George Glaser received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1952 and later studied business administration at the University of New Mexico. He worked in engineering for several companies before becoming a consultant for McKinsey & Company, Inc. in 1961. In 1973 he became an independent consultant as managing partner in Centigram Enterprises. Glaser founded its successor, Centigram Corporation, in 1977. In 1981 he incorporated as George Glaser, Inc. in Los Angeles, California.
Glaser was active in several professional associations. He became a United States delegate to the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) in 1980, and became vice president of IFIP in 1982. He was president and chairman of the board of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS) and chairman of the National Computer Conference (NCC) board from 1973 to 1975. He was a member of the Data Processing Management Association's (DPMA) Education Foundation Board of Regents from its founding in 1975 to 1977. He was treasurer of the Association for Computing Machinery, 1968-1972, and council member-at-large, 1973.
He was author of numerous articles in professional journals and trade publications on various management and technical topics, and a frequent speaker at technical conferences.
The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, reports, brochures, newspaper clippings, and news releases relating to George Glaser's professional activities. This collection revolves around four professional associations: The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), the Data Processing Management Association (DPMA), the American Federation of information Processing (AFIPS) and International Federation for Information Processing (IFIPS). The collection documents the work of these organizations and their many committees, and the organizational efforts behind several National Computer Conferences
Glaser was instrumental in reshaping the computer conferences into a successful national event for vendors and individuals. Minutes from both ACM and AFIPS include reports and notes that provide extra background to matters under consideration by the respective organizations. The IFIP materials contain annual reports and publications as well as subject files on IFIP committees and congresses.
The bulk of the collection concerns AFIPS and includes information about its administration, the National Joint Computer Conference (1973-1977), committees, board of directors, planning, finances, the International Federation for Information Processing, and Washington activities. Also included are records relating to Glaser's activities as treasurer of the Association for Computing Machinery and a regent of the DPMA Education Foundation.
Glaser used the designation
Correspondents include Walter L. Anderson, Bruce Gilchrist, Anthony Ralston, Robert Rector, Dick B. Simmons, Keith Uncapher, and Stephen S. Yau.
The materials in this collection are arranged into the following series:
AFIPS minutes have been filed together following ACM records for easier access, and AFIPS records have been placed together. Otherwise, records have been left in their original order.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The records were given to the Charles Babbage Institute by George Glaser in 1986 and 1991.
Access to the collection is unrestricted.
CBI holds the copyright to all materials in the collection, except for items covered by a prior copyright (such as published materials). Researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provisions of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).
George Glaser Papers (CBI 23), Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.