Confluence

[Donald]

I collect old IBM punch cards. Hey, some people collect stamps!

Anyway, I was cataloging some cards I had purchased in the past and ran across a meeting of 2 of my interests, IBM and JBL. As some may know, IBM cards were great for note taking or doodling. I turned over a card and on the back was this chart titled Bass Reflex Speaker Dimensions


I suppose the 2 port columns were for tuning purposes.

Oh, and if anyone has some old IBM cards, punched or not, PM me. We can deal. :)

[Mr. Widget]

Oh, and if anyone has some old IBM cards, punched or not, PM me. We can deal. :)Damn, you are a few years too late. I had a pile of them. I had no idea anyone would want them... they went to the recycler. I guess some JBLs have also met this fate.

So there really are people who collect them? Does it matter what the program was or who wrote it, or is vintage of the card the interesting part?


Widget

[Donald]

Widget,

I have run across 2 other folks that have some cards. We have traded. But I don't think they actively collect. They just had some and posted them on the web. Not sure IBM card collecting is as big as stamp collecting. :)

It is not the content of the card I care about that much. Although I do have a small deck that is a 1401 program.

I collect for the variety. I have a 1949 electric bills from Portugal, 1982 lottery ticket from Argentina, 1939 Golden Gate Expo ticket, 1948-1950 payroll earning cards from Southern Railway Company. I also have cards from companies that have test programs punched in them that the IBM CEs probabaly carried around in their tool bags. 1 card punch test, 1 card print test for the IBM System 360/20, etc. I also have some of the S/3 96 column cards.

One of the guys I mentioned had posted a card from Time magazine for a free subscription. It had a return address of 540 N. Michigan Ave in Chicago. My mother worked for Time at that address. I spent many days after school waiting in the lobby of the building for her to get off work. I contacted the guy to see if he had extras. He was willing to just send it to me. So I gave him a few cards including a MICR ink test card.

I currently have about 500 styles of cards of which 230 are cataloged. I have even scanned them. 2 gig of photos. Gee, that is only 26 million cards worth of data. :)

FWIW, I also collect most anything IBM related. I currently have about 2000 various IBM manuals. I even have original 1930s era contracts between Wright Aeronautical and the IBM precursor company, CTR.

[jcrobso]

Widget,

I have run across 2 other folks that have some cards. We have traded. But I don't think they actively collect. They just had some and posted them on the web. Not sure IBM card collecting is as big as stamp collecting. :)

It is not the content of the card I care about that much. Although I do have a small deck that is a 1401 program.

I collect for the variety. I have a 1949 electric bills from Portugal, 1982 lottery ticket from Argentina, 1939 Golden Gate Expo ticket, 1948-1950 payroll earning cards from Southern Railway Company. I also have cards from companies that have test programs punched in them that the IBM CEs probabaly carried around in their tool bags. 1 card punch test, 1 card print test for the IBM System 360/20, etc. I also have some of the S/3 96 column cards.

One of the guys I mentioned had posted a card from Time magazine for a free subscription. It had a return address of 540 N. Michigan Ave in Chicago. My mother worked for Time at that address. I spent many days after school waiting in the lobby of the building for her to get off work. I contacted the guy to see if he had extras. He was willing to just send it to me. So I gave him a few cards including a MICR ink test card.

I currently have about 500 styles of cards of which 230 are cataloged. I have even scanned them. 2 gig of photos. Gee, that is only 26 million cards worth of data. :)

FWIW, I also collect most anything IBM related. I currently have about 2000 various IBM manuals. I even have original 1930s era contracts between Wright Aeronautical and the IBM precursor company, CTR.

This was the first IBM system that I was trained on after starting with IBM in 1966! I have a lot blank cards from the different places that I took service calls. :bouncy:John

[Donald]

John,

Want to get rid of the cards?

I ran a 360/20 back in 1969 at A&P in Chicago. I now have a masthead from the 360/20.