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National Institute of Standards and Technology

Revision as of 20:09, 14 September 2023 by Amandashelton (talk | contribs) (Updated NARA papers info and link; Updated Babbage papers info and link; Added info and source regarding name changes over time)

ORGANIZATION:

National Bureau of Standards

ACTIVE DATES:

1901-present

ADDRESS:

E-MAIL:

PERSONS INVOLVED:

Thomas C. Bagg; Madeline M. (Berry) Henderson; Joseph Hilsenrath; David R. Lide; Alfred J. Lotka

MAJOR PROJECTS:

OTHER INFORMATION:

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

SOURCE:

1. Adkinson, B. W. (1978). Two Centuries of Federal Information. Dowsen, Hutchinson, & Ross, Inc.: Stroudsburg, PA.

2. NIST. (2023, February 14). From NBS to NIST. https://www.nist.gov/pao/nist-100-foundations-progress/nbs-nist


PAPERS AT:
LOCATION

National Archives

PAPERS DATES:

1830-1987

SIZE:

INCLUDES:

Correspondence, records of directors and associate directors, publications, records of institutes, records of divisions and sections, motion pictures, still pictures, etc.

See full description in the records guide available at https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/167.html

SOURCE:



PAPERS AT:
LOCATION #2

Charles Babbage Institute Archives

211 Andersen Library

222 21st Ave South

Minneapolis, MN 55455

PAPERS DATES:

1956 - 1978

SIZE:

731 boxes (241.25 cubic feet)

INCLUDES:

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. See full details at https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/3/resources/38

FINDING AID:

SOURCE: