Finding Aids

The Sperry Corporation's Aerospace Division traces its origins to Engineering Research Associates (ERA), a St. Paul, Minnesota firm founded by William Norris (1911-2006) and Howard Engstrom (1902-1962). In 1952 ERA merged with Remington Rand, Inc., where it became part of its Eckert-Mauchly Division. In 1960, five years after the Sperry-Remington Rand merger, it was renamed the Military Division, and in 1975 it became Sperry Rand's Aerospace Division. These photographs show details of identified laboratory testing of computer components.

The Sperry Corporation was an electronics company and the UNIVAC Division manufactured the first commercial digital computer. The Sperry UNIVAC division has its origins in the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC), founded in 1946 by J. Presper Eckert (1919-1995) and John W. Mauchly (1907-1980). In 1950, Eckert and Mauchly sold their firm to Remington Rand, Inc, a major manufacturer of business machines, who continued development of the UNIVAC system. The collection documents predecessor organizations to the Sperry Corporation, including the Remington Typewriter Company, the Rand Kardex Company, and the Sperry Gyroscope Company; the formation of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation; the development of the UNIVAC brand under Remington Rand, Inc.; Philadelphia and St. Paul branches of the UNIVAC division; the UNIVAC manufacturing plant in Bristol, Tennessee; and Sperry divisions outside of UNIVAC, including Sperry Gyroscope Flight and Defense Systems, and Remington Rand office equipment.