This website complements Newcastle University Historical Computing Committee’s Display in the School of Computing. It is intended both for people who having seen the display now wish to explore further, and for those who have not had an opportunity to visit the Display. The website’s provisions therefore include:
- an overall account of work of the Committee and photographs of all the display cabinets
- detailed catalogues of our large collections of historical artefacts and documents
- accounts of events (both formal and informal!) that have helped form the history of the Computing Laboratory and its successors: the School of Computing and NUIT (Newcastle University IT Service)
- images and transcripts of a large variety of historic documents connected with these three organisations
- a tribute to the late Roger Broughton, originator of all these efforts
- an invitation to join us and help with our mission to preserve, explore, and communicate this history.
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Overview
Photograph Gallery
Banner Display
The original Computing Laboratory (affectionately known as “The Lab”) was founded and acquired its and indeed the North-East’s first computer, a Ferranti Pegasus, in 1957. It was located in what was then Kings College, the Newcastle Division of Durham University. This split from Durham University in 1963, becoming the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The Laboratory had the dual rôle of performing academic functions and providing computing support. In 1992 Newcastle University chose to separate these functions into what is now the School of Computing — serving the academic function, while computing services are the responsibility of the University IT Service (NUIT). A summary of the history of these organisations can be found in this Timeline.
The history of computing at Newcastle has in fact been very well-preserved and documented, through a series of efforts by various people over the years, and now by the Newcastle University Historical Computing Committee (NUHCC), a joint School of Computing/IT Service (NUIT) activity.
Pre-eminent among these efforts was the work of the late Roger Broughton, who joined the Computing Laboratory in 1967 and served for many years as Computing Service Operations Supervisor, until his retirement in 2002. Prior to and during his retirement he assembled and carefully curated a very extensive artefact collection, much of which he documented in exquisite detail in his “Virtual Museum of Computer Artefacts”. The catalogue that he prepared has since been transformed into a superb online illustrated artefact catalogue by Professor Lindsay Marshall. We also have at Archives Hub, thanks to Margaret Gray, a detailed catalogue of our extensive collection of documents.
This NUHC website as well as providing access to these catalogues also makes available a considerable number of transcripts and images of historical documents and of accounts of notable formal and (very) informal equally-historical events. These constitute a set of digital artefacts that complement our large collection of physical artefacts. An extensive selection of these physical artefacts are on view in the set of display cabinets (In the Atrium and in the School Reception Area on Floor 2) in the Urban Sciences Building). However, the vast majority are held in our Visible Storage Facility (in Room G044) – this is open by arrangement to (escorted) interested visitors.
We encourage visitors to this website to start at this Overview of NUHCC’s efforts – its accompanying Photograph Gallery shows our set of Display Cabinets and our Visible Storage Facility, for those cannot visit the School of Computing.