Historical Resources

Old Computer Museum featuring a collection of vintage PCs and home computers with photographs, specifications, and historical notes.

Kenneth Kuhn's online HP Museum documenting Hewlett-Packard test and measurement equipment, calculators, and computing products with technical history.

Oughtred Society, an international organization dedicated to the preservation and history of slide rules and other historical calculating instruments.

Personal Computer Museum in Brantford, Ontario, Canada - housing one of Canada's largest collections of vintage personal computers and gaming systems.

PLATO History resource documenting the PLATO computer-based education system, a pioneering platform that introduced many concepts later found in the modern Internet.

Progopedia, a free encyclopedia of programming languages with descriptions, history, examples, and comparisons across hundreds of languages.

Susan Sherwood's programming languages compendium at the University of York, cataloging languages with historical context and key characteristics.

SAL (Encyclopaedia of Scientific and Analytical Software) at Moscow State University, cataloging programming languages and scientific computing software.

Online museum of mechanical calculators featuring photos, videos, and information on abacuses, slide rules, and early calculating instruments from around the world.

Retro Computer Museum in Leicestershire, UK - a hands-on museum where visitors can play with and experience vintage computers and gaming systems.

Dusty Decks - Paul McJones's resource on the history of programming languages and software engineering, with links to primary sources and documentation.

Russian Virtual Computer Museum, a comprehensive online museum documenting the history of computing in Russia and the Soviet Union with extensive virtual exhibits.

Mark Smotherman's historical overview of the Stretch/IBM 7030 supercomputer at Clemson University, documenting one of IBM's most ambitious early computing projects.

Science Museum in London, UK - one of the world's foremost science museums with landmark computing exhibits including Babbage's Difference Engine and early electronic computers.

Nathan Zeldes's History of Computing reference site with curated links and information about key developments in computing history.

Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) website, the leading international scholarly organization for historians of technology.

Softpanorama resource on the history of Solaris and Sun Microsystems' Unix operating system, covering its evolution from SunOS through the Oracle acquisition era.

Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation (SMECC) in Arizona, preserving computing and telecommunications artifacts with hands-on exhibits.

Museum of Computer and Information Technology in St. Petersburg, Russia, featuring virtual exhibits of Soviet and Russian computing equipment.

Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources, providing access to significant Silicon Valley and technology history archives and collections.

Supercomputing Technology Historical Museum documenting the history of supercomputing systems from early vector processors through parallel architectures.

Swarthmore College Computer Society (SCCS) providing computing resources and documenting the history of computing at Swarthmore College.

Technical history of Acorn Computers by Chris McMoredie, documenting the British company that created the BBC Micro, Archimedes, and the ARM processor architecture.

Tekniska Museet (National Museum of Science and Technology) in Stockholm, Sweden, with exhibits on computing, telecommunications, and Swedish technological innovation.

Time-Line Computer Archive, a chronological catalog of significant computers and computing milestones from mechanical calculators through the PC era.

Visual effects and computer graphics timeline by Barbara Flueckiger (Zauberklang), cataloging the history of VFX, CGI, and computer animation techniques in film.

VAX Archive, a resource dedicated to preserving documentation and information about Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX computer systems and VMS operating system.

VGA Museum, a Russian-language online museum dedicated to the history of video graphics adapters and GPU technology with photos and specifications.

Vintage Calculators Web Museum, showcasing a collection of mechanical and electronic calculators with detailed photographs and historical information.

Vintage-Computer.com, a community resource listing and cataloging vintage computers, terminals, and peripherals from various manufacturers.

Greg Donner's Workbench resource documenting the history and community of the Amiga computer platform and its Workbench operating system.

Robotrontechnik.de, a comprehensive German-language resource documenting computers and technology produced in the former East Germany (GDR/DDR).

York University Computer Museum in Toronto, Canada, preserving and exhibiting significant computing artifacts with educational programs on computing history.