RESEARCH COLLECTION / 02 OF 10
Early Computing.
Machines preceded the familiar screen. Explore mathematical programs, mechanical designs, electronic computing and the change from externally configured machines to stored programs.
THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Instructions have multiple histories
Lovelace’s 1843 notes on the Analytical Engine are vital documentary evidence, but they do not demonstrate an executed program on a completed Analytical Engine.
ENIAC was both an artifact and a workplace
The 1946 public unveiling documents a machine; understanding its operation also requires the programmers, operators and maintainers whose work made demonstrations possible.
Stored-program computing changed the practical workflow
EDSAC performed its first calculations in Cambridge in 1949. Its use of mercury delay-line memory offers a concrete glimpse into early storage constraints.
OPEN QUESTIONS
What would settle the record?
- What is a design, and what actually ran?
- Whose work is visible in contemporary records?
- Do retrospective firsts conceal different categories of achievement?
BIBLIOGRAPHIC STARTING POINTS
Starting sources
These are identified materials to consult, not a claim that this collection has already completed exhaustive archival verification. Source types are marked to keep later interpretation distinct from contemporary evidence.
- 01Ada Lovelace, “Notes by the Translator,” 1843 (transcription hosted by York University)
Primary text (transcription)
Open source record ↗ - 02Computer History Museum, Timeline: 1946 and ENIAC
Museum interpretation
Open source record ↗ - 03National Women’s History Museum, “Women and Computing”
Museum scholarship
Open source record ↗ - 04Computer History Museum, “1949: EDSAC computer employs delay-line storage”
Museum technical history
Open source record ↗
Edition 1.0.0
8 October 2026. Initial collection overview, research questions and bibliography published. No original interviews, newly acquired artifacts, or independent experiments are claimed. Substantive future changes will be explained here.
Submit counterevidence or an attribution correction ↗