early computers

Title: Women at the Switchboard: How the Invisible Labor Behind Early Computers Was Photographed Out of HistoryIntroduction The room hums with generators and cables. Rows of plugboards, vacuum tubes and paper tape reels dominate the floor. In the glow of incandescent bulbs, women in practical dresses and rolled-up sleeves move like a well-rehearsed crew. One adjusts a rack of relays; another traces a tangled set of wires with a pencil and a rolled-up schematic; a…