Upon the date 06:57 PM 4/11/99 -0400, Max Eskin said something like:
>On Sun, 11 Apr 1999, Jay West wrote:
>>I had no idea there was pick interest here. If someone wants a small writeup
>>of the OS architecture and progression through history, I'd be happy to
>>resurrect those brain cells :)
>
>Please, do.
Right! Jay is apparently 'One of the Folks Who Was There' with development
of Pick. This is a good example of having the history written down before
it is lost/forgotten. I would like to see that writeup myself even though I
had never run into Pick before today. Perhaps one of the folks here who
have archival writeups like this stored on their website could keep it
there (w/links for search engines) for us and others interested to use as
research info.
Anybody, whether they are part of the history like Jay is to Pick, or one
of us who are collectors/historians/enthusiasts, should record the history
of computing no matter how small some may think a particular subject is.
Pick obviously is not too small as it has been said today that it was used
in many platforms often for specific database-applied OEM systems.
It is all part of the total history of computing which we as collectors
should maintain. I know for sure a lot of radio history has been lost.
Now's our chance to not let that happen with computing.
Example: Although not computer-specific but related to radio history, it
has the same meaning. Back in 1986 for Jamestown's Centennial Celebration,
I presented a large display of broadcast radio receivers whose wooden
cabinets were known to be made by factories in Jamestown. Jamestown was
known to be the most significant USA city in the first half of the century
as far as furniture manufacturing was concerned. My display highlighted
this. 46 or 47 different companies up until 1940.
Anyway, an elderly gentleman called me one day and announced he had worked
in one of the larger factories in the mid-1920's and recognized those
particular radios (they were several models of RCA Radiolas). He went on to
describe others, both in my collection or which I knew well, plus list a
bunch of radio manufacturers who bought cabinets from his company,
Jamestown Mantel Works, of which I had not known to be the case.
I thought then, if I could get the time, I should get more info for the
local historical society and AWA as the guy recalled a lot and had much to
say that was interesting. But life got in the way big time for me and I
neglected to do it. Now, he is probably not with us anymore and that info
is lost. Damn.
I still kick myself for simply not borrowing some sort of tape recorder
from somebody, going over to his house and just chatting. Here was one of
the last of the folks who had worked at the factories directly related to
cabinet-making of which little to date has ever been researched and written.
Most of the computer pioneers are still alive today or at least their
colleagues/families/companies/collectors/etc. have info which should be
recorded if not already. I said this before, and it sounds like I'm
preaching, but if you have the chance to record/write about/collect/rescue
history of computing, do it without hesitation.
I lost a little bit of radio history I was in the position to record some
and blew it. Now I understand I will probably be on the small local radio
station with my good friend who is on a radio program called "The Time of
Our Lives" to talk a little about Jamestown's part in old radios as that
station is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Boy, have I got to do some
research at that local historical society now because I lost out on some
info back in '86. That's even IF they have records from the factories I
know that made radio cabinets. Don't let that happen to you! :-)
Soapbox-mode off now. Thanks for reading. --Chris
-- --
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA cfandt_at_netsync.net
Member of Antique Wireless Association
URL:
http://www.ggw.org/awa
Received on Sun Apr 11 1999 - 20:50:13 BST