Archives:Books and Archival Publications

The publications below may be of special interest to users of the Engineering and Technology History Wiki. Many have been released to the ETHW and are available in full text.

Books by Current and Former IEEE History Center Staff

To see a list of books on the history of technology published by the IEEE History Center Press please click here.

• A Brief History of the U.S. Federal Government and Innovation Part I (IEEE History Center staff)
• A Brief History of the U.S. Federal Government and Innovation Part II (Sheldon Hochheiser)
• A Brief History of the U.S. Federal Government and Innovation Part III (IEEE History Center staff)
• Friedel, Robert D., Lines and Waves: Faraday, Maxwell and 150 Years of Electromagnetism (New York: Center for the History of Electrical Engineering Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 1981).
• IEEE Center for the History of Electrical Engineering, Facets: New Perspectivies on the History of Semiconductors, ed. Andrew Goldstein & William Aspray (New Brunswick: IEEE Center for the History of Electrical Engineering, 1997)
• IEEE History Center, Sources in Electrical History, vol. 1: Archives and Manuscript Collections in U.S. Repositories.
• IEEE History Center, Sources in Electrical History 2: Oral History Collections in U.S. Repositories.
• IEEE History Center, Sources in Electrical History 3: An International Guide to Corporate Records and Archives of Companies in the Electrical, Electronics, and Computer Industries.
• IEEE-Rutgers Center for the History of Electrical Engineering, Tracking the History of Radar, eds. Oskar Blumtritt, Hartmut Petzold and William Aspray (Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical Engineers, 1994)
• Morton, David L., A History of Electronic Entertainment (New York: IEEE Press, 1999).
• Morton, David, Power: A Survey History of Electric Power Technology Since 1945 (New York: IEEE Press, 2000)
• Nebeker, Frederik, Sparks of Genius: Portraits of Electrical Engineering Excellence (Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 1994)
• Nebeker, Frederik, Signal Processing: The Emergence of a Discipline, 1948-1998 (Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 1998)
• Swedburg, Gregory, Profiles in Engineering Leadership: Eta Kappa Nu's First Century Eminent Members (New Brunswick, NJ: IEEE History Center & Eta Kappa Nu Association, 2004)

Articles by IEEE History Center Current and Former Staff

To see all the articles on the history of technology written by IEEE History Center staff for IEEE-USA Insight 2015 and later please click here. For articles from 2008 - 2014, click here.

To see all the articles written by IEEE History Center staff for IEEE's Today's Engineer 2014 and earlier please click here and search by History.

The Electrical Century, a twelve-part series written for Proceedings of the IEEE by History Center staff on the occasion of the new millennium

Proceedings through 100 Years 1900-2000 a twelve-part series written for Proceedings of the IEEE by IEEE History Center staff on the occasion of the Proceedings centennial

'Scanning Our Past' articles from Proceedings of the IEEE

Scanning Our Past articles are available from IEEEXplore. Many written by IEEE History Center staff, some by others. If you are interested in writing a history article for Proceedings of the IEEE in the 'Scanning the Past' department, please see author guidelines.

The popular 'Did You Know?' series of articles in IEEE's The Institute began with Did You Know? Historical Facts that are Not True, January 2013

Other Publications in Journals and Conference Proceedings

• Brewer, Nathan
  • Electromagnetic Quackery and Bizarre Medical Devices, IEEE-USA Insight, November 2015
  • Interactive Fiction and Adventure Games, Today's Engineer, March 2014
  • Bulletin Board Systems, Today's Engineer, March 2013
  • Electronic and Computer Music, Today's Engineer, April 2011

• Colburn, Robert
  • How History Fosters Technological Progess, IEEE InSight, July 2018
  • The $25 Million Ceiling Fan and the £100 Million Server: Small Flaws and Expensive Consequences, IEEE InSight, August 2017
  • A History of Disaster Detection and Warning Technologies , IEEE The Institute September 2013
  • History of Railroad Signals, IEEE The Institute, October 2013
  • Trading Speed: Telescopes, Telegraphs, and Fiber-optics -- technology has speeded financial trading from the 18th century into the 21st., IEEE The Institute, July 2014
  • Which Stimulates Innovation More, War or Peace?, IEEE-USA InSight, December 2014
  • 'No Eyestrain Permissible': Electrical Aspects of the Holland Tunnel, IEEE-USA InSight, June 2015
  • The Tesla Almost Nobody’s Heard Of: Frank Fowle and Alternating Current Transposition, IEEE-USA InSight, June 2016

