ma241 Amherst College. Academic Computer Center Records, 1970-1998 (bulk 1972-1985) Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Peter A. Nelson. Amherst College Archives and Special Collections
Amherst, MA
2013 Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Peter A. Nelson. 2013-02-05 Finding aid written in English Collection Overview Amherst College. Academic Computer Center. Academic Computer Center Records 1970-1998 1972-1985 1 archives box, 1 records storage box (1.5 linear ft.) English Amherst College Archives and Special Collections
Amherst, MA
Newsletters, manuals, grant proposals, minutes, correspondence and other documents related to the operations of the Amherst College Academic Computer Center, under the direction of Betty Romer. Includes files on the planning, design and construction of the Seeley-Mudd Building, 1980-1984, which has housed many of the offices of the department of Information Technology. Historical Note

The Academic Computer Center (later known as Academic Computing under the department of Information Technology) served the computational needs of faculty and students of Amherst College to support teaching and research. In 1977 it was located in Converse Hall under the direction of Paul J. Plourde, with Betty Steele acting as Academic Coordinator. Its operations were led by these administrators under the guidance of a Faculty Computer Committee, which in 1977 consisted of Peter Czap, Stephen George, Robert Grose, Charles Staelin and Alan Waggoner. The Center was staffed completely by student supervisors during its operating hours. These students were qualified to consult with users, write programs and maintain the operation of the system. The academic computer in use in 1977 was an IBM 1130 (16K), with a card reader, printer, plotter and two disk drives. Programming languages supported at that time were FORTRAN IV and 1130 Assembler. Faculty and students could also do timesharing with the CYPBER 74 mainframe computer located at the University of Massachusetts, connecting through a number of terminals on the Amherst campus. The college acquired a Digital VAX 11/780 computer in 1979. From that point on, academic computing at Amherst, as elsewhere, increasingly expanded into the curriculum of the college. The Academic Computer Center moved to the Seeley Mudd building in 1984.

 Scope and Contents of the Collection

Newsletters, manuals, grant proposals, minutes, correspondence and other documents related to the operations of the Amherst College Academic Computer Center, under the direction of Betty Romer. Includes files on the planning, design and construction of the Seeley-Mudd Building, 1980-1984, which housed many of the offices of the department of Information Technology.

 Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into five series:

Newsletters, 1977-1999 Manuals, 1970-1985 Seeley Mudd Building Project, 1980-1984 Faculty Computer Committee, 1978-1982 General Administrative Files, 1973-1994 [ACCESS RESTRICTED]

Access to portions of the records, as indicated in this finding aid, is restricted to the office of origin for a period of 50 years.

Requests for permission to publish material from the records should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection: [Identification of item], in Amherst College Academic Computer Center Records [Box #, Folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library

Transferred to Archives and Special Collections, September 2012.

Prodessed 2012 Sep by Peter A. Nelson

 Amherst College -- Computer networks. Universities and colleges -- Computer networks. Romer, Betty.

Computer Center Office Files, ca. 1968-1972 (acc. #79-011) Computer Application Study, 1966 (acc. #78-032) General Files -- see subject headings Academic Computing; Computing; Technology

SERIES 1: Newsletters, 1977-1999 1 Newsletters 1977, 1980-1994 1 Academic Computer Center Bulletin 1984-1987 1 Information Technology Newsletters 1998-1999 SERIES 2: Manuals 1 Introduction to APL 1970 1 Anybody's Guide to Runoff 1981 Sep 1 Graphics on the VAX 1982 Jan 1 Introduction to EDT (VAX editor) 1983 Sep 1 Introduction to FinalWord on the IBM PC Version 1984 Sep 1 Introduction to FinalWord on the IBM PC/XT Version, Revision 1985 Jun 1 Miscellaneous handouts n.d. SERIES 3: Seeley-Mudd Building Project 1 Seeley-Mudd Building Project (3 folders) 1980-1984 SERIES 4: Grant Proposals, 1982-1987 1 Computing Literacy in Sciences 1980 Jul 1 IBM Computing Literacy 1981 Aug 1 VAX - Digital Equipment Corporation 1982 Oct 1 VAX - Digital Equipment Corporation 1987 Jan SERIES 5: Faculty Computer Committee, 1978-1982 1 Minutes, reports, etc. (2 folders) 1978-1982 SERIES 6: General Administrative Records (ACCESS RESTRICTED)

Access restricted to office of origin for a period of 50 years from date of creation.

 1 Budget and operations (2 folders) 1982-1988 1 Correspondence - Dean of Faculty 1981-1986 1 General correspondence (6 folders) 1973-1984 2 General correspondence (8 folders) 1984-1994