Correspondence and publicity materials gathered by David Caminer regarding the IBM Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator.
Comprises:

• 9. File copy of a letter from Ralph R. Lorant (Manager, Applications Department, IBM) to the Manager, Systems Research Office, J. Lyons & Co, in response to an enquiry from Lyons regarding the IBM electronic calculator, enclosing information about other IBM equipment [the enclosures were not filed with the letter], 23rd Feb 1950;
• 10-11. Letter from Nigel A. Corke (J. Lyons & Co, New York office) to David Caminer dated 19th April 1950, reporting back that he has recently visited the IBM showroom and enclosing literature regarding the 'large Electronic Calculator'. 
  Nigel Corke's postscript includes a significant line: '… the idea of using this type of calculator in day to day commercial work did not seem to have been even considered over here. […] the idea of such a machine being used for the bread and butter work does not seem to have even entered the heads of I.B.M.';
• 12. Enclosure: Photographed copy of a page from The Office (Oct 1949) including a brief description and images of the IBM Electronic Calculator, p134. [image was taken backwards - reversed in the digital scan];
• 13. Enclosure: Photographed copy of a page from The Office (Oct 1949) including a brief description and images of the IBM Electronic Calculator, p135;
• 14-34. Enclosure: IBM Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (1948) brochure. Printed booklet;
• 35.  Start of a handdrawn diagram of a punched card, tucked inside the IBM Calculator booklet;
• 36. Letter from Nigel A. Corke (J. Lyons & Co, New York office) to David Caminer dated 12th May 1950.

Research Comments: The IBM Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator was one of very few large electromechanical calculators in the world at this time in the late 1940s. The SSEC had many of the features of a stored-program computer but it was not fully electronic. Lyons, who had an office in New York where the IBM headquarters was located, were well aware of the existence of such machines, and were clearly also aware that their possible application to business processes was not on anyone's radar, except their own. (LM)

Provenance :
From David Caminer's papers.