Morton M. Astrahan (1924-1988) Papers

The Morton M. Astrahan Papers fill two boxes and span the period 1945-1988. The materials are organized into five major categories: biographical materials, personal correspondence, work-related materials, research files, papers and reports, and published articles.

The biographical materials and personal correspondence constitute only a small portion of the collection. The sparse personal correspondence, 1945-1988, includes correspondence not related to the American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS).

The work-related folders include primarily materials relating to Astrahan's work with AFIPS. Included with this material is correspondence with the organization, as well as material relating to his contribution to the founding of the organization. Additionally, his work with the National Joint Computer Conference (NJCC) Committee is also reflected. This portion of the files spans the years 1961-1986. The only documentation of Astrahan's work with the IBM Corporation, consisting of Project Memoranda from 1953, is also included in this category.

The research files include Astrahan's research for two primary projects: the SAGE Defense System and the NJCC. Various articles, in some instances annotated by Astrahan, on these two topics may be found in these folders, as well as some hand-written notes made between 1979 and 1984. In addition, datebooks kept by Astrahan between 1976 and 1983 are filed here.

The final two categories of the collection consist of Astrahan's papers and articles. The first category consists of papers and reports, primarily those written (at least in part) by Astrahan during his time with IBM, but also includes some miscellaneous written contributions which were not published. The papers cover the period 1958-1985; the published articles span the period 1956-1983.