Finding aid for the Electronic Computer Project (ECP): West Building Storage Records
ECPWBS

Summary Information

Repository
Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center
Creator
Electronic Computer Project.
Title
Electronic Computer Project (ECP): West Building Storage records
ID
ECPWBS
Date [bulk]
Bulk, 1953-1955
Date [inclusive]
1931-1958
Extent
11.5 linear feet
Language
English
Abstract
The Electronic Computer Project, led by John von Neumann, was based at the Institute for Advanced Study from 1945 to 1960. The ECP:West Building Storage Records consist of experiment data, in-house and vendor publications relating to component parts, blueprints, punch cards, diagrams, and stock books of part orders.

Preferred Citation note

The suggested citation for the material is "[item], ECP West Building Storage records, [series]- Box [box number], From the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, USA."

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Biographical/Historical note

In 1933, John von Neumann became a Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in the School of Mathematics. By the mid-1940s, Prof. von Neumann began concentrating on computing work and he was trying to raise support and secure space for building an "electronic computing machine." Prof. von Neumann had to obtain permission from IAS to build something on premises because its commitment had been, and still is, firmly planted in the theoretical. Also, monetary support for the Electronic Computer Project (ECP) had to be found. While RCA Corporation was very involved in the beginning stages of the ECP, they did not contribute financially. International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) was involved in other aspects, though like RCA, was not financially supportive. While IAS certainly funded some of the Project with several monetary donations, staff and housing for the Computer, government agencies such as the U.S. Atomic Energy Committee (AEC), United States Office of Naval Research (ONR), and various branches of the United States Army, provided the majority of financial support for the Project.

The Project was undertaken as a part of the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study. It was begun on the IAS campus in 1945 and in January 1952 culminated with the completion of a machine. The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) machine built at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia was a precursor to the Institute Computer, as was the Electronic Discrete Variable Arithmetic Computer (EDVAC). Prof. von Neumann contributed much to the design of EDVAC. Herman H. Goldstine, one of the Engineers on the team that constructed the ENIAC, eventually came to the Institute to help Prof. von Neumann. Some of the principal Engineers on the Project were Julian Bigelow, Gerald Estrin, Willis Ware, James Pomerene, Sung Yuen Wong, Norman Phillips, Ralph Slutz and Hans J. Maehly.

Arthur Burks, Goldstine and von Neumann drafted the first version of “Preliminary Discussion of the Logical Design of an Electronic Computing Instrument” in June 1946 and multiple subsequent reports were written, many of which are represented here in the collection. While the Institute machine was not formally dedicated until 1952, calculations had been taking place on it since the summer of 1951. The computer was fully functional until 1960, though it was primarily used by Princeton University towards the end, and was eventually deposited in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History where it remains today.

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Scope and Contents note

The Electronic Computer Project:West Building Storage records consist of engineering files pertaining to the ECP and computer science, including operational guides, punch cards, schematics, wiring drawings and diagrams. A focus of the collection is the mechanical component parts of the Institute Computer, including the ordering, installation, and monitoring (recorded observations) of these parts. Observations of the Dumont tubes include photographs. Files also include a copy of "Instruction Manual: Teledeltos outprinter" (17 July 1951) by Willis H. Ware. The work of Nils Aall Barricelli is represented in this collection. Manuals and publications relating to component parts chiefly represent two companies: IBM Corporation and Teletype Corporation.

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Arrangement note

Original order of the material in the collection was maintained, with the exception of obvious misfiling. Boxes 1-2 contain ECP engineers' files, Boxes 3-7 contain technical documentation relating to component parts published by IBM Corporation and Teletype Corporation, Boxes 8-9 are stock books of part orders, and Boxes 10-11 are IBM punched cards.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center March 30, 2009

Historical Studies-Social Science Library
Einstein Drive
Princeton
NJ, 08540
609-734-8375
archives@ias.edu

Conditions Governing Access note

The Electronic Computer Project (ECP):West Building Storage records are open for research without restrictions.

Immediate Source of Acquisition note

The Electronic Computer Project (ECP):West Building Storage records were moved from the ECP building to another IAS campus storage area before being transferred to the Archives Center in the mid-1980s.

Processing Information note

The collection was processed by IAS library staff (Archives and Cataloging) Lisa R. Coats. Processing and cataloging were completed by May 2003. The finding aid was written by IAS library staff (Archives) Erica Mosner in March 2009, with reference to text produced by Lisa R. Coats for another ECP collection.

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Related Materials

Related Archival Materials note

This collection is distinct from the Electronic Computer Project Records, which consists of correspondence, memos, reports, patents, contracts, operational guides, blueprints, punch cards, wiring drawings and diagrams, and the Director's Office ECP Records.

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Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

  • International Business Machines Corporation.
  • Teletype Corporation.

Personal Name(s)

  • Barricelli, Nils Aall, 1912-
  • Ware, Willis H.

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Bibliography

Aspray, William. John von Neumann and the Origins of Modern Computing. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1990.

Bigelow, Julian. “Computer Development at the Institute for Advanced Study”, in A History of Computing in the Twentieth Century by N. Metropolis, J. Howlett and Gian-Carlo Rota. Academic Press, Inc., 1980: 291-310.

