Historical Resources

ComputerMuseum Munchen (Munich Computer Museum) preserving and exhibiting vintage computing equipment from German and international computing history.

SIGCIS resource on computing history in Japan, part of the Special Interest Group for Computers, Information, and Society.

CPU Shack Museum - an online museum dedicated to microprocessor history with one of the world's largest collections of CPU chips and related documentation.

Cray History project documenting the history of Cray Research and its supercomputers, with a collection of materials starting from the Cray-1.

Dan Bricklin's website documenting the creation of VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet, which helped launch the personal computer revolution.

Dan's collection of CPU and microprocessor information with photos, specifications, and historical context for vintage processors.

Dartmouth Time Sharing System (DTSS) history site documenting the pioneering time-sharing system and the creation of the BASIC programming language at Dartmouth College.

Datamath Calculator Museum - a resource on Texas Instruments calculators, cataloging models from the original 1972 Datamath onward with photos and technical details.

Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany - one of the world's largest science and technology museums, with significant computing and telecommunications exhibits.

Ed Thelen's comprehensive reference to the Ballistic Research Laboratory's 1964 survey of worldwide computers, a key document in early computing history.

E.W. Dijkstra Archive at the University of Texas at Austin, preserving the manuscripts and correspondence of the pioneering computer scientist.

EDSAC Simulator project at the University of Warwick, recreating the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, one of the first practical stored-program computers.

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation in the digital world since 1990.

Email History resource tracing the evolution of electronic messaging from 1800s telegraph systems through the development of ARPANET-era electronic mail.

EMIDEC computing history site preserving information about the EMI Electronics EMIDEC 1100 and 2400, early British transistorized computers from the 1960s.

ENIAC Museum online resource dedicated to the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer, built at the University of Pennsylvania.

University of Pennsylvania's ENIAC exhibit page, commemorating the first general-purpose electronic computer built at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering.

International Charity Foundation for History and Development of Computer Science and Technique (ICFCST) in Kyiv, Ukraine, featuring virtual exhibits on computing history and pioneers.

Tracing milestones from 30,000 BCE through 2010, this timeline of Information Exchange Technology by T. Matthew Ciolek includes computing, networking, and communications.

CPU Garden - a collection documenting great microprocessors of the past and present with detailed specifications and historical context.

Handheld and Portable Computer Club (HPCC), a user group dedicated to handheld and palmtop computing devices, particularly HP calculators and PDAs.

HP Alumni Association history links page, providing curated references to resources about Hewlett-Packard's corporate history and technology legacy.

SIGCIS resource on the history of computing in the UK, part of the Special Interest Group for Computers, Information, and Society.

History of SPARC systems from 1987 to 2010, documenting Sun Microsystems' SPARC processor architecture and the workstations and servers that used it.

Hobbes' Internet Timeline by Robert Zakon, a comprehensive chronology of the Internet's development from the 1950s ARPA origins through the modern web era.

Home Computer Museum (HCM), a German-language resource documenting the history of home computers from the late 1970s through the early 1990s.

BCL Computers preservation project in the UK, documenting and restoring historic British computing equipment including the Molecular 1 and other machines.

HP Computer Museum cataloging Hewlett-Packard computing products including calculators, minicomputers, workstations, and test equipment with specifications and photos.

ICT 1301 Resurrection Project, working to restore and operate a 1960s ICT (International Computers and Tabulators) 1301 mainframe computer.

Analog Computer Museum presenting photographs and descriptions of historical analog computers and their role in scientific and engineering computation.

Internet Society (ISOC), the global nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for everyone.

InterPARES (International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems), a multinational research project on digital preservation and archival science.

IPSJ Computer Museum, maintained by the Information Processing Society of Japan, documenting the history of computing in Japan with virtual exhibits of significant machines.

An online museum documenting the history, mechanisms, and technical workings of mechanical and early electronic calculating machines. The collection, assembled over 50 years, features machines…

Konrad Zuse Internet Archive at the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB), preserving the legacy of the German inventor who built the world's first programmable computer.

Jurgen Schmidhuber's resource page on Konrad Zuse, covering the inventor's contributions to computing including the Z1, Z2, Z3, and Z4 machines.

LEO Computers Society, preserving the history of the LEO (Lyons Electronic Office), the world's first business computer, developed in 1951 by J. Lyons & Co.

MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) project, an open-source emulator preserving decades of arcade game and computing hardware through software emulation.

Multicians.org, a comprehensive resource documenting the Multics operating system, the influential time-sharing OS that preceded and inspired Unix.

Musee de l'Informatique (Computer Museum) in France, dedicated to preserving and exhibiting the history of computing and information technology.

Musee des Arts et Metiers (Museum of Arts and Crafts) in Paris, France - one of the world's oldest science and technology museums, with notable computing exhibits.

San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology (SAMSAT), exploring the intersection of computing technology, science, and cultural history.

Museum of Computing in Swindon, UK - a hands-on museum featuring working vintage computers and interactive exhibits spanning computing history.

Calculators.de - German-language online museum dedicated to the history of calculators and calculating machines with photos and technical details.

Museums Computer Group (MCG), a UK-based professional network for people working with digital technology in museums, galleries, and heritage organizations.

Smithsonian National Museum of American History - Computer History collection, featuring landmark machines and artifacts from American computing history.

Obsolete Computer Museum featuring a curated list of vintage and discontinued computers with photographs and basic specifications.

OldComputers.net, an encyclopedic reference site cataloging vintage personal computers and home computers from the 1970s and 1980s with photos and specs.

Old Calculator Web Museum showcasing a collection of vintage electronic calculators with detailed photos, specifications, and historical context.

Old Computer Hut, a personal collection of vintage British and international computers with photographs and descriptions.