• Geselowitz, Michael
  • "The bioelectrical century: bioelectrical engineering and the 'inside story' of the electrical century," Proceedings of the IEEE, 1999 (with D. B. Geselowitz)
  • "Preserving the Legacy of RAS," IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 2000
  • "Guest editorial: the educational activities of the IEEE history center," IEEE Transactions on Education, 2000
  • "The IEEE Virtual Museum: Using Web Based Education And A Humanistic Approach To Promote Engineering At The K-12 Level," Proceedings of the ASEE Annual Conference, 2002.
  • "The educational value of teaching biomedical engineering history," Proceedings of the 2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2010 (with R.S. Leder)
  • "Ted Saad's contributions to IEEE's historical activities," Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium, 2011
  • The US Federal Government and Innovation - A Brief History (with Sheldon Hochheiser and John Vardalas), IEEE-USA, 2012
  • "History of Technology and Education: The Role of Associations", Proceedings of the Third IEEE HISTory of ELectro-technology CONference (HISTELCON), 2012
  • "Using history of technology to promote an understanding of the impact of engineering solutions among practitioners at the university level," Proceedings of the Third IEEE HISTory of ELectro-technology CONference (HISTELCON), 2012
  • "Pacemakers" (with R. S. Leder), Proceedings of the IEEE, 2013 (Volume 01), #8:1882-1888
  • "An On-line Course in the History of Engineering and Technology," Proceedings the ASEE Annual Conference, 2013
  • Did You Know? Someone Else Wrote Maxwell's Equations, IEEE The Institute, May 2013
  • "Oral Histories of Distinguished Female Leaders: Inspiring the Next Generation of Young People in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)," Proceedings of the ASEE Annual Conference, 2014 (with numerous co-authors)
  • "The Role of Undergraduate History of Engineering in the Formation of Engineers: A New Interdisciplinary, Experiential Approach" (with John Vardalas), Proceedings of the 2015 Northeast Section American Society for Engineering Education Conference, ASEE, 2015 (winner of Best Paper Prize)
  • "The trireme-high-tech weapon of the ancient seas," Proceedings of the Fourth IEEE HISTory of ELectro-technology CONference (HISTELCON), 2015 (with J. Vardalas)
  • "Oral History Project of Underrepresented Leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)," Proceedings of the 2016 ASEE Annual Conference, 2016 (with numerous co-authors)
  • "Engaging the Next Generation in Preserving Key Oral Histories of Pioneering Engineers," Proceedings of the Fifth IEEE HISTory of ELectro-technology CONference (HISTELCON), 2017.
  • "Following in the Footsteps of Distinguished Leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): Narratives of the Next Generation of Young People Preserving key Oral Histories of our Societal History," Proceedings of the 2017 ASEE Annual Conference (with numerous co-authors)
  • Contributing Editor of, and author of two chapters in Technology in World History, Oxford University Press, 2005, W. Bernard Carlson, editor,
  • Dr. Geselowitz has also written many articles in IEEE Annals of the History of Computing on a range of technological history topics.
  • Numerous book reviews in a range of publications, including Enterprise & Society, Technology & Culture, and IEEE Spectrum

• Hochheiser, Sheldon
  • Dials, Keypads and Smartphones, IEEE-USA Insight, September 2014
  • The History of Hearing Aids, The Institute, July 2013

