National Institute of Standards and Technology

The National Bureau of Standards was a US Federal agency established 1901.

The National Bureau of Standards was a US Federal agency established as the National Bureau of Standards in 1901, but was named Bureau of Standards from 1903 to 1934. It became the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, in 1988.

Contributions

The National Bureau of Standards (NBS) used the SEAC in conjunction with the Patent Office for a joint systems development program called HAYSTAQ.¹ The two agencies wanted HAYSTAQ to be able to search the contents of a technical document in any field. Progress on the machine was slow and in 1961 a panel appointed by the commissioner of patents suggested that NBS should obtain funds to begin a R&D program in information storage and retrieval as well as establish a clearinghouse and coordinating center for information retrieval with the Patent Office. The R&D program, although limited by funds, undertook projects which improved searching techniques. The HAYSYAQ project increased and improved search strategies as well as performed various psychological and statistical studies.

Named National Bureau of Standards in 1901; renamed Bureau of Standards in 1903; renamed National Bureau of Standards in 1934; renamed National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 1988²

Redmond C. Cochrane has written an in-house history of NBS titled Measure for Progress: A History of the NBS (Washington, DC: NBS, 1966).

For detailed information about NBS and related archival materials, see NBS' entry in the Physics History Network: https://history.aip.org/phn/21612008.html After World War II the United States National Bureau of Standards (NBS) was charged with the task of following developments in computing. In response, NBS began to index and abstract books, journals, reports and other literature covering a broad range of computer-related topics beginning in the mid-1940s. Eventually the enormity of the task forced NBS to abandon this work in 1978. Related materials were transferred the Babbage Institute. Persons involved included Thomas C. Bagg, [Madeline M. (Berry) Henderson]], Joseph Hilsenrath, David R. Lide and Alfred J. Lotka.

Further reading

For NBS-NIST

• NBS-NIST History Volumes. [1]
• NIST at 100: Foundations for Progress. NIST. [2]

For information services:

• Adkinson, B. W. Two Centuries of Federal Information. Stroudsburg, PA: . Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross.

Papers

• National Archives. Records of the National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST]. Record Group 167. 1830-1987. Correspondence, records of directors and associate directors, publications, records of institutes, records of divisions and sections, motion pictures, still pictures, etc. [3]
• Charles Babbage Institute Archives. Andersen Library. Minneapolis. 1956 - 1978. United States National Bureau of Standards collection of computer literature (Collection CBI 32). 731 boxes (241.25 cubic feet). Collection contains reports, manuals and publications from corporations, government agencies, and academic computing centers covering a broad range of computer-related topics. The collection only contains a few documents that predate 1962. [4]