Guide to the A. Wayne Brooke Papers, 1948 - 1986

Collection Number MC 268

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Collection Information
Abstract:

The A. Wayne Brooke collection includes correspondence, writings, research notes, publications, photographs, and a 16mm film. The collection includes materials from 1948 to 1986. It focuses on the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC) at International Business Machines Inc. (IBM) and the history of computing.

Contact Information:
Processed by
William Wisser
Date Completed
August, 2000
Encoded by
Katherine M. Wisser

Descriptive Summary

Creator

Brooke, A. Wayne

Title

A. Wayne Brooke Papers, 1948 - 1986

Call Number

MC 268

Extent

3 archival boxes , 3.75 linear feet

Location

For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Special Collections Research Center Reference Staff.

Information for Users

Restrictions to Access

This collection is open for research; access requires at least 24 hours advance notice.
Acquisitions Information

Donated by Thomas Brooke, 1999.
Preferred Citation

[Identification of Item], A. Wayne Brooke Papers, MC 268, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Copyright Notice

North Carolina State University does not own copyright to this collection. Individuals obtaining materials from the NCSU Libraries' Special Collections Research Center are responsible for using the works in conformance with United States copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.

Biographical Note


A. Wayne Brooke was born April 20, 1913 and died January 2, 1996. He graduated from Case Western Institute of Technology in 1935 with a Bachelor's of Science in Physics. He served in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1946 as an electronics officer. Brooke joined IBM soon after the war, and his early career at IBM was wholly involved with the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC) in the world headquarters of IBM in New York City. Brooke was the chief electronic engineer for the project and oversaw a team of engineers during the short life of the SSEC. He transferred to the Raleigh, N.C. IBM office in 1965 after the SSEC was dismantled and retired from IBM after 40 years of service in 1978. He remained involved in the history of computers throughout his life and was a member of various community organizations in the Raleigh area, including the North Carolina Arboretum, Raleigh Coin Club, Raleigh Stamp Club, and the Men's Garden Club.

The SSEC was invented by Wallace J. Eckert, Thomas Watson, and Ron Seeber and installed in IBM's world headquarters on Madison Avenue in New York City. The first day of operation of the SSEC was January 28, 1948, and it was shut down and dismantled in August, 1952. It contained 23,000 relays and 13,000 vacuum tubes, and at the time it was 1,000 times faster than its closest rival. It multiplied 14 decimal digit numbers in 20 milliseconds, and its first assignment was to calculate the positions of the moon from 1952 to 1971. By 1952, the SSEC was outdated by several new computers and was replaced by the IBM 701. It has been argued, by Brooke in particular, that the SSEC was the "first" electronic computer because of its unique stored-memory capacity.

Scope and Content Note


This collection includes correspondence, writings, research notes, publications (by A. Wayne Brooke and others), photographs, and bound volumes. The primary subject of Brooke's papers refers to the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC) and the history of computing. Brooke was intrinsically involved with the daily operations of the SSEC during its short period of operation (1948 - 1952) and revisited the subject in the 1980s when the SSEC became a popular topic of debate in the computer industry.

Organization of Collection


The papers are divided into eight series with a bibliography appended. The Correspondence series consists of letters from two periods of A. Wayne Brooke's involvement with the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC). The first is during the period in which he worked on the SSEC, and the second was when he was preparing a manuscript detailing the importance of the SSEC to the history of computing.

The Writings series contains a draft of the unpublished manuscript detailing the importance of the SSEC to the history of computing. The Research Notes series contains notes and charts that refer to documents in the Writings series. As well, it contains Brooke's IBM Engineer's Notebook.

The bulk of the collection belongs to the series on the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator. Contained in this series are oral interviews with the creators and staff of the SSEC, articles related to the electronic calculator, and newspapers and magazines that make reference to the machine. There are also several folders of photographs included in this series that depict the SSEC during its operation and the staff and later reunions. The series is organized by material, and then chronologically within those parameters.

Brooke also collected a wide variety of materials on the History of Computing. This series contains materials similar to the SSEC series but which pertain to the wider issues of the early years of the computing industry.

The Organizations series contains membership lists and other documents related to several computer and coin collecting groups attended by Brooke.

The small Miscellaneous series contains documents of various formats including a portrait of Brooke in his later years.

"Walk East on Beacon", a 16 mm film, comprises the final series. It is most notable for this collection because it contains a scene that was filmed on location in the SSEC operations room.

Online Catalog Headings

  • Brooke, A. Wayne
  • Computing -- History
  • International Business Machines Corporation
  • Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC)

Detailed Description of the Collection


  • MC 268 Series 01:Correspondence, 1950 - 1986


    This small series of six folders consists of correspondence between A. Wayne Brooke and various individuals connected to the SSEC project or the history of computers. It is arranged chronologically and refers to particular periods in A. Wayne Brooke's connection to the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC). The first folder (1950 - 1952) consists of internal IBM correspondence while Brooke was the chief engineer for the SSEC project. The next folder (1979 - 1980) refers to the unpublished manuscript "SSEC: The First Electronic Computer." The last folder in this series (1986) consists of correspondence between Brooke and Charles Bashe on issues directly related to the importance of the SSEC in the history of computing.

