Making the Macintosh: Technology and Culture in Silicon Valley

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Image, Apple II Reference Manual, 1978, Making the Macintosh
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The history of the Macintosh computer is presented on this website. Rather than profile Apple Computer's leader, Steve Jobs, and well-publicized software and hardware developers, materials include 13 interviews with designers, technical writers, Apple employees, a Berkeley user group organizer, and a San Francisco journalist who covered early developments.

In addition, nearly 90 documents from the late 1970s to the present chart company and user group developments, beginning with roots in the 1960s counterculture philosophy. Documents include "From Satori to Silicon Valley," a lecture by Theodore Roszak first delivered in 1985 with afterthoughts added in 2000. There are 13 texts by the first Mac designer, Jef Raskin, press releases and other marketing materials, and texts relating to user groups.

More than 100 images include patent drawings and product photographs.

Selling the Computer Revolution: Marketing Brochures in the Collection

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Presenting more than 250 computer marketing brochures from 1948 to 1988, this collection represents materials from more than 90 companies.

Visitors can explore the entire collection or browse by company. Categories include: calculators, mainframes, minicomputers, personal computers, supercomputers; applications for which the computer was intended; and decade.

Of particular interest are six early marketing brochures from Apple Computer, a brochure for the Commodore 64 computer, and two mid-1950s IBM brochures for "electronic data processing machines." Each group of brochures is accompanied by a brief introduction with historical information about the company, category, type of application, or decade. The full contents of each brochure are available for viewing or download in .pdf format and each brochure is accompanied by descriptive data.