This collection contains documentation of the Software History Center from its origins to its ending as an independent non-profit organization. Dates span from 1967-2007, with most materials created between 1997-2005. Administrative records include documentation of the legal formation and dissolution of the organization, operational income, expense, and tax records, records pertaining to the visioning and planning of the organization, communication with funders and collaborators, and professionally produced promotional materials about the purpose and accomplishments of the center. The collection also includes records from the implementation of several of the Software History Center’s major projects. These include manuscripts of articles that were published in a special issue of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, transcripts of oral history interviews of software industry experts, and significant materials regarding the planning and implementation of an ADAPSO reunion that the Software History Center hosted in 2002. Many historical texts are also included in the collection, the bulk of which are publications of ADAPSO and IBM.
Biographical/Historical Note
The Software History Center was founded by Luanne Johnson and Burt Grad in 2000. Both Johnson and Grad worked in the software industry during its early development. Johnson founded Argonaut Information Systems, a company that produced payroll and personnel software, in 1971. She ran this company for 15 years, before taking a position in 1986 as executive director at the Association of Data Processing Service Organizations (ADAPSO). She later served as the president of this organization, which was renamed as the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA). Grad worked at both General Electric and IBM during his early career, where he was involved with programming and software development for mainframe computers, primarily focused on automation for businesses. While at IBM, Grad was involved in the Unbundling Task Force which announced the development of separately priced software in 1969. He went on to start his own consulting firm in 1978, Burton Grad Associates, Inc., providing a variety of services to software companies.
Both Johnson and Grad had a special interest in preserving the history of the software industry they had been a part of, particularly the pre-PC software industry in which hundreds of software companies thrived prior to the advent of the personal computer. They felt that this history, often overlooked, was at risk and deserved lasting recognition. Johnson and Grad created a 401c(3) non-profit, obtained seed money from a number of private individuals and foundations, and established clear goals and strategies to accomplish the core mission of the organization. This mission was to preserve “information about the companies, people, products, and events that shaped the evolution of the industry.” This effort was focused on business history, or how companies identified markets and created successful business models to succeed in those markets, in addition to the history of software technology that was already the focus of other history preservation efforts.
All sectors of the software and services industry were included in the scope, including batch and remote processing companies, software products companies, software professional services companies, and systems integrators/VARS. Primarily an education and outreach organization, the Software History Center sought to 1) identify, preserve, and provide access to existing documentation of early software industry history, 2) create, preserve, and provide access to new documentation capturing knowledge of people with industry experience and perspective, and 3) encourage use of these materials by researchers.
With these goals in mind, the Software History Center completed several projects supported by funders and collaborators including (but not limited to) the Smithsonian Institution, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Charles Babbage Institute. These projects included: • “One for the History Books” Workshop - In September 2000, in conjunction with the Charles Babbage Institute Conference on Unbundling, The Software History Center held a workshop titled “One for the History Books” in which 30 conference participants provided interviews. These interviews were transcribed and made into a booklet for distribution. • ADAPSO Reunion. The Software History Center organized an ADAPSO reunion in 2002. At this reunion, fifteen people provided interviews that were transcribed. • IEEE Annals Special Issue. The Software History Center organized the contribution of articles for a special issue of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing (Volume 24 Number 1 January-March 2002). This issue was focused on the start of the software products industry in the 1960s. • Software History Center Website and Information Technology Corporate Histories Project. The Software History Center initially built a website containing information about early software companies. Building on this effort, in 2004, the Software History Center collaborated with the Charles Babbage Institute and Computer History Museum to start and manage the Information Technology Corporate Histories Project (ITCHP), focused on enhancing the use of the Internet as a leading source for valuable historic information about selected companies in the information technology field.
In 2005, the Software History Center became associated with the Computer History Museum and formed the Software Business History Committee, later called the Software Industry Special Interest Group (SI SIG), which continues to serve the original mission of the Software History Center today.
Folders include content previously in three ring binder (binder was removed). Includes articles of incorporation, bylaws, and meeting minutes as well as correspondence about the writing of the documents.
