This accession consists of publications issued by the Office of Information Resource Management (OIRM), with earlier issues dating from when OIRM was known as the Smithsonian's
Information Systems Division and the Office of Computer Services. The publications pertain to the Smithsonian Institution Information Retrieval System (SIIRS) and, beginning
in the early 1970s, SELGEM (SELf-GEnerating Master System), which replaced SIIRS. Materials include publications.
This accession consists of correspondence with domestic and foreign universities concerning the SELGEM computer system. The Office of Computing Services (OCS) files
were maintained by S. A. Kovy, Director of OCS, and consist of correspondence, printouts, reading files, and reports.
Smithsonian Institution. Office of the Chief Information Officer Search this
Extent:
2.53 cu. ft. (2 record storage boxes) (1 document box) (1 oversize folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Brochures
Manuscripts
Drawings
Microfiche
Date:
1949-2005
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of records documenting the technological advances in computing systems, software and hardware used across the Smithsonian Institution. Many
of the records were created by predecessor units of the Office of the Chief Information Officer, including the Information Systems Division, 1968-1974; the Office of Computer
Services, 1974-1982; the Office of Information Resource Management, 1982-1995; the Office of Information Technology, 1995-2000; and the Office of the Chief Technology Officer,
2000-2001.
Topics documented within the accession include the creation of the SElf GEnerating Master (SELGEM) program; the conversion of SELGEM to Inquire; and the history of the
Smithsonian Institution's information architecture and information resource management. Materials include memoranda; reports; reference manuals; brochures; guides and handbooks;
briefing materials; planning documents; drawings; microfiche; organizational charts; and presentations.
Smithsonian Information Systems Innovations (Serial)
Procedures in Computer Sciences (Serial)
Extent:
0.5 cu. ft. (1 document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Serials (publications)
Date:
1969-1975
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of publications issued by the Office of Computer Services (OCS), with earlier issues dating from when OCS was known as the Smithsonian's Information
Systems Division. The publications pertain to the Smithsonian Institution Information Retrieval System (SIIRS) and, beginning in the early 1970s, SELGEM (SELf-GEnerating Master
System), which replaced SIIRS. Materials include the publications "Smithsonian Information Systems Innovations" (Volumes 1-2) and "Procedures in Computer Sciences" (Volume
1).
History of Smithsonian Institution Computing Oral History Interviews
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Transcripts
Compact discs
Digital images
Electronic records
Electronic images
Sound recordings
Date:
2016-2021
Introduction:
The Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA) began its Oral History Program in 1973. The purpose of the program is to supplement the written documentation of the Archives'
record and manuscript collections with an Oral History Collection, focusing on the history of the Institution, research by its scholars, and contributions of its staff. Program
staff and volunteers conduct interviews with current and retired Smithsonian staff and others who have made significant contributions to the Institution. There are also reminiscences
and interviews recorded by researchers or students on topics related to the history of the Smithsonian or the holdings of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Descriptive Entry:
Computer technology has been employed for more than fifty years at the Smithsonian. Information Technology (IT) currently supports every facet of the Institution’s
operations. The Smithsonian was often a leader in scientific/research use of IT, use of IT to manage museum collections and use of the internet to make collections and research
data more publicly available. Thus the history of computing at the Smithsonian is an important component of the history of the Institution. Working with the Institutional
History program, three retired longtime IT staff members, David Bridge, John H. Churchman and Carla I. Roeper, volunteered to review existing historic documents (at SIA and
other sources), conduct additional research, compile additional documentation including oral history interviews, and prepare an overview of the history of computing at the
Smithsonian.
The History of Smithsonian Computing interviewees include David Bearman, David Bridge, Melanie Cameron Dann, Thomas Garnett, Brooke Henley, John P. Howser, James F. Mello,
Dante Piacesi, Rusty Russell, and Ching-hsien Wang.
These interviews discuss their contributions to information technology at the Smithsonian from the 1960s to 2000, including the evolution from mainframe computers to desktop
to the internet, and applications ranging from scientific data processing, collections management systems, financial and administrative systems, and office applications. The
interviews also trace the history of central computing and unit specific support staff across the Smithsonian.
The History of Smithsonian Computing Oral History Interviews collection is comprised of 15 interview sessions, with 10 individuals, totaling approximately 25.75 hours of
recordings. In total, this collection is comprised of 35 original digital audio .wav files, 5 original digital video .mp4 files, 35 reference digital audio .mp3 files, and
5 reference digital video .mp4 files, as well as c. 750 pages of transcripts. The interviews were conducted in 2016-2021 by volunteers David Bridge, John H. Churchman, and
Carla I. Roeper.