• Magoun, Alexander B.
  • Please Rush All Possible Assistance an article in IEEE Spectrum on the Titanic disaster and its effects on the development of radio technology.
  • Why Was Sarnoff Allowed to Sell Stalin Television?, IEEE-USA Insight, January 2016
  • What is a Minicomputer? IEEE-USA Insight, September 2015
  • Thomas Edison's Legacy in Resource Extraction, IEEE-USA Insight, March 2015
  • Did Claude Shannon Invent a Groundbreaking Personal Computer? The IEEE History Center investigates the true origin of the MINIVAC 601, The Institute, 1 April 2016
  • (with Paul Israel) Did You Know? Edison Coined the Term 'Bug' , The Institute, August 2013
  • Dr. Magoun has also written articles for Scanning the Past articles in Proceedings of the IEEE

• Vardalas, John
  • From DATAR to the FP-6000: technological change in a Canadian industrial context, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol 16, #2

Books and Texts on the History of Electrical and Computing Technologies by others

• Blalock, Thomas, Transformers at Pittsfield, part 1, part 2, part 3
• Bliss, Louis D., Bliss Electrical School Alumni Address.
• Cuthbert, Thomas R. Jr., Broadband Direct-Coupled and Matching RF Networks (Greenwood, AR: TRCPEP, 1999).
• Cuthbert, Thomas R., Jr., Circuit Design using Personal Computers (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1983)
• Cuthbert, Thomas R., Jr., Optimization using Personal Computers (New York: John Wily & Sons, 1987)
• Doherty, E.L., Mitchell, H.C., Simulation of Oil Reserves on a Digital Computer
• Dwon, Larry, History of Eta Kappa Nu, 1976
• Freitag, Harlow, Electrical Engineering: The Second Century Begins (New York: IEEE Press, 1986)
• Graham, Marshall, The Coulter Principle: For the Good of Humankind (A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, 2020)
• Haferkorn, H.E., Handy List of Technical Literature Part IIa - Electricity and Magnetism, 1890
• IEEE Press, "Evolution of the IEEE Logo," in IEEE Student Journal, March 1963, p. 48.
• IEEE Press, A Century of Honors: The First One Hundred Years of Award Winners, Honorary Members, Past Presidents, and Fellows of the Institute (New York: The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, 1984)
• Marriott, Robert, "Radio Ancestors", September 18th, 1937
• McMahon, A. Michal, The Making of a Profession: A Century of Electrical Engineering in America (New York: IEEE Press, 1984)
• Noll, A. Michael, Memories - A Personal History of Bell Telephone Laboratories, 2015
• IEEE Press, Technological Competitiveness: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives on Electrical, Electronics, and Computer Industries (Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 1993)
• IEEE Press, Engineers as Executives: An International Perspective (Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 1995)
• Pratt, Haraden, "Autobiographical Notes", April 30th, 1967
• Pratt, Haraden, "Sixty Years of Wireless and Radio Reminiscenses", 196[x]
• Rajaraman, V. History of Computing in India, 1955-2010, (IEEE Computer Society History Committee, 2012)
• Ryder, John D. and Fink, Donald G., Engineers & Electrons: A Century of Electrical Progress (New York: IEEE Press, 1983).
• Walden, David and Van Vleck, Thomas (eds.), The Compatible Time-Sharing System (1961-1973): Fiftieth Anniversary Commemorative Overview, (IEEE Computer Society History Committee, 2011)
• Walden, David and Nickerson, Raymond (eds.), BBN computing history: A Culture of Innovation, (Waterside Publishing, East Sandwich, Massachusetts, 2011)

Archival Journal Articles on Electrical and Computing Technologies by others

For a list of history articles in IEEE Xplore, see History Articles in IEEE Publications

• IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine Historical Articles
• IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine Historical Articles
• IEEE Industrial Electronics Society Historical Articles‎‎
• IEEE Power Engineering Review Historical Articles
• IEEE Transactions on Magnetics Historical Articles
• IEEE Canadian Region, Electricity, the Magic Medium, ed. W. Harry Prevey (Thornhill, ON: IEEE, Canadian Region, 1985).
• Mair, Alex, "Fred Heath and the Invention that Changed the World," University of Alberta Engineer, November 2003.
• Murdock, Bruce, Handbook of Electronic Design and Analysis Procedures Using Programmable Calculators (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1979)
• WT Glover & Co., Electric Wires & Cables, Salford, Manchester, August 1897. Catalogue and Price list.