Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.). Director's Office. Electronic Computer Project records

Scope and Contents

The Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.). Director's Office. Electronic Computer Project records consist of records created and maintianed by the Institute for Advanced Study Director's Office related to the Electronic Computer Project and the development of the "IAS Machine." Materials include government contracts, funding proposals, personnel information, and administrative correspondence related to the project. Additional materials include meeting minutes, press coverage, and photographs related to the construction of the computing machine.

Dates

1946-1969

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers are welcome to publish, reproduce, and use the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center’s holdings in accordance with U.S. Copyright Law. Under the Fair Use doctrine, users may freely reproduce materials for personal research, teaching, and/or scholarship. Under the same doctrine, users may cite or publish selected passages and/or quotations for comment and criticism. In accordance to U.S. Copyright Law, researchers seeking to reproduce and/or publish materials in the entirety and/or for commercial purposes will require the permission of the copyright holder.

The Institute for Advanced Study holds the copyright to materials generated by Institute employees over the course of their work for the Institute. Where the Institute for Advanced Study holds the copyright, researchers are free to reproduce materials for one-time, non-commercial purposes. For all other cases, researchers are responsible for contacting the Archives Center to request permission at: archives@ias.edu For all materials for which the Institute is not the copyright holder, researchers that choose to pursue publication and/or reproduction are responsible for determining the individual who does hold the copyright and requesting permission directly from that individual. Researchers with questions regarding the reproduction or use of archival materials can contact the Archives Center to request help at: archives@ias.edu.

Biographical / Historical

The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) School of Mathematics oversaw the Electronic Computer Project (ECP) from 1945 to 1957. IAS Faculty John von Neumann initiated the project which ultimately produced on world's first computer to leverage the full use of a high-speed random-access storage matrix, a technology which became the blueprint of all modern computing. The machine itself, sometimes referred to as the "von Neumann Machine" or the "IAS Machine," served as a critical tool for significant developments in computational mathematics and climatology.

The ECP employed some of the most influential and earliest engineers and computational analysts in the United States. Herman H. Goldstine, Julian Bigelow, Gerald Estrin, Willis Ware, James Pomerene, Sung Yuen Wong, Norman Phillips, Joseph Smagorinksy, Ralph Slutz, and Hans J. Maehly are among the notable names whose early work is documented in these records.

Extent

1.0 linear feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

The Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.). Director's Office. Electronic Computer Project records consist of administrative created and maintianed by the Institute for Advanced Study Director's Office related to the Electronic Computer Project. Materials include government contracts, funding proposals, personnel information, and administrative correspondence related to the project dating from 1946 to 1949.

Custodial History

Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.). Director's Office staff transferred these files to the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center.

Related Materials

This collection is distinct from the Electronic Computer Project records, which consist of correspondence, memos, reports, patents, contracts, operational guides, blueprints, punch cards, wiring drawings and diagrams that pertain to the ECP, computer science and some of the engineers on the project. There are logbooks of meteorological studies performed using the Institute Computer and other logbooks that contain memory notes, engineering and general arithmetic logs for the Computer.

Also of note is the ECP (West Building Storage) records. There are also samples of punch key cards in the last couple of boxes of this collection that were not likely in the library.

Finally, folders for scholars associated with the ECP are located in the School of Natural Sciences records.

Processing Information

Upon receipt, archivists housed these materials in acid-free containers for long-term storage and preservation.

Subjects

Computers--History. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Von Neumann, John, 1903-1957 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings

Administrative Information

Title: Guide to the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.). Director's Office. Electronic Computer Project records
Status: Completed
Author: Erica Mosner prepared this finding aid.
Date: unknown
Description rules: Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description: English
Script of description: Latin
Language of description note: This finding aid is written in English

Revision Statements

2022-02-03: Caitlin Rizzo revised this finding aid to comply with DACS standards and revised the record group title.

Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center