The Charles Babbage Institute Reprint Series for the History of Computing

earliest days of the Charles Babbage Institute, when it was still located in Palo Alto, California. Paul Armer, who was acting director at the time, initiated the process with a onepage proposal that the Institute should publish a “microfiche collection” to “develop and make available in microfiche form a basic resource collation of documents, reports, articles, and other printed materials important for the study of the history and heritage of modern computing and computers.” Paul sent out the proposal to various friends of the CBI including Brian Randell of Newcastle University, England, and Hank Tropp of Humboldt State University in California, who had both made a significant impact on the then-emerging field of the history of computing. A copy was also sent to Roger Stuewer, professor of the history of science at the University of Minnesota. Roger, already participating in a similar operation within the history-of-physics community, proved to be a fount of pertinent advice. Only when the Institute moved to its permanent home at the University of Minnesota, however, in early 1981 did the Reprint Series turn from contemplation to execution. Brian Randell was asked if he would chair an editorial board to select materials for republication. He was asked to do this by virtue of his reputation as the leading bibliographer of the history of computing—his Origins of Digital Computers, published in 1979, incorporated a 130-page annotated bibliography that was a stunning improvement on what had previously been available. I had recently completed my PhD under his supervision and had become a lecturer at Warwick University. Brian asked if I would like to be involved in the reprint project, and naturally I agreed enthusiastically. Paul Armer, of course, had many things to occupy him beyond the reprint project in 1981. For example, he had arranged a history of computing session at the National Computer Conference in Chicago in May and had arranged for Bill Aspray, Paul Ceruzzi, and myself to read papers. (It was seemingly a bumper time for the history of computing with all three of us completing our PhDs within a few months of one another.) The Institute, incidentally, paid all our expenses and treated us royally, enabling us to establish friendships that have stood for 20 years. Paul Armer invited me to visit the Institute for a few days prior to the conference. During the course of my visit, Erwin Tomash flew in for the weekend, and Paul arranged a meeting on Saturday 2 May with the three of us and Roger Stuewer to discuss the reprint project. According to the notes I made of the meeting, we spent most of the time deliberating how we should select material, whether we should publish in microfiche or hard copy, and who should be on the editorial board. Although I did not make any written note of the event, I have a much more vivid recollection of Erwin taking me to one side after the meeting and offering three suggestions. First, he explained that the reprint project would not happen unless I, or someone like me, personally made it happen. The editorial board, he went on, was a distinguished group of historians that could provide essential advice and guidance but could not of itself cause things to happen; an individual had to take the initiative. I was just smart enough to realize, without having to ask for confirmation, that I could be editor in chief if I wanted. It was a heady moment for a young academic. Second, if I were to assume the driving seat then I should not be timid about tak-