Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech
John A. N. Lee Papers
Lee, John A. N.
Ms.1973.005
30 Cubic Feet
20 boxes
1973-1990
Please note: Most of this collection is located in off-site storage and requires 2-3 days for retrieval. Contact Special Collections for further information.
The collection contains correspondence, computer programs, publications, and meeting notes all relating to John A. N. Lee's work for the National Bureau of Standards to develop a standard for the BASIC programming language. Included in the papers are a survey of twenty-seven descriptions of BASIC and a collection of published works relating to the language up to 1973. Also contains records (1977-1990) from the editorial staff of the Annals of the History of Computing.
The materials in the collection are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open to research.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.
Preferred Citation
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], John A. N. Lee Papers, 1973-1990, Ms1973-005, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
Source of Acquisition
The John A. N. Lee Papers were donated to Special Collections in 1973 and 1982; the
Annals of the History of Computing editorial files were donated in 1992.
Processing Information
The John A. N. Lee Papers are unprocessed. The guide is a preliminary inventory, created in 2005.
Biographical Note
John A. N. Lee, a professor of computer science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, was born in Coventry, England. After earning his doctoral degree at the University of Nottingham, Lee worked as a civil engineer with Freeman, Fox & Partners, where he served on teams which designed the Medway Bridge near London, the Firth of Forth Road Bridge, and Australia's Sydney Opera House. In 1959, Lee joined the faculty of Queens University (Kingston, Ontario), where he initiated computer classes and a computer center. Lee moved in 1964 to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he established a computer science program and served as its first department head. During this time, he authored
The Anatomy of a Compiler (1967) and Computer Semantics (1971). In 1973, the National Bureau of Standards contracted with Lee to form a "nucleus standard for the BASIC programming language."Lee joined the faculty of Virginia Tech in 1974. Here, he assisted in the development of a graduate program and extended the undergraduate program. He served as chairman of the undergraduate program for many years and developed several new courses.
The recipient of several distinguished awards, Lee has made significant contributions to the development of computer language standards, the history of computing, and professional development. His interest in history led Lee to organize the 1982 25th anniversary commemoration of FORTRAN programming. Among his many other activities, he served as editor and editor-in-chief of the
Annals of the History of Computing from 1987 to 1995.
Scope and Content
This collection contains the papers of John A. N. Lee, civil engineer, professor of computer science, author and editor. The collection is essentially comprised of two sets of materials:
Boxes 1-3 contain materials relating to Lee's involvement with the National Bureau of Standards in establishing standardization of the BASIC computer programming language. The files include the project contract, correspondence, surveys, meetings reports, printed materials, and the final report resulting from Lee's work. (Also included in Box 1 is some background material for a 1973 lecture by Grace Hopper.)
Boxes 4-20 contain the editorial files of the
Annals of the History of Computing, from 1977 to 1990. The files contain such material as correspondence, drafts, rejected manuscripts, background material and office records.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged by subject.
Separated Material
Several published works were transferred out of the collection in 2004. A list of these works is available in the collection's administrative folder.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
The guide to the John A. N. Lee Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).
Faculty and staff
Science and Technology
University History
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1970-)
Box 11Documentation for Grace Hopper's lecture (3 binders)March 7, 1973BASIC standardization1961-1978, n.d.UMA #11 contract documentation1973Outgoing correspondence1973Incoming correspondence1973-1974BASIC surveys completed1974UMA Dartmouth programsUMA #14 ASCII character setUMA #17, 22: reports of National Bureau of Standards meetingsJune-July 1973UMA #13 conference attendees1973UMA #12 mailing listUMA #7 rounding (American standards)1961UMA #10 USA Standards Institute manual of style[1968?]UMA #9 "The Formal Definition of the BASIC Language" by Lee1970-1971UMA #4 "The Case Against BASIC"—DatamationSeptember 1, 1971UMA #3 "Proposal for an American National Standard Project Under Committee X3; the BASIC Programming Language" (preliminary draft)1971UMA #15 "Proposed American National Standard Representation of Numeric Values in Character Strings for Information Interchange" (draft)February 2, 1972UMA #16 Federal Information Processing Standards Publication #211972UMA #6 ACT survey[1972?]UMA #3 Proposal for X3 standards development project: BASIC1973UMA #5 Navy COBOL validation users guide1973NTIS report #NBSD-GRC 73-17 American Naitonal Standard for Minimal BASIC1978"A Candidate Standard for Fundamental BASIC"1973Box 22BASIC standardization1961-1978, n.d.2000F: A Guide to Time-Shared Basic: For Reference