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Herbert S. Bright papers

 Collection
Identifier: CBI 42

Scope and Content Note

The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, technical reports and notes, subject files, minutes, manuals, photographs, audio tapes, videotapes, publications, presentations, and a deposition related to Herbert Bright's work in the computer industry and with computer professional groups. Records from Philco and COMPLAN include chronological files for brief periods.

The Philco records also contain a series of subject files. The Informatics, Inc., records include technical notes, correspondence, and reports. The deposition was taken when Bright was an expert witness for the Burroughs Corporation in the legal action of South Jersey Wallpaper Co. vs. Burroughs Corporation. The records from the standards organizations -- the American National Standards Institute (formerly the U.S.A. Standards Institute and before that the American Standards Association) and the International Standards Organization -- contain committee minutes, correspondence, reports, and working papers. Also included in the collection are some personal papers and photographs that partially document the period from 1924-1956.

Dates

  • Creation: 1924-1988

Creator

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).

Biographical Note

Herbert Samuel Bright (13 September 1919 - 28 November 1986) earned a BS in Physics from the University of Michigan in 1943 and an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of California-Berkeley in 1963. After completing his BS, Bright became an electrical engineer working with radar and gunfire control systems at Western Electric. Three years later, he joined the electrical engineering department of the Antenna Laboratory at the University of California-Berkeley.

In the early 1950s, Bright began developing general purpose computer applications while chief of the laboratory instrumentation branch at the Radiological Defense Laboratory. As supervising scientist of the computational planning section at Westinghouse Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, he worked on FORTRAN applications for large scale engineering calculations. He continued his work with FORTRAN when he joined the Data Processing Group of CBEMA as director of engineering. Bright later served as Secretary of the ANSI-X3.4.3 FORTRAN Working Group from its inception in 1963 to the publication of American Standard FORTRAN in 1966. At Philco, Bright was responsible for the planning design, development, distribution and maintenance of all product-line software. This included a wide range of programs such as assemblers, compilers, operating systems, and generalized applications. While at Philco, Bright served as the chair of the Philco Corporate Technical Committee on Computer Aids to Engineering and Research, TAC-63-8, from its inception in 1963 to 1965. As director of programming at Informatics, Inc., Bright completed systems programming studies and development projects.

In 1966, Bright founded Computation Planning, Inc. (COMPLAN). This computation consulting firm focused on the analysis, design, programming and management of computation systems. Under Bright's management as president and technical director, COMPLAN concentrated its operations after 1975 on information security through cryptographic control. Bright co-invented a patented encryption system used by many major firms and government agencies for data security. His professional interest in encryption led to his active participation in the ANSI-X9.E9 Working Group on Financial Institution Cryptographic and Authentication Key Management.

Bright was also active in professional associations. In the Association for Computing Machinery, Bright served as Secretary (1962-1964), Vice-President (1964-1966), and Council Member at Large (1966-1978). He also served as the Technical Program Chairman for the 1964 ACM conference and as National Program Committee Chairman on several occasions. Bright served two terms on the AFIPS Board of Directors (1963-1965; 1972-1974), secretary and vice president of SHARE (IBM users' group), president of TUG (Philco users' group), and president (1970) and later member of the board of directors (1971), of the Association on Independent Software Companies.

Extent

6 boxes (5.4 cubic feet)

Abstract

Collection contains correspondence, memoranda, technical reports and notes, subject files, minutes, manuals, photographs, audio tapes, videotapes, publications, presentations, and a deposition related to Herbert Bright's work in the computer industry and with computer professional groups. Records from Philco and COMPLAN include chronological files for brief periods. Also included in the collection are some personal papers and photographs that partially document the period from 1924-1956.

Arrangement of Collection

The materials in this collection are arranged into the following groups:

  1. Companies, 1956-1984
  2. Conferences, 1961-1980
  3. Herbert S. Bright Personal Papers, 1924-1988
  4. Herbert S. Bright Professional Papers, 1960-1982
  5. Professional and Trade Associations, 1958-1983
  6. Standards Organizations, 1960-1983

Acquisition:

The records were given to the Charles Babbage Institute by Lee E. M. Bright in 1988 and 1989.

Related Material:

Related collections on standards include:

  1. Jerome Garfunkel Papers (CBI 71)
  2. Robert Kalb Papers (CBI 4)
  3. Honeywell X3.2 Standards Subcommittee Records (CBI 67)

Related collections on ACM and AFIPS:

  1. American Federation of Information Processing Societies Records (CBI 44)
  2. Association for Computing Machinery: Los Angeles Chapter Records (CBI 35)
  3. Isaac L. Auerbach Papers (CBI 52)
  4. Bruce Gilchrist Papers (CBI 76)
  5. George Glaser Papers (CBI 23)
  6. Carl Hammer Papers (CBI 3)
  7. Claude A. R. Kagan Papers (CBI 16)
  8. Daniel D. McCracken Papers (CBI 43)
  9. Alan J. Perlis Papers (CBI 64)

Related collections on SHARE:

  1. SHARE, Inc. Records (CBI 21)
  2. Francis Wagner Papers (CBI 6)
  3. Joan Winters Papers (CBI 22)
Title
Herbert S. Bright Papers, 1924-1988. Finding Aid.
Author
Prepared by Kevin D. Corbitt, June 1991.
Date
March 2004
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Collecting Area Details

Contact The Charles Babbage Institute Archives Collecting Area

Contact:
Elmer L. Andersen Library
222 - 21st Avenue South
Minneapolis MN 55455
612-624-5050