The records have a varied provenance. Some are original excerpts from Philosophical Transactions, donated by International Computers, Ltd., in March 1983. Most were given to the Charles Babbage Institute by Garry J. Tee of the University of Auckland in March, 1981. Charles Babbage Stamps were given to the Charles Babbage Institute by Erwin Tomash in 1991.
Access to the collection is unrestricted.
The Charles Babbage Institute 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).
Charles Babbage Collection (CBI 54), Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Charles Babbage is often called the "father of computing", though there is no evidence that modern electronic computers are direct descendants of his work. He acquired this title mainly because his Difference Engine (1821), which printed tables of polynomials, and his Analytical Engine (1856), which was intended as a general symbol manipulator, were inventions far more complex than the work of any of his contemporaries.
Unfortunately, little remains of Babbage’s prototype computing machines. One reason is that critical tolerances required by Babbage’s machines exceeded the level of technology available at the time. Also, though formal recognition of his work was tendered by respected institutions such as the Astronomical Society of London, the British government suspended funding for his Difference Engine in 1832, and after an agonizing waiting period, finally killed the project in 1842. Thus, there remain only fragments of Babbage’s prototype Difference Engine, and though he devoted most of his time and large fortune towards construction of his Analytical Engine after 1856, he never succeeded in completing any of his several designs for it. George Scheutz, a Swedish printer, successfully constructed a machine based on the designs for Babbage’s Difference Engine in 1854. This machine printed mathematical, astronomical and actuarial tables with unprecedented accuracy, and was used by the British and American governments. Though Babbage’s work was continued by his son, Henry Prevost Babbage, after his death in 1871, the Analytical Engine was never successfully completed, and ran only a few “programs” with embarrassingly obvious errors.
Babbage’s contributions to science also include his work as a mathematician and his reform of the teaching of mathematics in British universities. He also attempted to reform the scientific organizations of the period while calling upon government and society to give more money and prestige to scientific endeavor.
CBI's Charles Babbage Collection consists mainly of photocopies of papers located at the Wanganui Museum in New Zealand, as well as addresses consisting of pages torn from volumes.
The manuscript of
Materials related to Henry Prevost Babbage were located, with the manuscript of Passages, by Garry J. Tee at the Wanganui Museum, and are also photocopies. Of special interest are an advertisement from The Times (March 3, 1835) advertising Difference Engines for sale at 40 pounds each, maps and notes of places named for Babbage, and Henry Prevost Babbage's correspondence and addresses on his father's invention of occulting lights for lighthouses and for signaling.
Also included in the collection are Charles Babbage Stamps from the Royal Mail Mint, including uncancelled stamps and first day of issue cancellations and commemorative collectors booklet on the Scientific Achievements series of which the Babbage stamp was a part.
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 following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
Volume XVI, American Edition, volume XI. New York, Leonard Scott & Co., 79 Fulton St., 1852. This volume includes (pp. 273-292) a favorable review of Babbage's book, The Exposition of 1851, or Views of the Industry , the Science and the Government of England. The provenance of the volume is unknown.
This is a two part address delivered by Babbage. The text is pages
torn from the Royal Society Journal,
This is another address by Babbage from
Royal Mail Mint Stamps (cancelled and uncancelled stamps including first day of issue cancellations) and commemorative collectors booklet on the Scientific Achievements series of which the Babbage stamp was a part.
Brochure that gives information on the origin of the idea of the Difference Engine and describes its method of operation.