Research Note on Von Neumann's "First Draft"
[August 25, 2017]
This is furthur information on my research note "On the original copies of 'First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC' by John von Neumann"(pdf).
In 2015, I asked a couple of questions to the SIGCIS mailing list and had discussion with Thomas Haigh and Mark Priestly via emails. In August 2017, I visited Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, American Philosophical Society Library, and Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis in order to confirm several facts.
I agree that the "First Draft" in APS library, which I called "another version" in my research note, is not a revised version of the well-known "First Draft" but should be the "0.9th Draft", that is, a preceding version of the "First Draft," as Haigh and Priestly kindly pointed out in September 2015. So I withdraw what I wrote in my research note, "It is plausible to suppose that this is a revised version of the original 'First Draft'." In Arthur Burks Papers at IUPUI, there is a note written by Burks, which says the version with the additional sections is "a preliminary draft." ENIAC in Action (2016) by Haigh, Priestly, and Rope describes in detail how the "First Draft" was made (chapter 6). Go to MIT Press website for ENIAC in Action.
The note 43, Chapter 6 in ENIAC in Action says "Burks' original carbon copy of the initial, internal version of the First Draft is presented in AWB-IUPUI" (p.312). I found this is a carbon copy of the APS version which has the additional sections, because not only texts but figures in the Burks' copy are carbon printed (i.e. not drawn in pencil) and exactly identical to the figures in the APS version (even the shape of handwritten letters and numbers (e.g. "FIGURE 2") are the same). This means the original of the Burks' copy must be the APS version. The Burks' copy has some handwritten notes in pencil, including arrows and symbols, perhaps by Burks. And also, the Burks' copy does not have some notes which the APS version has. It would suggest that some handwritten notes in the APS version were added after the Burks' copy was made.
George Dyson's book, Turing's Cathedral (2012) has a picture page of the "First Draft," which seems like handwritten notes and figures, on 13 pages after p.136. This picture is from a copy of "First Draft" which is preserved in Lewis Library at Princeton University (I would like to thank George Dyson for the information of this material via an email in 2015). The Lewis Library copy is a xerox copy of "First Draft" with a signature of S. Reid Warren (therefore, the copy at Princeton University is not an "original typescript copy" but a xerox copy. See p.85 of my research note) and it has four additional pages. These pages are a set of xerox copy of handwritten notes, possibly by von Neumann, and contain figures of "Adder," "Memory," "Subtractor," and so on. The figures are almost the same as the ones in the "First Draft", and some page numbers such as "p.28" and "30" are written just under the figures. These page numbers coincide with the pagination of the APS version. It might suggest that these four pages of handwritten notes were made to supplement the APS version. I have not found the original mimeographed copy with S. Reid Warren’s signature either in Princeton University or in Reid Warren Papers at University of Pennsylvania.
The original of Godfrey's reprint, which I called "Moore School copy" in my research note, is now preserved in John W. Mauchly Papers at University of Pennsylvania. This is the original of the microfilm in the Van Pelt Libraries at U. Penn.
I have not found any copies of the original draft of the "First Draft" handwritten by John von Neumann either at Princeton University, U. Penn, APS, or IUPUI.
Any comments or new information on the "First Draft" would be deeply appreciated!
[December 19, 2012]
David Hemmendinger was kind enough to give a comment to my research note "On the original copies of 'First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC' by John von Neumann"(pdf) on December 18, 2012.
In the article, I stated:
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p.84, note 7
Professor Emeritus David Hemmendinger, Union College, also has a set of photocopies from Moore
School, although this set lacks a couple of pages (David Hemmendinger, email message to author, May
30, 2009). This set seems to have been printed after spring of 1982 according to its circulation record
stamped on the last page. The circulation record shows that the original copy which was in Moore School
Library had circulated over 30 times since 1962 for 20 years.
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According to Hemmendinger, his copy is actually a photocopy that Michael Godfrey sent him in 2004. Hemmendinger's copy is complete; it does not lack any pages. Godfrey's scanned copy is a copy of a draft that had been in the University of Pennsylvania Moore School Library (see Godfrey's website).
Any comments on my research note and any kind of new information on the "First Draft" would be deeply appreciated!