Scope and Contents Julia J. Peterson's 1983 book, "THE IOWA TESTING PROGRAMS - The First Fifty Years" gives an account of how Dr. Lindquist's tireless efforts to develop and put into practical use the world's first high-speed OMR test-scoring machine during the mid-1950s almost came to naught because of severe signal-drift problems with the 'Lucite rod and vacuum-tube photocell scheme' that was incorporated into the original design. As she quotes Professor Lindquist's colleague, Dr. Rulen, "the intervention of Providence" [Page 114] saved the day! Actually, it was the 'last minute' availability of a new miniature germanium-based solid-state photodiode, the 1N77B, from Sylvania Electric that 'saved the day'. The Archival DVD Folder named as above contains a JPEG-image scan of the 'savior' and my related MS Word File 1955_Spring_1N77B Sylvania Germanium Photo-diode_Mod I_ORG.doc which explains more details. The hard-copy printout of this file is included - on one inch thick caliper stock with a...

Scope and Contents

This Accession item is a 32-page high-quality color-reproduction of an ACT (American College Testing Program) Brochure which describes the time-line history from its founding by Professor E. F. Lindquist and Ted McCarrel in 1959 on through 1999. The JVM Archival DVD Folder 1959_1999_ACT at 40 Years contains JPEG-Image scans of the cover and the first 16 pages, so that a future researcher may examine these files before accessing the hard-copy version of the brochure for further information on the 1980s-90s timeline

Scope and Contents

The world of electronics design has changed almost beyond imagination from the late 1950s and through the 1960s when the young engineers at MRC were busy designing new solid-state circuits to replace/enhance various modules and components of Dr. Lindquist's creation - the first high-speed electronic test-scoring machine - based primarily on vacuum tube design. The Folder on the Archival DVD, named as above, contains a JPEG-image file of several of the typical solid-state components (transistors, diodes, etc.).  The accompanying MS Word file 1960s_Solid-State components used by MRC_ORG.doc offers a few more tidbits about this era, and the hard-copy printout also has a small packet of transistor specimens attached

Scope and Contents

This is one of the earlier articles publicizing Dr. Lindquist's vintage Test Scoring Machine. An earlier JVM Accession to the U of I provided one of the Original Copies of the Times Democrat's article, dated April 10, 1960, and included a folder on the companion DVD entitled 1960_04_10_Sunday Times DEMOCRAT_MRC Scanner, which is repeated on the JVM Archival Media disc provided with this group of material. Also included in this set is a hard-copy printout from the JVM MS Word file 1960_04_10_SUNDAY TIMES_No Mistakes by MRC Machine_ORG2, including embedded JPEG-scanned photos appearing in the original article

Scope and Contents

Other JVM-to-UI Accession Documents* describe the major early-1960's MRC project of designing this highly complex OMR Processing System for SRA, a test publisher in Chicago. This Original Copy document describes a relay-laden switching box to toggle between peripherals. The document contains two large drawings as well as two photos of the hardware. *Refer to Folder 1960s_early_SRA Docutran Files