Computer Conservation Society

Next Events

London
April 20^th 2023

Kathleen Booth – UK Computer Pioneer

Manchester
March 28^th 2023

Collecting Memories: Oral History With British Computer Pioneers

Historic Document Rescue

From time to time the Society is approached by people who have come into the possession of documents relevant to historic computers and who feel that they should “go to a good home”.

Unfortunately the Computer Conservation Society is no longer in a position to collect such material, though we can sometimes suggest a suitable home for it. If you have a need to dispose of historic material we suggest that you should first read our guide Archives and your Personal Papers.

In particular, we should stress that a list of the document titles is essential before any progress can be made.

Document Exchange within the CCS

Because CCS members use widely differing IT systems, difficulties sometimes arise when documents are sent between members. In an attempt to minimise such problems a page of guidance notes can be found here.

The web page also contains useful information for authors of articles in the CCS journal Resurrection.

News

January 2023

The answers to the Annual Christmas quiz run by the CCS North-West Branch can be found at computerconservationsociety.org/quiz/2022 answers.pdf .

January 2023

In 2014 the Society organised a group visit to the Heinz Nixdorf Museumsforum in Paderborn, Germany www.hnf.de/en/home.html

Such was the success of the trip that we have repeated it each spring, visiting computer history museums throughout Europe. In 2023, we are returning to our friends in Paderborn to see the progress that has been made and to experience, once again, the world's largest computer museum.

The centrepiece of our visit will be our day at the Museum itself on Saturday 15^th April. The plan is to foregather the previous evening for dinner in one of the excellent local restaurants (everything you may have heard about German cuisine is wrong– it’s great) and, in all likelihood, this will be repeated the following evening. All CCS and TNMoC members and their guests are warmly invited. Do join us. It will be fun!

Our previous hotel, the Arosa Hotel in the Westernmauer, a Best Western hotel, is our planned base for the weekend.

Hotel and travel arrangements are, of course, the individual responsibility of participants.

There is an airport at Paderborn, but it is quite a long way out and flights from the UK tend to be via Munich! Flying to Dusseldorf or Dortmund and thence by rail to Paderborn would appear to be a better bet. Or perhaps take to the rails all the way from St Pancras.

A few of us are planning an excursion by rail on Sunday 16^th to (relatively) nearby Wuppertal to experience the well-known “Danglebahn” (more properly the Schwebebahn – a unique suspended monorail railway) and you are welcome to join us.

As usual, Dan Hayton will be our organiser. You should contact him at so we know you’re coming.

December 2022

The Annual Christmas quiz run by the CCS North-West Branch can be found at computerconservationsociety.org/quiz/2022 questions.pdf .

Founded in 1989, the Computer Conservation Society is a joint venture between the British Computer Society, the Science Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.

Our primary mission is to preserve historic computers, develop awareness of the history of computing, and encourage research. We run many specialised projects, organise public lecture series, and publish a regular journal.

Membership of the society is open to all. If you would like to join the society, please click here for more information.