David Bearman attended Brown University and received his Ph.D. in History of Science from the University of Pennsylvania. In the late 1970s, he became involved in issues
surrounding how archival information is structured, including work with a Society of American Archivists task force, led by Richard H. Lytle of Smithsonian Archives. In 1982
Lytle became director of the Smithsonian Office of Information Resource Management and Bearman joined him as Assistant and then Deputy Director. Both Bearman and Lytle left
the Smithsonian in 1986 to pursue new developments in the field of information technology.
David Bridge attended the University of Maryland, and then Bridge began his career at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Bridge began working in the Division of Birds
at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History in 1964 and retired in 2006. In 1967 he became involved in a Department of Health, Education, and Welfare grant project, one
of the earliest efforts to automate information on collections. He worked for Natural History’s Automatic Data Processing program from 1970 to 1983, for the Museum Support
Center from 1983 to 2000 and for the National Museum of the American Indian from 2000 to 2006.
Melanie Cameron Dann received a bachelor of arts degree in administrative science from Yale University in 1979. Dann first worked for General Electric Information Systems
as a programmer analyst; then from 1983 to 1991, she was a senior manager with Price Waterhouse, implementing financial systems for government clients. She joined the Smithsonian
in 1991 working on implementation of automated financial systems and then became director of advancement operations and systems in the Smithsonian Office of Advancement.
Thomas Garnett participated in a Buddhist program called Karmê Chöling from 1972 to 1976, and obtained a bachelor's degree in Religion at the University of Colorado (1979)
and a Masters in Library Science from Catholic University (1980). He worked as an Information Specialist at the General Accounting Office just before being hired by the Smithsonian
Institution Libraries (SIL) in October, 1982. He also taught at the Naropa Institute in 1977. After coming to SI, he soon was appointed Systems Administrator and oversaw the
acquisition, installation and maintenance of three different major library automation software products. He was also program director for the Biodiversity Heritage Library
until his retirement in 2012.
Brooke Henley was Chief of the Catalog Records Unit for Smithsonian Institution Libraries and oversaw much of the work of retrospective conversion of card catalog data
to machine-readable form in OCLC in the 1980s.
John P. Howser received a degree in accounting at Strayer University in 1959 and worked as an accountant at Safeway from 1961 to 1968. He began his career at the Smithsonian
in the Fiscal Division in 1968 and subsequently held managerial positions for many other offices, including the Accounting Division, Treasurer’s Office’s Financial Systems
Division, Office of Accounting and Financial Services, Office of Financial Management and Planning, and Office of Contracting and Property Management. He was chairman of the
[Data Processing] DP Manager’s Roundtable on two occasions.
James F. Mello graduated from Yale University in 1962 and joined the United States Geological Survey as a paleontologist, stationed at the National Museum of Natural History
in Washington, DC. In late 1969, he was recruited by Dr. Richard S. Cowan, Director of Natural History, to lead a new office. Mello became Assistant to the Director in January
1970 and was in charge of the Automatic Data Processing Program and contributed greatly to the development of the SELGEM computer system. When Dr. Porter M. Kier became Director
of Natural History in 1973, he recruited Mello to be Assistant Director. Mello continued to be deeply involved with computers and data processing issues, and the Under Secretary
of the Smithsonian, Robert A. Brooks, tapped him to lead an Institutional study of computer services at the Smithsonian in 1975. He also played an important role as the five-year
Congressionally-mandated collections inventory which began in the late 70s, and was followed by the planning to occupy the new Museum Support Center (MSC) and the move of
tens of millions of specimens and objects to Suitland, Maryland.
Dante Piacesi joined the central computing organization of the Smithsonian as the manager of the Scientific Applications Division in 1967. Piacesi played a critical role
in the development of computer applications in support of Smithsonian researchers and was assistant director of the Office of Information Resource Management from 1982 to
until his retirement in 1986.
Rusty [George F.] Russell attended the University of Maryland and then joined the Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History in 1975. He became Collections
Manager in 1979, the same year his department began a massive inventory of the collection and was deeply involved in the development of collections management systems. In
the year 2000, he set up an imaging lab which has resulted in the digitization of some 300,000 specimens. He also initiated the Smithsonian’s Field Book project, a very
successful program to digitize field notebooks from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and retired in 2017.
Ching-hsien Wang emigrated from China in 1979 and then attended the American University and Montgomery College where she learned English. At the University of Maryland,
she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree in 1982. After graduating, she went to work for GEAC which marketed a library automation system and the Smithsonian
was a GEAC customer. In 1988, she began working for the Smithsonian providing technical support for GEAC and then for its successors, NOTIS and Horizon. After the departure
of the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) director in 1998, Ching-hsien became branch manager. She spearheaded the effort to digitize Smithsonian
images for fourteen archives units and to build the first Smithsonian central repository of Smithsonian metadata of libraries, archives, and museums. This repository was the
basis for the first Collections Search Center, which enabled the public to search across many Smithsonian assets. She retired in 2020.