    • 1950 - 1952 [MC 268 Box 1, Folder1]
    • 1979 - 1980 [MC 268 Box 1, Folder2]
    • 1981 [MC 268 Box 1, Folder3]
    • 1982 [MC 268 Box 1, Folder4]
    • 1983 - 1984 [MC 268 Box 1, Folder5]
    • 1986 [MC 268 Box 1, Folder6]

    [Return to Descriptive Summary]


  • MC 268 Series 02:Writings, 1952 - 1984


    This series contains both published and unpublished works by Brooke. The first folder contains a tear sheet from "Electrical Engineering" entitled "Electron Tube Experience in Computing Experiment" written by Brooke in 1952. The next two folders contain copies of the unpublished manuscript "SSEC: The First Electronic Computer". The first is a clean copy while the second is heavily annotated by Charles Bashe (see Correspondence, 1982).

    • "Electron Tube Experience in Computing Equipment", February, 1952 [MC 268 Box 1, Folder7]
    • "SSEC, The First Electronic Computer" (1) [MC 268 Box 1, Folder8]
    • "SSEC, The First Electronic Computer" (2) [MC 268 Box 1, Folder9]
    • 3 articles related to donations made to the Computer Museum:
      "Early Hollerith Tabulating Machine Counter"
      "Mercury Wetter Contact Relays"
      "IBM Wire Contact Relays"       		[MC 268 Box 1, Folder10]
    • "SSEC Tube Life", 1952 [MC 268 Box 1, Folder11]
    • "Relay Life in the SSEC", 1952 [MC 268 Box 1, Folder11]
    • "The Hallowed 'Stored-Program Concept'", 1984 [MC 268 Box 1, Folder11]
    • "Pluggable Memory Unit", undated [MC 268 Box 1, Folder11]

    [Return to Descriptive Summary]


  • MC 268 Series 03:Research Notes


    This series contains Brooke's IBMEngineer's Notebook as well as notes and charts that refer to documents in the Writings series.

    • IBM Engineer's Notebook [MC 268 Box 1, Folder12]
    • Charts and notes for writings
      "SSEC Tube Life", 1952
      "Relay Life in the SSEC", 1952       		[MC 268 Box 1, Folder13]
    • Notes for the manuscript "SSEC, The First Electronic Computer" [MC 268 Box 1, Folder14]

    [Return to Descriptive Summary]


  • MC 268 Series 04:Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator


    The largest series in the collection contains information related to the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator. Brooke intended to publish a manuscript detailing the importance of the SSEC to the history of computing. Therefore, he collected both IBM and general information related to the SSEC. The first section of the series (folders 15 through 28) contains transcripts of oral interviews conducted by IBM with members of the SSEC staff. Two of the inventors of the SSEC, Wallace J. Eckert and Ron Seeber, appear in the collection. Several folders of published and unpublished IBM documents follow including the official announcement of the opening of the SSEC on January 28, 1948. The series also contains newspaper articles that refer to the SSEC or advertisements that feature the SSEC as a referent or a backdrop. Finally, this series contains pictures of the SSEC while in operation and reunion photos with, presumably, the original operating staff of the SSEC.

    • Oral History Interviews
      • Oral History Interview TC-1 (1)
        Wallace J. Eckert         		[MC 268 Box 1, Folder15]
      • Oral History Interview TC-1 (2)
        Wallace J. Eckert         		[MC 268 Box 1, Folder16]
      • Oral History Interview TC-1 (3)
        Wallace J. Eckert         		[MC 268 Box 1, Folder17]
      • Oral History Interview TC-6
        Ken Clark         		[MC 268 Box 1, Folder18]
      • Oral History Interview TC-7 (1)
        Steve Dunwell         		[MC 268 Box 1, Folder19]
      • Oral History Interview TC-7 (2)
        Steve Dunwell         		[MC 268 Box 2, Folder20]
      • Oral History Interview TC-7 (3)
        Steve Dunwell         		[MC 268 Box 2, Folder21]
      • Oral History Interview TC-7 (4)
        Steve Dunwell         		[MC 268 Box 2, Folder22]
      • Oral History Interview TC-7 (5)
        Steve Dunwell         		[MC 268 Box 2, Folder23]
      • Oral History Interview TC-8 (1)
        Rex Seeber         		[MC 268 Box 2, Folder24]
      • Oral History Interview TC-8 (2)
        Rex Seeber         		[MC 268 Box 2, Folder25]
      • Oral History Interview TC-9
        Frank Hamilton         		[MC 268 Box 2, Folder26]
      • Oral History Interview TC-30 (1)
        Joe Jeenel         		[MC 268 Box 2, Folder27]
      • Oral History Interview TC-30 (2)
        Joe Jeenel         		[MC 268 Box 2, Folder28]
    • Reunions
      • SSEC's Fourth Birthday Party, 1952
        SSEC Twentieth Reunion, 1972         		[MC 268 Box 2, Folder29]
    • Patent
      • SSEC Patent Information [MC 268 Box 2, Folder30]
    • Internal IBM Material
      • Opening of SSEC (1), January 28, 1948 [MC 268 Box 2, Folder31]
      • Opening of SSEC (2), January 28, 1948 [MC 268 Box 2, Folder32]
      • Unpublished documents [MC 268 Box 2, Folder33]
      • Published articles [MC 268 Box 2, Folder34]
      • Published articles [MC 268 Box 2, Folder35]
    • Articles
      • Published articles concerning the SSEC [MC 268 Box 2, Folder36]
        • Newspaper articles
      • Opening Day, January 28, 1948 [MC 268 Box 2, Folder37]
      • 1948 - 1952 [MC 268 Box 2, Folder38]
      • Advertisements featuring SSEC [MC 268 Box 2, Folder39]
    • Case Study
      • Uranium Fission, November 16, 1949 [MC 268 Box 2, Folder40]
    • Photos
      • Early SSEC Photos [MC 268 Box 2, Folder41]
      • Early SSEC Photos [MC 268 Box 2, Folder42]
      • Reunion Photos [MC 268 Box 2, Folder43]

