Part I. Introduction -- We would know what they thought when they did it / R.W. Hamming -- Historiography: a perspective for computer scientists / Kenneth O. May -- Part II. The human side -- Computer developments 1935-1955, as seen from Cambridge, U.S.A. / Garrett Birkhoff -- Pioneering work on computers at Bletchley / I.J. Good -- The COLOSSUS / B. Randell -- Von Neumann: the interaction of mathematics and computing / S.M. Ulam -- Turing's work at the National Physical Laboratory and the construction of Pilot ACE, DEUCE, and ACE / J.H. Wilkinson -- The Smithsonian computer history project and some personal recollections / Henry S. Tropp -- Part III. The languages -- Programming in America in the 1950s: some personal impressions / John Backus -- The early development of programming in the USSR / Andrei P. Ershov and Mikhail R. Shura-Bura -- The early development of programming languages / Donald E. Knuth and Luis Trabb Pardo -- Reflections on the evolution of algorithmic language / Mark B. Wells -- Part IV. The machines -- Computer development at the Institute for Advanced Study / Julian Bigelow -- From ENIAC to the stored-program computer: two revolutions in computers / Arthur W. Burks -- Computer development at Argonne National Laboratory / J.C. Chu -- The ORDVAC and the ILLIAC / James E. Robertson -- WHIRLWIND / Robert R. Everett -- Reminiscences of Oak Ridge / A.S. Householder -- Computer development at IBM / Cuthbert C. Hurd -- The SWAC: the National Bureau of Weather Standards Western Automatic Computer / Harry D. Huskey -- Computer development at Manchester University / S.H. Lavington -- A history of the sieve process / D.H. Lehmer -- The MANIAC / N. Metropolis -- Early research on computers at RCA / Jan Rajchman -- Memories of the Bureau of Standards' SEAC / Ralph J. Slutz -- Early computers / George R. Stibitz -- The start of an ERA: Engineering Research Associates, Inc., 1946-1955 / Erwin Tomash -- Early programming development in Cambridge / M.V. Wilkes -- Part V. The places -- Between Zuse and Rutishauser: the early development of digital computing in central Europe / Friedrich L. Bauer -- The ENIAC / J. Presper Eckert, Jr. -- The ENIAC / John W. Mauchly -- Computers in the University of London, 1945-1962 / Andrew D. Booth -- A programmer's early memories / Edsger W. Dijkstra -- Early history of computing in Japan / Ryota Suekane -- From mechanical linkages to electronic computers: recollections from Czechoslovakia / Antonin Svoboda -- Central European prehistory of computing / H. Zemanek -- Some remarks on the history of computing in Germany / Konrad Zuse -- The origins of digital computers: supplementary bibliography / B. Randell.