Rights:
Restricted. Contact SIHistory@si.edu to request permission.
This accession consists of publications issued by the Office of Computer Services (OCS), with earlier issues dating from when OCS was known as the Smithsonian's Information
Systems Division. The publications pertain to the Smithsonian Institution Information Retrieval System (SIIRS) and, beginning in the early 1970s, SELGEM (SELf-GEnerating Master
System), which replaced SIIRS. Materials include publications.
National Museum of History and Technology. Section of Mathematics Search this
Extent:
1 cu. ft. (2 document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Brochures
Manuscripts
Drawings
Black-and-white photographs
Date:
circa 1954-1968
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of weights and measurements records. Materials include articles, clippings, photographs, lists of objects, and a small amount of correspondence.
See also Record Unit 332 for Section of Mathematics records.
14.5 cu. ft. (14 record storage boxes) (1 document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Books
Brochures
Clippings
Manuscripts
Electronic records
Architectural drawings
Black-and-white photographs
Audiotapes
Date:
1965-1990
Descriptive Entry:
These records document the development of automated data management systems for the collections of NMNH and other museums, the establishment of data handling and storage
standards, and the consolidation of administrative structures to control automation policy at the Smithsonian. They include documentation of the Health, Education and Welfare
(HEW) Project, consisting of contract notes, quarterly technical progress reports from October 1967 through the interim report in January 1969, and the final report, issued
in July 1970. The records also contain files of correspondence, memoranda, meetings, and reports created by Mello from 1968 through 1973, and as recently as 1983. The materials
document Mello's involvement with several projects, including Flora North America (FNA), a tracking system for botanical loans and exchanges among institutions; and the Systematic
Biology Collections Questionnaire, many of which were completed and returned to Mello in 1968.
The records also describe the evolution of the ADP Program through administrative files dating from 1971 through 1987; budget files for 1980, 1986, and 1987; memoranda
files for 1981, 1982, 1988, and 1989; correspondence files from 1977 to 1980; and chronologic files from 1980 to 1985. In addition, the records contain collections inventory
documentation dating from 1972 to 1982, which includes files and reports on data management in the different departments and divisions of NMNH, and files on techniques and
procedures. The records also include subject and project files dating from 1967 to 1990, which document the development of SELGEM from 1970 to 1978; planning for the Smithsonian
Institution Network (SINET); ADP's involvement with the Museum Computer Network (MCN); planning materials for data processing space at the Museum Support Center (MSC), 1979
to 1986; and ADP's interaction with OCS, later the Office of Information Resource Technology (OIRM).
The records also contain files on a project done in cooperation with the Rocky Mountain Laboratory (RML) in Hamilton, Montana, during which data on a tick collection belonging
to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was stored on a Smithsonian database. These materials, dating from 1976 to 1980, include program codes and microfiche. In addition,
the records contain Museum Data Standards files from 1967 through 1977; the "Museum Data Bank Research Report," numbers 1 through 12, November 1974 through November 1976;
the NMNH Records Manual, dated 1969; unidentified slides; and undated reel to reel recordings of speakers at various symposia.
Historical Note:
In 1963 the Director of the National Museum of Natural History formed a committee to explore the possibilities of data processing in a museum context. In July 1967
the museum received a three-year grant from the Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and with the assistance of the Smithsonian's Information
Systems Division, later renamed the Office of Computer Services (OCS), it began developing the Smithsonian Institution Information Retrieval System (SIIRS), also known as
the Natural History Information Retrieval system (NHIR). By December 1969 several thousand records from representative collections in NMNH had been entered, and groundwork
had been laid for the establishment of data standards.
After the grant ended in 1970 a central organization named the Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Program was formed at NMNH under the direction of James F. Mello to develop
and coordinate permanent data-processing services for the museum. Soon after the Program was established it began working closely with OCS to develop a new system to replace
SIIRS. Named SELGEM, for "SElf GEnerating Master," it became the basic data processing system at NMNH and at several other museums, universities, and government agencies.
In January 1973 Mello was appointed Assistant Director of the museum, but he remained in charge of the ADP Program until May, when T. Gary Gautier became Acting Chief. Gautier
was later named Chief, and by 1980 he was the Museum's Information Systems Manager in charge of the ADP Program. In 1985 he was named Assistant Director in charge of the ADP
Office.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 95-169, National Museum of Natural History. Assistant Director for Automatic Data Processing, Program Records
This accession consists of abstracts for Computer in Research Symposia; reading files; abstracts for program library manuals and SELGEM Users; correspondence; and reports.