    [Return to Descriptive Summary]


  • MC 268 Series 05:History of Computing


    This small series contains information on the early history of computers both by IBM and external sources. Newspaper articles and magazine articles, as well as scholarly articles, detail the technological origins of the computer revolution.

    • Internal IBM articles [MC 268 Box 3, Folder1]
    • Published articles [MC 268 Box 3, Folder2]
    • "Astounding Science Fiction" articles
      "Modern Calculators"
      "Electrical Mathematics"       		[MC 268 Box 3, Folder3]
    • Newspaper articles [MC 268 Box 3, Folder4]
    • Magazine articles [MC 268 Box 3, Folder5]
    • Miscellaneous technological information [MC 268 Box 3, Folder6]

    [Return to Descriptive Summary]


  • MC 268 Series 06:Organizations, 1950 - 1987


    Brooke belonged to several computer clubs, as well as the Raleigh Coin Club. The first folder contains the minutes to the Raleigh Personal Computer Club meeting of March, 1986, at which Brooke presented a paper.

    • Conference on Electron Tubes for Computers, 1950 [MC 268 Box 3, Folder7]
    • Digital Computer Museum, 1984 [MC 268 Box 3, Folder8]
    • Raleigh Personal Computing Club, 1986 [MC 268 Box 3, Folder9]
    • Raleigh Coin Club, 1987 [MC 268 Box 3, Folder10]

    [Return to Descriptive Summary]


  • MC 268 Series 07:Miscellaneous


    This one-folder series contains an alumni article from Case Western Technological Institute concerning Brooke while he was employed on the SSEC, the film description of "Walk East on Beacon", and a portrait of Brooke.

    • IBM Punch card
      Case Western Alumnae article
      "A Different Kind of Multiplication"
      "Walk East on Beacon" film description
      Portrait of A. Wayne Brooke       		[MC 268 Box 3, Folder11]

    [Return to Descriptive Summary]

  • "Walk East on Beacon"


    16 mm film

    MC 268 Series 08
    "Walk East on Beacon", a 16 mm film, produced in conjunction with the FBI, has a scene filmed on location in the SSEC operations room and in which Brooke appears as an extra. The film is based on a short story by J. Edgar Hoover entitled "The Crime of the Century". In the film, Professor Kafer uses a high-speed calculator (the SSEC) to develop complicated theories that will affect the future of war. The original operating staff of the SSEC, including Brooke, appear as extras in one scene.

    [Return to Descriptive Summary]

Bibliography

Check the NCSU Catalog for these titles

Astin, A. V., ed. "Computer Development (SEAC and DYSEAC) at the National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C."1955.
Berkeley, Edmund C."Giant Brains, or, Machines That Think". NY: John Wiley and Sons, 1949.
"Computer Museum Report". Marlboro, Mass.: The Museum, 1982 - 1988, v.[2] - 22.
Cortada, James W."An Annotated Bibliography on the History of Data Processing". CT: Greenwood Press, 1983.
De Turk, J.E."Basic Circuitry of the MIDAC and MIDSAC." Ann Arbor: Engineering Research Institute, 1954.
"Digital Computer Museum (Marlborough, Mass.)". Marlboro, Mass.: The Museum, 1982, v. 1.
Eckert, Wallace J."Faster, Faster: A Simple Description of a Giant Electronic Calculator and the Problems it Solves". NY: McGrawhill book Co., 1955.
Goldstine, Herman H."The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann". Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972.
Murray, Francis J."The Theory of Mathematical Machines". NY: King's Crown Press, 1947.
"Proceedings of a Second Symposium on Large-Scale Digital Calculating Machinery". Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1951.
"Synthesis of Electronic Computing and Control Circuits". Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1951.
Stifler, W.W., ed. "High-Speed Computing Devices". NY: McGraw Hill Book Co., 1950.
Wilkes, Maurice V."The Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer". Cambridge: Addison-Wesley Press, 1951