Mechanical Calculating Machines
This site is maintained by Erez Kaplan, an enthusiastic collector of mechanical calculating machines and is the first of it's kind. It includes chronological description, classification and pictorial view (dozens of photographs), books, organizations and much more.

Organizations
Books
Other Sites of Interest

Organizations/Societies/Periodicals

• "The International Association of Calculator Collectors" (IACC)

14561 Livingston St. Tustin, CA 92680 - 2618 USA
quarterly newsletter, 16 pages, $16 international , $12 USA
Most of the articles are about the early electronic pocket calculators and early electrical computers.
Bruce and Janice Flamm, FAX: +1 (909) 353-5625, Email: Bflamm@ix.netcom.com
The International Association of Calculator Collectors
• "Historically Brewed"

2962 Park St. 1, Jacksonville, FL 32205, USA
quarterly newsletter, 16 pages, $24 international , $18 USA
Most of the articles are about the early electronic pocket calculators and early electrical computers.
Editor: David Greelish E-Mail: Historical@aol.com HB
HCS (Historical Computer Society)
• "ETCetera"

2591 Military Ave, Los Angeles,CA 90064,USA
quarterly newsletter, 12 pages, $20 international , $15 USA
Primarily about typewriters with occasional information about Calculating Machines (non electrical).
Editor: Darryl Rehar Fax: +1 310 268 8420 E-Mail: Darryl_Rehr@lamg.com
• "TypenKorb & TypenHebel"

Auf der Warte 34, D - 33378 Rheda-Wiedenbrck,Germany
Monthly magazine about typewriters & calculating machines (non electrical) . Many buy/sell adds. English Summaries. 20 pages
Subscription: DM 70 a year international (around $35)
Editor: Peter Muckermann Fax: + 49 5242 37175

• "Historiche Burowelt"

Postfach 50 11 19, D - 50971 Koln, Germany, Quaterly magazine about typewriters & calculating machines, English Summaries. Subscription: DM 120 a year international (around $72)
• "Charles Babbage institute (for the history of computing) newsletter"

A small quarterly 8 page newsletter by a non profit organization. The newsletter is free.
The Charles Babbage Institute for the History of Computing Home Page

Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, 103 Walter Library, 117 Pleasant St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.

• "Annals of the History of Computing"

IEEE Computer Society, Circulation Department, P.O Box 3014, Los Alamitos, CA 90720 - 9804, USA.
A large 100 page quarterly magazine, expensive - about $100 with membership.
This is a rather serious and more Scientific magazine.

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• "The Calculating Machines" Ernst Martin 1925

This book can be termed as the collectors bible. It has 360 pages of information and pictures on the subject arranged chronologically.
• "Le Calcul Simplifie"

- Graphical and Mechanical Methods for Simplifying Calculation. The original is in French from 1893 by Maurice d'Ocagne". This edition is of course translated to English. The first chapter (70 pages) is about mechanical calculation.
• "Handbook of the Napier Tercentenary Celebration, or Modern Instruments and Methods of Calculation"

The Original edition is from 1914. 342 pages with the first chapter (134 pages) about Calculating Machines.

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• "Origin of Modern Calculating Machines", J.A.V. Turck.

The original is from 1921 (It's said that Martin used this book as a refferance as well). The reprint is from 1972, Arno Press, New York, ISBN 0 - 405 - 04680 - 4. 200 Pages, only about Calculating Machines. It does tend to emphasize the American side on things. As well it is less methodical than Martin's book.
• "Calculating Machines and Computers" Geoffrey Tweedale

Shire Album 247, 1990.
A small an comprehensive booklet (32 pages, many B/W pictures) which covers the early days of the Mechanical Calculator and the beginning of the Electronic Computer.
I Highly recommend this booklet as a starting point. (~ $5)
• "Histoire des instruments et machines a calculer" Jean Marguin

Harmann, Paris, 1995, French, 200 pages, ISBN 2 7056 6166 3.
An incredible book, probably the most comprehensive contemporary book in it's coverage of the subject. It has incredible photographs of items which can been seen in museums only. (~ $100)
• "A Bibliographic Guide to the History of Computing, Computers, and the Information Processing Industry" James W. Cortada

Greenwood Press in 1990.
• "Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs and Remington Rand & the Industry they created, 1865 - 1956" James W. Cortada

Princeton University Press, NJ 1993, 344 pp ISBN 0-691-04807-X
• "Curta Video"

Swiss, 1993. It shows a technician assembling the Curta!!! It's about 20 minutes, with nothing else, just this. (Good video quality) Stefan Beck, fax + 41 1 950 55 92.
• "History of computing" an Encyclopedia of the people and Machines that made Coputer History. Mark Greenia

An "Electronic Encyclopedia". It costs about $20 and runs on a PC. I got a copy, and it's very interesting. Over 5,000 listings from the Mechanical to the Electronical Computer.
Mark Greenia Lexicon services P.O Box 1328 Elverta CA 95626 USA E-Mail: 75260.3237@comuserve.com (Or you can get it through "Historically Brewed")

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The Charles Babbage Institute for the History of Computing Home Page: The home page of a non profit organization founded in 1977 to promote the study of the development of information processing.

The Abacus: The Art of Calculating with Beads . Luis Fernandes . Operate the abacus by clicking the mouse-pointer on the beads; unlike a real abacus, the numeric value for each column is updated in the top frame. . When complete, this will be a ...

The QWERTY Connection: About early Typewriters, includes information about "ETCetra", "Magazine of the early Typewriter Collectors Association". By Darryl Rehr.

The Classic Typewriter Page: Typewriter of the Month -- December 1995 . Typewriter Quote of the Month -- December 1995 . Ten Most Wanted Typewriters -- an illustrated wish list . A brief illustrated history of typewriters . Resources for the typewriter collector.

HCS (Historical Computer Society): The magazine for the antique computer collector/computer history buff.

The International Association of Calculator Collectors

Computer Collection: by Paul Pierce. Presents a personal collection of historical computer equipment, including mainframes and minicomputers (especially the PDP-8 family).

The Museum of HP Calculators: All About the small HP Pocket calculators by Dave Hicks, includes, buy/sell adds.

Computer History - in a Different Way (Stamps): In the paper we are describing in an original way the history of digital computing through the pictures from the postal stamps from all countries of the World. Postage stamps designers were not interested in special details, because their main purpose was to show us development of computers and their applications;.

Sites with further links:

New Home Page Association for History and Computing

The Virtual Museum of Computing

Yahoo's Links to other Computer history resources