and Self-Instruction (Hewlett-Packard)19722000C: A Guide to Time-Shared Basic: For Reference and Self-Instruction (Hewlett-Packard)1972BASIC/3000 Interpreter: Reference Manual (Hewlett-Packard)1975BASIC 1 Service Reference Manual (General Electric(rev.))1971BASIC Language (General Electric, (rev.))1970BASIC Language: Mark III Foreground Reference Manual (General Electric, (rev.))1973My Computer Likes Me: When I Speak in BASIC (Dymax)1972"BASIC" (National Cash Register Company)1972"IBM Virtual Machine Facility / 370: BASIC Language Reference Manual" (IBM)1973"BASIC Language Reference Manual" (IBM)1970Time-Sharing BASIC: Series 600/6000 Software (Honeywell)1971UNIVAC 1100 Series BASIC: Programmer Reference (Sperry Rand)1972"UMASS User's Guide" (University of Massachusetts, Amherst, (rev.))1971Adapts User's Guide (Varian Data Machines)1973Varian 73/620 BASIC Language Reference Manual (Varian Data Machines)1973Xerox BASIC, Sigma 5-9 Computers: Language and Operations Reference Manual (Xerox)1972Xerox Batch Processing Monitor (BPM), Sigma 5-8 Computers: Batch Processing and Real-Time Reference Manual (Xerox)1973Call/370: BASIC Direct Access General Information Manual (Service Bureau Corporation)1972Call/370: BASIC Reference Handbook (Service Bureau Corporation)1973"BASIC: Multics" (Honeywell)1974CAC / 3600: BASIC and BASICX Reference Manual (Call-A-Computer)1972"Decsystem10 BASIC: Conversational Language Manual" (Digital Equipment Corporation)1972Box 33BASIC standardization1961-1978, n.d.L'Abbe Wu, Nesa. BASIC: The Time-Sharing Language (Wm. C. Brown Co.)1975Burroughs B 1700 Systems: BASIC Reference Manual (Burroughs)1973BASIC: A Manual for BASIC "An Easy-to-Use, Conversational Problem-Solving Computer Language for Many Applications" (AL/COM)1969Control Data Cyber 70 Computer Systems Models 72, 73, 74 6000 Computer Systems (Control Data Corporation)1973BASIC-Plus Language Manual (Digital Equipment Corporation)1975Spencer, Donald D., A Guide to BASIC Programming (Addison-Wesley)1975Stevenson, Sally L., BASIC Manual (Computer Services, Environmental Research Laboratories, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)n.d.Waite, Stephen V. F. and Diane G. Mather, eds., BASIC (University Press of New England)1971"If You Do Know BASIC, If You Don't Know BASIC" (Data General Corporation)1973"Modular One Programming Handbook: BASIC 1 and 2" (Computer Technology Limited)1972Control Data 6000 Series Computer Systems (Control Data Corporation)1971"Extended BASIC User's Manual" (Data General Corporation)1973OS/8 BASIC User's Manual (Digital Equipment Corporation)1972BASIC-Plus Language Manual (Digital Equipment Corporation)1972Hennefeld, Julien, Using BASIC (Prindle, Weber and Schmidt)1978"CPS Terminal User's Manual" n.d.Ahl, David H., ed., BASIC Computer Games (Digital Equipment Corporation)1973Garland, Stephen J., Dartmouth BASIC: a Specification (Trustees of Dartmouth College)1973Schoman, Kenneth Jr., The BASIC Workbook for Beginning Programmers (Wilbraham and Monson Academy)1974Gottfried, Byron S. Schaum's Outline of Theory and Problems of Programming with BASIC (McGraw-Hill)1975Leavy, Linda C. "A Survey of Dialects of the BASIC Programming Language"1977BASIC Self Teacher (Service Bureau Corporation)1973BASIC (Modular Computer Systems)1973"Microdata Micro 1600 Computer" (Microdata Corporation)n.d.Response 1: BASIC Reference Manual (Leasco Response)1972Response / 360 Reference Manual for the Programming Language BASIC (Leasco Response)1972BASIC Users Manual (Microdata Corporation)1972Isaacs, Gerald L. "Interdialect Translatability of the BASIC Programming Language" (ACT Technical Bulletin, no. 11)1973Isaacs, Gerald L. "A Tabular Survey of BASIC Computer Systems" (ACT Technical Bulletin supplement no. 11-1)1973"System / 370 VS BASIC Language" (IBM)1974MBASIC (vols. 1-2) (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)1973Box 44Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Advertising approvalsCurrent ContentsDepartments"About This Issue""Anecdotes""Biographies""Comments, Queries & Debate"Dictionary of Computer Science biographiesEditorial boardBox 55Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Editorial boardEmery air freight problemFirst issueHappeningsInactiveIndex(Manuscripts), withdrawnBox 66Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Rejected manuscriptsBox 77Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990"Reviews" DepartmentSelf-studySubscription fulfillmentTelephoneTravel/expense vouchersBox 88Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Published manuscripts, authors A-HBox 99Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Published manuscripts, authors H-MBox 1010Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Published manuscripts, authors M-SBox 1111Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Published manusrcipts, authors S-ZBox 1212Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Published manuscripts, authors A-KBox 1313Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Published manuscripts, authors A-BBox 1414Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Working files: vol. 1-7Box 1515Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Working files: vol. 8-9Box 1616Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Working files: vol. 10Box 1717Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Working files: vol. 11Box 1818Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Chronological ["Dead"?] files1977-1981Box 1919Annals of the History of Computing1977-1990Chronological ["Dead"?] files"1981-1987Box 2020Annuals of the History of Computing1977-1990"Dead files"1987-1990