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A. Michael Noll Papers

Call Number

RG.047

Date

1960-2021, inclusive

Creator

Extent

10 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

Materials entirely in English.

Biographical / Historical

A. Michael Noll was an early pioneer in digital computer art, 3D animation, and telecommunication in the 1960s and 1970s. He received his PhD in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1971. He was employed by Bell Labs for nearly 15 years, working on basic research and beginning his focus in computer art and telecommunication. In the early 1970s, he was on the staff of the President's Science Advisor at the White House and later worked at AT&T, identifying opportunities for new products and services. He was a Senior Affiliated Research Fellow at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information at Columbia University's Business School and was a member of the adjunct faculty of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He is a professor emeritus at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern CaliforniaHe and served as interim dean of USC Annenberg from 1992 to 1994. He has published over ninety professional papers, was granted six patents for his inventions at Bell Labs, and is the author of twelve books on various aspects of communications.

Source: A. Michael Noll personal website, http://noll.uscannenberg.org/

Arrangement

This collection comprises 7 boxes transferred from Columbia University and 7 boxes donated by A. Michael Noll. Original order was maintained when possible. However, during the accessioning process, the contents of the transferred and donated boxes were merged together into 10 boxes and arranged into these seven series:

Series I: Academia, 2004 Series II: Correspondence, 1986-2003 Series III: Digital Art, 1960-2016 Series IV: Photographs, undated Series V: Published Works, 1960-2021 Series VI: Research, 1961-2004 Series VII: Papers and Talks, 1967-2015.

Scope and Contents

The A. Michael Noll Papers contain documents from 1960 to 2021. These documents were assembled by Noll throughout his career and include many of the papers from his time at Bell Labs and AT&T. There are published works, digital art, research, and correspondence. All papers regarding Noll's Tactile Project are housed in this collection. The collection is 10 linear feet, located on bay 26, shelves 2C, 2D, 3D, 4D, and 3E of the Poly Archives.

Noll has donated related materials to other institutions as well. His computer art papers have gone to Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Fleet. Computer art has gone to Los Angeles County Musuem of Art (LACMA). Some papers are housed at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, and two large prints of his computer art are at the University of Southern California (USC) Fisher Museum. Some of his computer animation is at the Academy of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. There is also a small collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright status varies across the collection. Copyright for most items is held by the original creator of individual items in the collection, donor A. Michael Noll. If copyright is not renewed, these items are expected to pass into the public domain 120 years after their creation. For more information about use, reuse, or publication of items in the collection, please contact the Poly Archives, polyarchives@nyu.edu, 646-997-3530 or the donor directly.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; A. Michael Noll Papers; RG 047; box number; folder number or item identifier; Poly Archives at Bern Dibner Library of Science and Technology, New York University.

Location of Materials

Bern Dibner Library of Science and Technology 5 MetroTech Center Brooklyn, New York, 11201 (646) 997-3943 polyarchives@nyu.edu

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Seven boxes were transferred to the Poly Archives from Columbia University in 2021. Additional boxes were donated to the Poly Archives by A. Michael Noll in 2021. Additional miscellaneous items were donated by A. Michael Noll in 2022. The accession number associated with this collection is 21-004.

Custodial History

The University Archivist at Columbia University (Jocelyn Wilk) contacted the Poly Archivist (Lindsay Anderberg) in November 2021 concerning a possible donation of A. Michael Noll's papers. Seven boxes of Noll's papers had been housed at the Columbia Business School with Professor of Finance, Dr. Eli Noam. As the Business School prepared for a move, they contacted Columbia Univeristy Archives about the collection. The collection was not a fit for Columbia, but seemed more appropriate for the Poly Archives, as Noll had recieved his PhD from Brooklyn Poly. The collection was described as "subject files on various telecommunication technologies that were emerging in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s which ultimately became the ubiquitous technologies we are using today...It's a mix of reports, internal memos, publications and presentations. Very well organized by topic and in good condition. Among the technologies documented are "video text" "picture phone" and "CATV"." The Poly Archives accepted the donated and the transfer of the seven boxes occurred on December 7, 2021.

Following the transfer of the boxes from Columbia, Dr. Noll sent additional boxes of material from his personal collection to the Poly Archives in late 2021 and early 2022.

Related Materials

NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY/NORTHEAST U.S.

Nokia Bell Labs Archives, Murray Hill, NJ Papers, books, films, and other materials relating to Noll's research at Bell Labs

New York Public Library A Computer-Generated Ballet [motion-picture] at NYPL's Performing Arts Library, Call number MGZHB 2-54 (original 16-mm print)

Museum of Modern Art, Department of Film & Video, New York City 16mm prints of computer animated movies, including Object W16896 "3D Movie (Head-to-Head) Random Object, Ballet, 4D Cube, Tetra, Sphere"

Fleet Library Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence, RI Papers and books relating to Noll's computer art; 16mm computer animations

Michael & Anne Spalter, Private Collection Private collection of digital art, including Inventory ID: Noll-1963-01 and Inventory ID: Noll-1964-01

CALIFORNIA

The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA Michael Noll Papers, 1949-2016, The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. Record number b1815342 Papers and books relating to computer art; videophone in 2001: A Space Odyssey).

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles Michael Noll gift, accession numbers AC1998.105.1 to AC1998.105.87 Computer art prints, negatives, prints, papers

Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Film Archives, Los Angeles 16mm prints of computer animated movies

USC Fischer Museum, Los Angeles Framed large prints of "Gaussian-Quadratic" and "Computer Composition" and reprints of published papers.

ENGLAND

Victoria & Albert Museum, London Gift of A. Michael Noll, accession numbers E.33-2011, E.34-2011, E.35-2011, E.36-2011 Published papers and photographic prints of computer art

ONLINE

Engineering Technology History Wiki (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) oral history, memoir, and writings including: A. Michael Noll Oral History, Interview #765, Conducted by Mary Ann Hellrigel and Michael Geselowitz, IEEE History Center, 10 May 2016 https://ethw.org/Oral-History:A._Michael_Noll

Archives: Memories - A Personal History of Bell Telephone Laboratories, 2015, https://ethw.org/Archives:Memories_-_A_Personal_History_of_Bell_Telephone_Laboratories

First-Hand:The Beginnings of Force-Feedback: A Memoir, Submitted by A. Michael Noll, February 4, 2022 https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_Beginnings_of_Force-Feedback:_A_Memoir

First-Hand: Apollo 1 Disaster Tape Analysis by Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, Submitted by A. Michael Noll, September 11, 2015 https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Apollo_1_Disaster_Tape_Analysis_by_Bell_Telephone_Laboratories,_Incorporated

First-Hand: New Media at Bell Labs, submitted by A. Michael Noll, October 15, 2014 https://ethw.org/First-Hand:New_Media_at_Bell_Labs

First-Hand:Howard Wise Gallery Show of Digital Art and Patterns (1965): A 50th Anniversary Memoir, November 12, 2014, Published by A. Michael Noll in Leonardo https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Howard_Wise_Gallery_Show_of_Digital_Art_and_Patterns_(1965):_A_50th_Anniversary_Memoir

Collection processed by

Mandy Abokhair, Aileen Thong, and Megan Bardis

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-22 10:07:52 -0400.
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Repository

Poly Archives at the Bern Dibner Library of Science and Technology, NYU Libraries
Poly Archives at Bern Dibner Library of Science and Technology
Bern Dibner Library of Science and Technology
5 MetroTech Center
Brooklyn, NY 11201