine and the Memex:

“...At the same Congress Goldberg introduced his "Statistical Machine," a document search engine that used photoelectric <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoelectric> cells and pattern recognition <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_recognition> to search the metadata <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata> on rolls of microfilmed <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfilm> documents (US patent 1,838,389, 29 December 1931). This technology was used in a variant form in 1938 by Vannevar Bush <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush> in his "microfilm rapid selector," his "comparator" (for cryptanalysis), and was the technological basis for the imaginary Memex <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memex> in Bush's influential 1945 essay "As we may think.”

On Nov 15, 2022, at 18:56, Koblentz, Evan via Members < members@lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

Does anyone have documentation, or good theories, about how/where Vannevar Bush was inspired to develop his ideas for the speculative Memex? I know that he was privy to the latest computer developments, but how did he make the jump from plugboards and punch cards to a virtual encyclopedia and hypertext? _______________________________________________ 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

_______________________________________________ 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

_______________________________________________ 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

I knew Murray and interviewed him a few years ago: https://news.njit.edu/njit-research-1970s-became-vital-parts-todays-social-m... Sadly, he passed away last month, but most if not all of his work is archived on NJIT websites. On 11/16/22 12:49 PM, LO*OP CENTER, INC. wrote:

Hi Evan,

I assume you've been in touch with Murray Turroff. Here's one of his papers just in case you don't have it. http://www.loopcntr.net/repository/1016.pdf. I have several others in the History of Computing in Learning and Education archive. Check out hcle.org <http://hcle.org> for a small sample of the documents I'm trying to scan and make accessible.

By the way, there's no way I can finish the HCLE project by myself in the time I have left on this earth. If any of you readers are interested in researching and documenting how computing and education have intersected between 1960 and 1990, please contact me. I have at least 50 potential dissertations sitting in storage.

Cheers,

Liza

On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 8:36 AM Evan Koblentz via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! Tonight I'm teaching my students about the origins of graphical interfaces, and realized that I didn't have a good answer ready to the question of, "But what inspired Bush?"

I am quickly reading Smith, Googling about Otlet/Goldberg, and running to our university library to get Burke's book.

On 11/15/22 9:56 PM, Koblentz, Evan wrote:

...

Does anyone have documentation, or good theories, about how/where Vannevar Bush was inspired to develop his ideas for the speculative Memex? I know that he was privy to the latest computer developments, but how did he make the jump from plugboards and punch cards to a virtual encyclopedia and hypertext?

-- Evan Koblentz

New Jersey Institute of Technology - Senior Writer, Office of Strategic Communications - Adjunct Instructor, Ying Wu College of Computing

evank@njit.edu (973) 596-3065 https://web.njit.edu/~evank @TechnicallyEvan <https://twitter.com/technicallyevan>

_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org <http://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

-- Liza Loop Executive Director, LO*OP Center, Inc. Guerneville, CA 95446 www.loopcenter.org <http://www.loopcenter.org> 650 619 1099 (between 8 am and 10 pm Pacific time only please)

-- Evan Koblentz New Jersey Institute of Technology - Senior Writer, Office of Strategic Communications - Adjunct Instructor, Ying Wu College of Computing evank@njit.edu (973) 596-3065 https://web.njit.edu/~evank @TechnicallyEvan <https://twitter.com/technicallyevan>

Thanks everyone for this information! All best, Johannah On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 1:17 PM Evan Koblentz via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

Oops - I should have opened your link before sharing my own article. I wasn't aware that Turoff even knew about Bush/Memex, let alone that he wrote about it, in the context of EIES. Shame on me, for not seeing the connection!

On 11/16/22 1:04 PM, Evan Koblentz wrote:

I knew Murray and interviewed him a few years ago:

https://news.njit.edu/njit-research-1970s-became-vital-parts-todays-social-m...

Sadly, he passed away last month, but most if not all of his work is archived on NJIT websites.

On 11/16/22 12:49 PM, LO*OP CENTER, INC. wrote:

Hi Evan,

I assume you've been in touch with Murray Turroff. Here's one of his papers just in case you don't have it. http://www.loopcntr.net/repository/1016.pdf. I have several others in the History of Computing in Learning and Education archive. Check out hcle.org for a small sample of the documents I'm trying to scan and make accessible.

By the way, there's no way I can finish the HCLE project by myself in the time I have left on this earth. If any of you readers are interested in researching and documenting how computing and education have intersected between 1960 and 1990, please contact me. I have at least 50 potential dissertations sitting in storage.

Cheers,

Liza

On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 8:36 AM Evan Koblentz via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

...

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! Tonight I'm teaching my students about the origins of graphical interfaces, and realized that I didn't have a good answer ready to the question of, "But what inspired Bush?"

I am quickly reading Smith, Googling about Otlet/Goldberg, and running to our university library to get Burke's book.

On 11/15/22 9:56 PM, Koblentz, Evan wrote:

Does anyone have documentation, or good theories, about how/where Vannevar Bush was inspired to develop his ideas for the speculative Memex? I know that he was privy to the latest computer developments, but how did he make the jump from plugboards and punch cards to a virtual encyclopedia and hypertext?

-- Evan Koblentz

New Jersey Institute of Technology - Senior Writer, Office of Strategic Communications - Adjunct Instructor, Ying Wu College of Computing

evank@njit.edu (973) 596-3065 https://web.njit.edu/~evank @TechnicallyEvan

_______________________________________________ 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

-- Liza Loop Executive Director, LO*OP Center, Inc. Guerneville, CA 95446 www.loopcenter.org 650 619 1099 (between 8 am and 10 pm Pacific time only please)

-- Evan Koblentz

New Jersey Institute of Technology - Senior Writer, Office of Strategic Communications - Adjunct Instructor, Ying Wu College of Computing

evank@njit.edu (973) 596-3065 https://web.njit.edu/~evank @TechnicallyEvan

-- Evan Koblentz

New Jersey Institute of Technology - Senior Writer, Office of Strategic Communications - Adjunct Instructor, Ying Wu College of Computing

evank@njit.edu (973) 596-3065 https://web.njit.edu/~evank @TechnicallyEvan

_______________________________________________ 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

-- johannahrodgers@gmail.com www.johannahrodgers.net