Dyson, George B. Darwin Among the Machines: the Evolution of Global Intelligence. Cambridge: Perseus, 1997.

Dyson, George B. Turing's Cathedral. New York: Random House, 2012.

Goldstine, Herman H. The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972.

Oppenheimer, J. Robert. Institute for Advanced Study, “Report of the Director, 1948-1953.”

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Collection Inventory

Files 1940-1958   5.0 linear feet 2 document boxes; 5 half-size doument boxes; 4 card file boxes (12.25" l. x 8.5" w. x 5.25" h.)
Box Folder

Power Equipment Co.: Invoices, operating instr. [In with blueprint drawings from Power Equipment Co.] 1955 and undated 

 1 1

Williams Amplifier service record (steno notebook) 1952-1956 

 1 2

Williams Memory Test undated 

 1 3

External cabinet 1955 and undated 

 1 4

Automatic erase 1955 

 1 5

Digit lines-levels 1955 

 1 6

General drum wiring changes 1954 and undated 

 1 7

Drawings for old IBM MD report undated 

 1 8

Graph masters 1955 

 1 9

Graphing logic 1955 and undated 

 1 10

Graphing, wiring changes (To be entered on schematics) 1954 and undated 

 1 11

Graphing tube 1953-1955 and undated 

 1 12

Air conditioners 1941-1949 and undated 

 1 13

Cabinets: EMCOR catalogs 1956 

 1 14

Htr. K. leakage tester 1956 

 1 15

Calculation charts w/ Barricelli card punches undated 

 1 16

Barricelli code: Note re: card punches undated 

 1 17

Operating instructions for use with the Mico Engraver undated 

 1 18

Wire wound resistors-List filed in stock book 1950 

 1 19

Teletype equipment list: index and bulletins 1940-1948 

 1 20

Assorted newsletters and bulletins 1955, 1958, and undated 

 1 21

Instruction manual: Teledeltos outprinter (Pomerene/Crane copies) 1951 

 1 22

86 Dumonts 1954 

 2 23

Dumont tube transactions 1953-1955 

 2 24

Dumont 7S tubes: #86 and #187(?) 1953 

 2 25

Memory maintenance test records CRT #8 1952-1956 and undated 

 2 26

Tube transactions 1950-1955 and undated 

 2 27

Tube transactions cont. undated 

 2 28
Box

IBM manuals and publications 1946-1957 

 3

IBM operating guides 1944-1953 

 4

Teletype Corporation: Bulletins, etc. 1931-1941 

 5

Teletype Corporation: Bulletins, etc. 1942-1943 

 6

Teletype Corporation : Bulletins, etc. 1943-1949 

 7

Stock book of part orders: Binder of parts orders, "A"--"Transformers" 1947-1953 and undated 

 8

Stock book of part orders: 2 binders of parts orders 1947-1953 and undated 

 9

Barricelli key cards: Barricelli codes for 2-dimensional experiment undated 

 10

Barricelli key cards: 6AG7, Tube 7 undated 

 11

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2013.0013 Hedi Selberg files   6.5 linear feet
Box

SAP 130.02 1952-1953 

 1

130.02, 130.03, 130.04, 128.04, 128.05 Oct-Dec 1954 

 1

Initial value sheets for codes 128.06, 130.06, 130.07 and variations 1954-1955 

 1

Constants, Main Routine, SR 1-12, Converted Constants 1955-1956 

 1

Circulars 1956-1957 

 1

Flint: Assemblar 1957-1958 

 1

Notes and replaced sheets 167.00 1954-1957 

 1

Conversion 166.00 1954 

 1

Interpolated Values 1956 

Notes 1955 

 1

Stellar Evolution Book I: conversion 186.00, main code 187.00-187.06 June-Nov 1955 

