Von Neumann EDVAC report
There is a copy of the EDVAC Report in the rare book room of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. I collected it from the Bureau of Standards (now NIST), and it has Sam Alexander's name stamped on it. Most of the other materials from the NBS collection went to the Charles Babbage Institute, where they have been catalogued. I believe that would also include other von Neumann reports you would be interested in. I have to warn you that the report is fragile and has to be handled with extreme care. It was reproduced by a process similar to mimeograph, which used a flimsy type of paper that is easily torn. One of the great unanswered questions is how many copies were made in 1945, and of them, how many survive. Paul E. Ceruzzi National Air & Space Museum MRC 311; PO Box 37012 Washington, DC 20013-7012 202-633-2414 <http://www.nasm.si.edu/staffDetail.cfm?staffID=24>
I have a photocopy of the report; its cover page matches the one that Michael Godfrey published in the 1993 Annals, with the Edvac contract number W-670-ORD-4926, and dated June 30, 1945. It's stamped "Moore School of Elec. Eng. Library". It has numerous lacunae in internal and external references. E.g. on p. 2, the end of sec 1.3 has "This point will receive closer consideration subsequently, in particular in" and the end of 1.4 has "(Cf. .)" The back page (after the unnumbered p. 101) has a list of due dates starting Jan 5, 1962. Can anyone tell me anything more about the origin of this version? Is it a copy of the original? Godfrey's introduction to his Annals version mentions that Goldstine said that his archives at Hampshire College had a copy of the manuscript. The online list of the archive contents includes only the Report itself with the June 30 date -- might this be another original? Thanks, David Hemmendinger hemmendd@union.edu Computer Science Dept. http://athena.union.edu/~hemmendd Union College +1 518 388 6319 Schenectady, NY 12308 FAX: +1 518 388 6789
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hemmendd＠union.edu