John A. N. Lee Papers,
Scope and Content
This collection contains the papers of John A. N. Lee, civil engineer, professor of computer science, author and editor. The collection is essentially comprised of two sets of materials:
Boxes 1-3 contain materials relating to Lee's involvement with the National Bureau of Standards in establishing standardization of the BASIC computer programming language. The files include the project contract, correspondence, surveys, meetings reports, printed materials, and the final report resulting from Lee's work. (Also included in Box 1 is some background material for a 1973 lecture by Grace Hopper.)
Boxes 4-20 contain the editorial files of the Annals of the History of Computing, from 1977 to 1990. The files contain such material as correspondence, drafts, rejected manuscripts, background material and office records.
Dates
- Creation: 1973 - 1990
Creator
- Lee, John A. N. (Person)
Access Restrictions
Collection is open to research.
Please note: This collection is located in off-site storage and requires 2-3 days for retrieval. Contact Special Collections for further information.
Use Restrictions
Permission to publish from the John A. N. Lee Papers must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Biographical Information
John A. N. Lee, a professor of computer science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, was born in Coventry, England. After earning his doctoral degree at the University of Nottingham, Lee worked as a civil engineer with Freeman, Fox & Partners, where he served on teams which designed the Medway Bridge near London, the Firth of Forth Road Bridge, and Australia's Sydney Opera House. In 1959, Lee joined the faculty of Queens University (Kingston, Ontario), where he initiated computer classes and a computer center. Lee moved in 1964 to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he established a computer science program and served as its first department head. During this time, he authored The Anatomy of a Compiler (1967) and Computer Semantics (1971). In 1973, the National Bureau of Standards contracted with Lee to form a "nucleus standard for the BASIC programming language."
Lee joined the faculty of Virginia Tech in 1974. Here, he assisted in the development of a graduate program and extended the undergraduate program. He served as chairman of the undergraduate program for many years and developed several new courses.
The recipient of several distinguished awards, Lee has made significant contributions to the development of computer language standards, the history of computing, and professional development. His interest in history led Lee to organize the 1982 25th anniversary commemoration of FORTRAN programming. Among his many other activities, he served as editor and editor-in-chief of the Annals of the History of Computing from 1987 to 1995.
Full Extent
30 Cubic Feet (20 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Correspondence, computer programs, publications, and meeting notes all relating to Lee's work for the National Bureau of Standards to develop a standard for the BASIC programming language. Included in the papers are a survey of twenty-seven descriptions of BASIC and a collection of published works relating to the language up to 1973. Also contains records (1977-1990) from the editorial staff of the Annals of the History of Computing.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged by subject.
Acquisition Information
The John A. N. Lee Papers were donated to Special Collections at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University in 1973 and 1982; the Annals of the History of Computing editorial files were donated in 1992.
Separated Material
Several published works were transferred out of the collection in 2004. A list of these works is available in the collection's administrative folder.
General Physical Description note
20 containers; 30.0 cu. ft.
Processing Information
The John A. N. Lee Papers are unprocessed. The guide is a preliminary inventory.
- Title
- John A. N. Lee Papers, 1973-1990
- Status
- Completed
- Date
- © 2009 By Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. All rights reserved.
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- Description is in English
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections, Virginia Tech Repository
Special Collections, University Libraries (0434)
560 Drillfield Drive
Newman Library, Virginia Tech
Blacksburg Virginia 24061 US
540-231-6308
specref@vt.edu