From the Vault: Computing Films of the 1950s

Promotional reels and primers from the decade FORTRAN changed everything — IBM's Piercing the Unknown, MIT's Whirlwind tour, the Navy's programming primer and the punch-card control rooms.

Playlist by @birth_of_fortran

11 tracks, shared on Audicious.

1. “PIERCING THE UNKNOWN” EARLY 1950s IBM COMPUTER PROMOTIONAL FILM XD81325 — PeriscopeFilm
2. " INTEGRATED DATA PROCESSING " 1956 OFFICE COMPUTER SYSTEMS FILM IBM, BELL SYSTEM, NCR GG44405 — PeriscopeFilm
3. “ELECTRONIC COMPUTERS IMPROVE MANAGEMENT CONTROL” 1957 COMPUTER SCIENCE ANIMATED FILM XD66214 — PeriscopeFilm
4. HIGH SPEED DIGITAL COMPUTERS & DATA PROCESSING 1960s MAINFRAME IBM COMPUTERS 53034 — PeriscopeFilm
5. Digital Computer Techniques: Programming (1962) - AT&T Archives — AT&T Tech Channel
6. Making Electrons Count (c. 1950) — From the Vault of MIT
7. IBM Computer History: SAGE, World's Largest Computer (AN/FSQ-7) (cold war RADAR defense) 1950's — Computer History Archives Project ("CHAP")
8. Vintage Film IBM Computers in Banking 1959 Punch Card Accounting, Computing History — Computer History Archives Project ("CHAP")
9. 1950s/1960s " IBM GIRLS " WOMEN IN DATA PROCESSING AND MANAGEMENT / MAINFRAME COMPUTERS 17684 — PeriscopeFilm
10. “ INFORMATION RETRIEVAL ” 1961 IBM BUSINESS COMPUTER PROMO MAINFRAME PUNCHCARD COMPUTERS SM10435 — PeriscopeFilm
11. Early IBM Computers at GE 1950s-60s — Edison Tech Center