Douglas E. Hammond was a former employee of IBM who worked with IBM mainframes and collected these manuals from the early computer era. They date as far back as 1962 and go through 1983. These manuals showcase the type of products that IBM was creating during the exponential rise of computer usage and the development of the Internet. As is well known, the computer as well as IBM as a company have evolved and changed greatly over time. The items in this collection are evidence of both the change over a two decade period. They also add to a more complete history of computing and simulation. Hammond also collected some manuals from the Applied Data Research group that have threads of connection to some of the IBM manuals, such as the subject of COBOL, the Common Business-Oriented Language, a very early programming language.
From the guide to the Douglas E. Hammond Collection of Computer Manuals, 1962-1983, (Special Collections Research Center)
