- UTA 1403-5
- Series
- 1959-1996
Part of James Nairn Patterson Hume fonds
This series documents Prof. Hume’s talks and addresses on various subjects. General interest topics often discussed the growth of computers in society, changes in technology, and the development of computer languages. These were written for general public consumption at invited lectures. There are also a few talks on physics.
More technical talks and addresses focused on computer programming, computer graphics, and computer languages such as TRANSCODE, FORTRAN and Turing. These were most often delivered at professional meetings and symposiums. Prof. Hume recorded a series of lectures with accompanying slides on FORTRAN and another computer language called LISP. These were recorded as a type of tutorial on how to use the University’s computer and were designed to teach computer programming to a wide range of academic users at the University of Toronto. This series contains a copy of the tapes on reel to reel as well as some of the accompanying slides - although it is not clear exactly how they originally matched up. Of particular note are the very early views of the Computer Center and its computers that were included in the slide lecture showing the IBM 650, the IBM 7090 and the IBM 7094.
Files are arranged chronologically with undated talks placed at the end. They contain notes, copies of the talks, overhead transparencies, related event programs and correspondence. In addition, there is a card index of talks that essentially gives outlines and notes. Some of these are related to files in this series while others are unique talks. Apart from the FORTRAN lectures, there is one taped lecture of Prof. Hume giving a key note address at the New College Honours Students dinner.