Sperry Corporation, UNIVAC Division photographs and audiovisual materials 1985.261 This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on September 14, 2021. Description is written in: English. Describing Archives: A Content Standard Audiovisual Collections PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library Sperry Corporation, UNIVAC Division photographs and audiovisual materials 1985.261 Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 3 Historical Note ............................................................................................................................................... 4 Scope and Content ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Arrangement ................................................................................................................................................... 6 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................ 6 Related Materials ........................................................................................................................................... 7 Controlled Access Headings .......................................................................................................................... 8 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................... 8 Collection Inventory ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation ...................................................................................................... 9 Univac Philadelphia Records Center photographs ................................................................................... 9 Eckert-Mauchley Computer Corporation (EMCC) Negatives ............................................................... 10 Sperry Rand design and production negatives [Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation] ..................... 14 Remington Rand - UNIVAC Division ..................................................................................................... 15 Sperry Rand design and production negatives ....................................................................................... 15 UNIVAC Division World Headquarters negatives ................................................................................ 17 Univac Philadelphia Records Center Photographs ................................................................................. 24 Remington Rand equipment ................................................................................................................... 31 UNIVAC I construction scrapbook pages .............................................................................................. 36 Sperry-UNIVAC ........................................................................................................................................ 38 Philadelphia/Blue Bell, Pennsylvania ..................................................................................................... 38 St. Paul, Minnesota ............................................................................................................................... 234 Bristol, Tennessee ................................................................................................................................. 251 Predecessor Companies ........................................................................................................................... 252 Remington Rand accounting machine equipment ................................................................................ 252 Remington Rand Kardex Safe-File advertising materials - Nazi air raids in England ......................... 255 Sperry Farragut Company ....................................................................................................................... 259 Video ........................................................................................................................................................ 260 Training ................................................................................................................................................. 260 Marketing .............................................................................................................................................. 302 Film .......................................................................................................................................................... 313 Audio ....................................................................................................................................................... 325 - Page 2 - Sperry Corporation, UNIVAC Division photographs and audiovisual materials 1985.261 Summary Information Repository: Audiovisual Collections Creator: Sperry Rand (Corporation). Univac Division Title: Sperry Corporation, UNIVAC Division photographs and audiovisual materials ID: 1985.261 Date [inclusive]: 1910-1989 Date [bulk]: bulk 1946-1985 Physical Description: 105 Linear Feet Physical Description: [100 document boxes (50 linear feet) of photographic material (color and b&w prints in 8x10, 5x7, 4x6 and contact prints; color and b&w negatives in 35mm, 120mm, and 4x5 mostly on acetate or polyester film base; color and b&w transparencies in 8x10, 5x7, and 4x5 on acetate or polyester film base; 35mm color and b&w slides; scrapbooks and photo albums; a few b&w negatives on nitrate film base); 128 motion picture films (16mm, b&w, 1200 ft.); 406 video tapes (U- matic); 20 audio tapes and film strips] Language of the English . Material: Abstract: The Sperry Corporation was an electronics company and the UNIVAC Division manufactured the first commercial digital computer. The Sperry UNIVAC division has its origins in the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC), founded in 1946 by J. Presper Eckert (1919-1995) and John W. Mauchly (1907-1980). In 1950, Eckert and Mauchly sold their firm to Remington Rand, Inc, a major manufacturer of business machines, who continued development of the UNIVAC system. The collection documents predecessor organizations to the Sperry Corporation, including the Remington Typewriter Company, the Rand Kardex Company, and the Sperry Gyroscope Company; the formation of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation; the development of the UNIVAC brand under Remington Rand, Inc.; Philadelphia and St. Paul branches of the UNIVAC division; the UNIVAC manufacturing plant in Bristol, Tennessee; and Sperry divisions outside of UNIVAC, including Sperry Gyroscope Flight and Defense Systems, and Remington Rand office equipment. ^ Return to Table of Contents - Page 3- Sperry Corporation, UNIVAC Division photographs and audiovisual materials 1985.261 Historical Note The Sperry Corporation was an electronics company and the UNIVAC Division manufactured the first commercial digital computer. The Sperry UNIVAC division has its origins in the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC), founded in 1946 by J. Presper Eckert (1919-1995) and John W. Mauchly (1907-1980). Eckert and Mauchley worked under contract with the U.S. Army's Ordnance Department, developed Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC), the first electronic digital computer. Shortly after the construction of ENIAC, the firm began improving on the ENIAC design, which led to the creation of the Binary Automatic Computer (BINAC), and then the Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC), the first commercial digital computer. In 1950, Eckert and Mauchly sold their firm to Remington Rand, Inc, a major manufacturer of business machines, who continued development of the UNIVAC system. The first UNIVAC was delivered in March 1951 and the following year CBS television used a UNIVAC to predict the outcome of the 1952 presidential election. That same year, Remington Rand acquired Engineering Research Associates (ERA), a Minneapolis-based computer-development firm, and ERA and EMCC were consolidated to form the UNIVAC Division of Remington Rand. In 1955, Remington Rand merged with the Sperry Corporation, and the UNIVAC Division was retained as part of the newly formed Sperry Rand Corporation. Sperry-UNIVAC operated two separate UNIVAC engineering facilities, one in Philadelphia and the other in Minneapolis-St. Paul, each producing different lines of UNIVAC computer systems. Development of commercial, scientific, and business systems was headed by the Philadelphia facility, with St. Paul focusing on government and military computers. In 1962, the Philadelphia facility moved to nearby Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and became the UNIVAC Division World Headquarters and the UNIVAC Engineering Center (UEC). Despite UNIVAC's early lead in computer development, Sperry-UNIVAC faced strong competition from International Business Machines (IBM). By the mid-1950s, IBM had gained a clear edge in the business computer market, which it retained for the next several decades. UNIVAC, however, continued to produce new computer systems, with a limited amount of commercial success. UNIVAC machines developed from the first generation UNIVACs with