Jay Wright Forrester papers
Scope and Contents
This collection documents the professional activities of Jay Wright Forrester, director of the Digital Computer Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Materials in this collection span from approximately 1940 to 2000, and include Forresters research, writings, speeches, correspondence, corporate consulting materials, and course notes for classes he taught at MIT. Forrester's research is documented in records about his patents and computation notebooks. These materials include information about magnetic core memory lawsuits involving IBM. Writings by Forrester include drafts of his book The City: Growth, Stagnation, and Revival, and background material for his other publications. Correspondence in the collection documents his relationships with colleagues and government officials. Also included are interviews with Forrester, compriising a transcript of a 1970 oral history and an audiorecording of a 1975 interview conduted by the staff of the London Science Museum. The 1975 intervieww includes commentary on the development of the electronic digital computer, Vannevar Bush, and Project Whirlwind.
Dates
- 1940-circa 2000
Creator
- Forrester, Jay W. (Person)
Access note
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Digital Access Note
Some parts of this collection are available online. Links to specific online digital items are found within their entry in this finding aid.
Intellectual Property Rights
Access to collections in the Department of Distinctive Collections is not authorization to publish. Please see the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy for permission information. Copyright of some items in this collection may be held by respective creators, not by the donor of the collection or MIT.
Biography
Jay Wright Forrester, 1918-2016, BS in electrical engineering, 1939, University of Nebraska; SM in electrical engineering, 1949, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was director of the MIT Digital Computer Laboratory, 1946-1951, and was responsible for the design and construction of Whirlwind I, one of the first high-speed digital computers. He invented magnetic core memory, which for many years was the standard memory device for digital computers. As head of the Digital Computer Division of MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, 1952-1956, he guided the planning and technical design of the Air Force SAGE system for continental air defense. In 1956 he became professor of management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where his work on the development of computer modeling and analysis of social systems led to the field now know as systems dynamics. He became Germeshausen Professor in 1972 and Germeshausen Professor emeritus and senior lecturer in 1989. His many books include Industrial Dynamics (1961), Systems Dynamics in Management Education (1985), and The City: Growth, Stagnation, and Revival (1968).
Extent
136.2 Cubic Feet (134 record cartons, 5 manuscript boxes, 1 half manuscript box, 1 flat storage box, 1 tube, 3 folios, 1 cassette box)
Language of Materials
English
Location
Materials are stored off-site. Advance notice is required for use.
Source of Acquisition
Materials were given to the Department of Distinctive Collections (formerly the Institute Archives and Special Collections) by Jay Forrester.
Processing Information note
Some collection descriptions are based on legacy data and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. Description may change pending verification. Please contact the MIT Department of Distinctive Collections if you notice any errors or discrepancies.
- Computer storage devices -- Patents. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Computers -- History Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Forrester, Jay W.
- International Business Machines Corporation -- Patent litigation
- Magnetic cores -- Patents. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- Faculty Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Digital Computer Laboratory
- Research Corporation
- Whirlwind computer. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Creator
- Forrester, Jay W. (Person)
- Title
- Preliminary Inventory to the Papers of Jay Wright Forrester
- Status
- Ready For Review
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
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Repository Details
Part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections Repository
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries
Building 14N-118
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge MA 02139-4307 US
distinctive-collections@mit.edu