The CEP Project, Documents from the Archives

HMR has its origins in the desire to re-read the documents of the CEP Project from a technical as well as historical perspective. The search in the archives started in 2005. Since the beginning, it became evident that there was still much to discover about the project that led to the construction of the early computers made in Italy.
In 2006 HMR was set up as an independent project with the goal of hacking the secrets of the Macchina Ridotta (Smaller Machine), as the first of the two computers built by the University of Pisa Pisa in 1954-1961 was nicknamed.

Often not catalogued or difficult to find, the documents here collected come from:

• General Archive of the University of Pisa (AUniPi), which retains most of the documentation relating to the management of the Centro Studi sulle Calcolatrici Elettroniche (Center for the Study of Electronic Calculators);
• Library of the Institute of Science and Information Technology of the CNR of Pisa (AISTI), where is the tecnical documentation, in particular the drawings of the Macchina Ridotta;
• Archive of the Institute for Computer Applications of the CNR of Rome (AIAC);
• Private archive of Elio Fabri (AFabri).

The Documents

The first collection of documents was made available online in 2009, when the HMR web pages were hosted by the Computer Science Department of the University of Pisa. Here the documents are proposed following the numbering used in the paper due to appear in IEEE Annals of the History of Computing.

[01] Minutes of the CIU Executive Committee, meeting of May 20, 1955, pp. 59 and 73, AUniPi.

[02] Summary note about the funding from CIU, no certain date, but not earlier than October 1954, AUniPi.

[03] Minutes of the meeting of October 4 at the Dean House, 1954, AUniPi.

[04] E. Fermi, letter to E. Avanzi, August 11, 1954, typewritten transcript, AUniPi.

[05] E. Avanzi, letter to E. Fermi, August 24, 1954, archive copy, AUniPi.

[06] M. Conversi, letter to M. Picone, October 12, 1954, AIAC.

[07] G. Bernardini, letter to M. Picone, November 11, 1954, AIAC.

[08] Minutes of the meeting of January 13-14 at the Institute of Physics,1955, AUniPi.

[09] E. Pistolesi, letter to E. Avanzi, January 2, 1955, AUniPi.

[10] E. Avanzi, letter to E. Pistolesi, January 31,1955, AUniPi.

[11] A. Ghizzetti, letter to M. Conversi, October 26, 1954, AIAC.

[12] M. Picone, letter to G. Bernardini, December 30, 1954, AIAC.

[13] Minutes of the meeting of March 9 at the Dean House, 1955, AUniPi.

[14] “Informazioni generali sul Centro di Studi sulle Calcolatrici Elettroniche”, brochure, 1959, AUniPi.

[15] “General information concerning the Center of Research on Electronic Computers (CSCE)”, CSCE Internal Report 1-47, 1959, AUniPi.

[16] “Notizie concernenti il CSCE dell’Università di Pisa”, internal draft, March 26, 1958, AUniPi.

[17] Agreement between University of Pisa and Ing. C. Olivetti & C. SpA, May 7, 1956, AUniPi.

[18] “Relazione sulle attività del CSCE dal 23-12-1955 al 31-07-1956”, CSCE internal document, no certain date, but not earlier than August 1956, AUniPi.

[19] A. Caracciolo, G. Cecchini, E. Fabri, S. Sibani, “Progetto dettagliato di una prima calcolatrice elettronica (Macchina Ridotta)”, CSCE Internal Report 1-26, 1956, AISTI.

[20] Technical drawings folder, addendum to CSCE Internal Report 1-26, 1956 [19], AISTI.

[21] A. Caracciolo, E. Fabri, “Complementi e variazioni al progetto logico dettagliato della Macchina Ridotta”, CSCE Internal Report 1-36, April 26, 1957, AISTI.

[22] “MR/S/2”, technical drawing, addendum to CSCE Internal Report 1-36, 1957 [21], AFabri.

[23] M. Conversi, newsletter to colleagues, July 24, 1957, AUniPi.

[24] E. Abate, “Prescrizioni fondamentali per l’uso della Macchina Ridotta”, CSCE Internal Report 1-38, March 1, 1958, CSCE, AISTI.

[25] “AD/L/1” Tecnical drawing, addendum to CSCE Internal Report 1-26, 1956 [19], part of [20], AISTI.

[26] “AD/Ed/1” Tecnical drawing, addendum to CSCE Internal Report 1-26, 1956 [19], part of [20], AISTI.

[27] “AD/Ed/2” Tecnical drawing, addendum to CSCE Internal Report 1-26, 1956 [19], part of [20], AISTI.

[28] M. Conversi, letter to E. Avanzi, April 3, 1958, AUniPi.

[29] “Sommario dei lavori svolti presso il CSCE nel 1958 e indicazione dei programmi di lavoro per il 1959”, internal document, November 13, 1958, AUniPi.

[30] E. Avanzi, letter to W. Ramberg, October 26, 1959, AUniPi.

[31] Minutes of the CSCE Steering Committee meeting of April 16, 1958, AUniPi.

[32] Minutes of the CSCE Steering Committee meeting of April 16, 1958, handwritten draft, AUniPi.

[33] “Personale del CSCE”, CSCE internal document, March 12, 1959, AUniPi .

[34] Communication of the University Senate, November 1957, AUniPi.

[35] “Relazione sulle attività del CSCE al 22 dicembre 1955”, addendum to the minutes of the meeting of December 22 at the Dean House, 1955, AUniPi.

[36] Minutes of the CIU Executive Committee meeting of April 8, 1960, p. 58, AUniPi.

[37] Minutes of the CSCE Steering Committee meeting of February 17, 1961, AUniPi.

[38] Season greetings telegram to A. Faedo, December 23, 1960, AUniPi.

[39] M. Conversi, letter to A. Faedo, March 15, 1961, AUniPi.

[40] “Programma di massima per la cerimonia inaugurale dell’a.a. 1961/62”, internal document, September 14, 1961, AUniPi .

[41] “La calcolatrice elettronica e il Centro Studi dell’Università di Pisa”, University press release, November 10, 1961, AUniPi.

[42] ANSA press release no. 86, November 9, 1961, AUniPi.

[43] Agreement between University of Pisa and National Research Concil, July 31, 1962, AUniPi.