2023 Tomash Fellow Sam Schirvar lecture

Thank you to everyone who attended CBI's second annual Tomash Fellow lecture on April 4! We hope you enjoyed our 2022-2023 Tomash Fellow, Sam Schirvar present his paper entitled "Following the Computer Industry through the State." A recording of the talk is now available. 

Abstract: 

William C. Norris, founder and CEO of Control Data Corporation, was notorious in the business world. From assembly plants in the so-called "inner city," to a mobile health clinic on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, to computer programming and assembly at the Minnesota State Prison in Stillwater—many of Control Data's ventures in the late twentieth century appeared to be unconventional. While the business community alleged that these programs were a distraction that hurt Control Data's bottom line, Norris insisted that the supercomputer firm could do good — and make a profit.

Following the history of Control Data's social programs from the late 1960s to the 1980s, this talk will introduce the audience to a constellation of cases where electronics and computing firms began to take on leadership roles within the US welfare state. Along the way, the audience will learn about recent developments in US political history and consider the ways that scholars of computing, information, and culture can uniquely contribute to our understanding of the changing relationships between state and capital.

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About Sam Schrivar

Prior to joining Penn in 2018 to pursue his Ph.D., Sam Schirvar graduated from Cornell University, summa cum laude, and wrote an honor’s thesis entitled, “Mechanizing Work in Accounting and Astronomy: Control and the Division of Labor Across Two Early-20th Century US Computing Systems.” Among his many honors, he was awarded a Merkel Fund and Annenberg Fund Research Grant, a National Science Foundation Travel Grant, a Hagley Museum and Library Grant, and received Honorable Mention with the 2019 Joan Cahalin Robinson Prize of the Society for the History of Technology.