 1

Stellar Evolution Book II: code 187 Nov-Mar 1956 

 1

Unmarked folder 1955 

 1

Loose notepads undated 

 1

Initial value sheets for codes 182.00, 182.06, 182.09, 130.06, 130.07 1955 

 1

Loose printouts undated 

 1

Stellar Evolution Book III Mar-Sep 1956 

 1

Callaway 121 and Zassenhaus 223 Feb-Nov 1955 

 1

Code 182.00-182.10 1954 

 1

Loose papers 1954-1957 

 1

Parcel containing "Notes on the Orbit Stability Computing Program" 1953 

 1

Loose sheets undated 

 1

Loose papers undated 

 1

Code 1902 IRV Conversion 1957 

 1

Stellar Evolution: 187.00, 187.45, 187.46 1955-1956 

 2

Initial value sheets for codes 187.60, 187.63, 187.64 April-May 1957 

 2

187.51-187.59 1956-1957 

 2

Solar Turbulance 1958 

 2

Stellar Evolution, flow diagrams 1957 

 2

Stellar Evolution, equation (photocopies) 1955-1956 

 2

Conversion for Stellar Evolution 1957 

 2

Quadratic Interpolation 1956-1957 

 2

Logarithmic Variables 1958 

 2

Progress Reports 1955-1957 

 2

Flow diagrams 1956-1958 

 2

Tables 1953-1954 

 2

Evolution for MANIAC, Prof. Schwarzschild 1956 

 2

Loose notepad undated 

 2

Stellar Evolution Notepad May-June 1958 

 2

Stellar Evolution book keeping notepad 1957 

 2

Loose papers undated 

 2

Scandanavian Airlines System Brochures 

 2

Loose sheets undated 

 2

Graph for code 67 undated 

 2

Testing the memory 1951 

 2

Loose sheets: Code 63 undated 

 2

Kummer Sums 1952 

 2

e codes 1952 

 2

Bukhoff undated 

 2

Scwartzschild's Astrophysical Problem undated 

 2

Ordvac undated 

 2

Bukhoff odds and ends 

Scope and Contents note

Found to be empty.

 2

Flow diagram for 130.06 Dec. 1954 

 2

Initial values sheets for 130.06 and on undated 

 2

182 1955 

 2

Ozalide: SAP Conversion 52 standard 11 1952 

 2

Ozalide 167.00 1954 

 2

Astrophysics cal problem undated 

 2

Test Codes for Stellar Evolution undated 

 2

Conversion code 145.00; Pentad to Tetrad 145.01-2 1953-1954 

 2

Ozalide 130.06, 128.06, 130.07, 130.10, 130.27-32 1954 

 2

Ozalide 130.02, 130.03 128.03, .04, .05 flow chart of 13.10 1954 

 2

Transpose codes (also Birkhoff 113.03; Callaway 121.9) 1952 

 3

Unmarked binder 1952 

 3

Callaway 151.01 1954 

 3

Oscar #135 conversion code 145, book IV undated 

 3

H. Selberg, Birkhoff I undated 

 3

H. Selberg, Birkhoff II undated 

 3

Birkhoff III, Corrections on code #127.01 (B-Z)-121, 130.03, 145.00 1953 

 3

128.03-.04-.05; 130.03-.04-.05; 130.10-130.35 1954-1955 

 3

Callaway Integrals Code #151.03, run 26 1954 

 3

SR 1-16 1956-1957 

 3

SAP 55, 55A 1952 

 3

IBM Accounting Machine, Types 402, 493, 419: Principles of Operation 

 3

Planning and Coding of Problems for an Electronic Computing Instrument, part II, vols. I-III 

 3

Loose sheets: Instructions for graphing on a tabulator 1953 

 3

Code 145, penta-tetrad 1953 

 3

Coding Sceme for the "Poiseuille-flow Stability Problem" undated 

 3

Loose sheets undated 

 3

Poiseuille notepads undated 

 3

Loose sheets undated 

 3

Loose sheets: Explanations to the Code of the Astrophysical Problem 1952 

 3

Zassenhaus 1955 

 3

#1004 Met. undated 

 3

Standard Conversion #33 undated 

 3

Ozalited codes (not used) undated 

 3

Perforated 45; 43; 44; 54; 52; 55-62; 66; 68; 69 undated 

 3

Ozalide: Kummer, Tables, x, % Tests undated 

 3

Left shift #66; right shift #68; right shift #69; graph #67; plotting #82 1952 

 3

Partial (absolute) Kummer results 1952 

 3

Kummer 1952 

 3

Poiseuille-flow stability problem undated 

 4

e 1952 

 4

Bassel-Function undated 

 4

Notes on: Machine undated 

 4

Test codes for division and multiplication 1952 

 4

Met. 1005 Feb-Mar 1952 

 4

Oscar 135: Problems 1-54 1953 

 4

Oscar 135: Problems 55-79 1953 

 4

B-Z Ozalide undated 

 4

Astronomy-Schwartzchild 1952 

 4

Code No. 125, Solid Diffusion Integration, 1953 

 5

Rosen Code 1953 

 5

Code #143, Slipping Stream Tube 1953 

 5

Random number code undated 

 5

Miscellaneous codes 1953 

 5

Loose sheets undated 

 5

Beam code 1953 

 5

e 1952 

 5

Blast problem undated 

 5

Unmarked folder: e 1952 

 5

Graph 1952 

 5

Plotting the Numbers 0,...9 undated 

 5

Callaway 1953-1954 

 5

Readaround code for testing memory undated 

 5

Kummer Sums: Arith. 1952 

 5

Transpose codes undated 

 5

Multiplication (54), division (44) Test Codes undated 

 5

Kummer Sums 1952 

 5

Eigen value-problem undated 

 6

Blast m (notes) undated 

Scope and Contents note

File found to be empty.

 6

Conversion (Final) #33, 32, 36, 35 1952 

 6

Right shift no round off #68 1952 

 6

Left shift (LS) test code #66 1952 

 6

Right shift with round off #69 1952 

 6

Graph #67 1952 

 6

Plot Arabic Numbers, code #82 1952 

 6

Notepads undated 

 6

Loose sheets: Integration 1, 2 undated 

 6

Rolled printouts 

 7

SAP Mathematics: Initial Data from Schwartz 1953 

 7
Drawer

Oversize printouts, diagrams, and notes 1953 and undated 

 Oversize flat file cabinet

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