The family of John Vincent Atanasoff made a welcome addition to the Iowa State University Archives with a donation of papers, memorabilia, medals and other collections belonging to Atanasoff, the inventor of the first electronic digital computer.

The formal donation was made by members of the Atanasoff family, including Atanasoff’s widow, Alice, and son, John V. Atanasoff II, June 4 in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union, said Tanya Zanish-Belcher, acting department head of the Special Collections Department.

“Between 200 and 300 people attended [the donation], including alums of the class of 1949, members of the library, 25 to 30 members of the Atanasoff family and the entire ABC reconstruction team,” she said.

The ceremony’s agenda included speakers such as ISU President Martin Jischke; Olivia Madison, dean of Parks Library; and Tom Mitchell, president of the ISU Foundation.

“There were displays — the replica [of the original Atanasoff-Berry Computer] was one display, and another one was based on what the family donated,” Zanish-Belcher said.

According to a press release, the gifts to the university chronicle the life of Atanasoff, who not only invented the first electronic digital computer but also the binary alphabet, an egg testing device, a breadboard testing device and a concrete-hulled, wind-powered boat.

After completing his undergraduate work at the University of Florida, Atanasoff completed his master’s degree in mathematics at Iowa State in 1926, Zanish-Belcher said.

“We have the thesis he wrote here in one of the donated collections,” she said.

Atanasoff went on to the University of Wisconsin to earn his Ph.D. and returned to hold a faculty appointment in mathematics and physics at ISU, Zanish-Belcher said.

According to a press release, Atanasoff was a professor at ISU throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

He worked with graduate student Clifford Berry to develop the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) from 1939 to 1942.

Mitchell said Atanasoff and his family have contributed to ISU significantly over the years.

“Professor Atanasoff touched Iowa State in many ways during his lifetime, and his family continues to have an impact on this university even today,” he said.

When ISU decided to create a team to construct a model of the ABC, Atanasoff’s son, John V. Atanasoff II, made a contribution to the project, Mitchell said.

“Since the contribution two years ago, we have kept the Atanasoff family informed of the progress of the project,” he said.

The family’s recent donation of memorabilia includes a wide variety of materials, Zanish-Belcher said.

“We received between 18 and 20 boxes including personal correspondence and drawings and sketches of his inventions,” she said.

“The collection included 50 to 75 artifacts, such as materials from his office, scientific instruments, his slide rules, a couple of his inventions, plus books from his personal library he used here at Iowa State,” she said.

According to a press release, other donations included: papers from the court case proving Atanasoff was the founding father of modern computing; patents on inventions, such as a low-frequency device and a method and apparatus for sweeping a mine; plans for an international binary alphabet; medals, including the Medal of Technology he received from George Bush; plans for a motorcycle-powered garden tractor; and letters and other correspondence to former students and professional acquaintances.

“I think the Atanasoff family was very pleased with the replica and the national exposure that we were able to achieve by rebuilding the computer and then touring the computer all over the country this past year,” Mitchell said.

“Because of that, they were pleased at our request to them to contribute the Presidential Medal of Technology that we received and a number of papers Dr. Atanasoff had compiled over the years related to how he built the computer,” he said.

The collections should be available to the public within the next year, Zanish-Belcher said.

“We have to sort through everything and figure out exactly what we have,” she said.

For the time being, the collections are housed at the ISU Archives, which is part of the Special Collections Department at Parks Library.

“We are very happy about the donation and look forward to being a resource for folks doing research on computers. We can provide a lot of information about Atanasoff,” Zanish-Belcher said.

Mitchell said officials are currently looking for a place where items can be permanently displayed.

“Once a place has been located, it will be announced so people can observe these things,” he said.