Lockheed Martin Legacy Committee collection of patent applications and associated documentation, 1952-1988.
Scope and Content Note
The collection contains patent application material from Engineering Research Associates (ERA).
Dates
- 1952-1988
Creator
- Lockheed Martin Legacy Committee. (Organization)
Language of Materials
English
Access to materials:
Access to the collection is unrestricted.
Copyright:
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).
Historical Note
Engineering Research Associates (ERA) was founded in 1946 in an effort to continue the work of a classified war-time Navy cryptology unit called Communications Supplementary Activity -Washington (CSAW). A technological group, headed by former CSAW supervisors Howard T. Engstrom and William C. Norris, and former head of the Naval Computing Machine Laboratory Ralph I. Meader, joined with investment banker John Parker to establish the company. Parker was the former head of Northwestern Aeronautical Corporation (NAC), a St. Paul, Minnesota firm that made gliders during World War II. ERA established a small office in Arlington, Virginia, but the majority of ERA's workforce was located in the former NAC facility in St. Paul.
ERA became a division of Remington Rand in 1952. In 1955, Remington Rand and the Sperry Corporation merged to become the Sperry Rand Corporation and ERA became part of the company's Univac Division.
Bibliography
- "Engineering Research Associates: The wellspring of Minnesota's computer industry" (St. Paul: Sperry Communications Dept., 1986).
- Tomash, Erwin and Arnold E. Cohen. "The Birth of ERA: Engineering Research Associates Inc. 1946-1955." In Annals of the History of Computing 1:2 (October 1979).
Extent
37 boxes (37 cubic feet)
Abstract
Collection contains patent application material from Engineering Research Associates (ERA).
Arrangement of Collection
The files have been physically maintained in their original order; however, they have been listed in this finding aid in order of application number.
Acquisition:
Collection was donated by the Lockheed Martin Legacy Committee in February 2009.
- Engineering Research Associates
- Patents -- United States. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Engineering Research Associates Patent Applications and Associated Documentation, 1952-1988.
- Subtitle
- Finding Aid.
- Author
- Prepared by Danielle Storm and Stephanie Crowe, February 2010.
- Date
- July 2009
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
Collecting Area Details
Contact The Charles Babbage Institute Archives Collecting Area
Elmer L. Andersen Library
222 - 21st Avenue South
Minneapolis MN 55455
612-624-5050
cbi@umn.edu
