Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) PDP-1 Computer System Information

Source Documents

The following records are a very incomplete listing selected from the available correspondence, letters, memoranda and reports published by the Computer History Museum. Refer to their Collections and contents for the complete records. The references below may only contain the title or a brief summary of a Memoranda's contents. A subset will contain an extract of a memoranda, and rarely, some will have nearly most of a record. Do not rely on any of the information below, always refer to the source material published by the Computer History Museum. The listings below are only a fraction of the material published by the Computer History Museum. Any copyright of the Computer History Museum remains with the Computer Museum.

DEC records are not organised as a single stream organised into a simple timeline but consists of multiple batches of records in multiple, ovelapping, forward or reversed timelines. There can be multiple copies of a record in different batches. A single batch can appear in different subsets of the DEC Collection. The following was selected to trace the history and produce a timeline for the PDP-1. Other records are included purely out of curiosity, or a whim. You have been warned.

Record Title Source
102737374 Ken Olsen Letters, 1958-1961 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737374/
102737375 Ken Olsen Letters, 1962-1964 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737375/
102737376 Ken Olsen Letters, 1965 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737376/
102737377 Ken Olsen Letters, 1966 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737377/
102737378 Ken Olsen Letters, 1968 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737378/
102737379 Ken Olsen Letters, 1969 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737379/
102737380 Ken Olsen Letters, 1970 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737380/
102737382 Ken Olsen Memoranda, 1959-1960 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737382/
102737383 Ken Olsen Memoranda, 1961 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737383/
102737384 Ken Olsen Memoranda, 1962 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600000624/record/102737384/
102737385 Ken Olsen Memoranda, 1963 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737385/
102737386 Ken Olsen Memoranda, 1964 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737386/
102737387 Ken Olsen Memoranda, 1965 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737387/
102737388 Ken Olsen Memoranda, 1966 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737388/
102737389 Ken Olsen Memoranda, 1967 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737389/
102737390 Ken Olsen Memoranda, 1968 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737390/
102737392 Ken Olsen Memoranda, 1969 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737392/
102737393 Ken Olsen Memoranda, 1970 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600001163/record/102737393/
102750011 Correspondence From Anderson https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600000050/record/102750011/
102750014 Correspondence To Anderson https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600000050/record/102750014/
102750017 DEC BiWeekly Reports https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600000050/record/102750017/
102750025 Eastern Joint Computer Conference 1959 Papers https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600000050/record/102750025/
102750026 Memoranda From Anderson https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600000050/record/102750026/
102750027 Memoranda To Anderson https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/600000050/record/102750027/

Ken Olsen Leters

All the following are in the repository of the Computer History Museum,

Series Part Start Date End Date Pages File Bytes Indexed Downloaded
102737375 1 of 6 1962-01-09 1962-12-19 272 102737375-05-001-src.pdf 1 of 12 2026-10-16
102737375 2 of 6 1962-01-10 1963-12-24 195 102737375-05-002-src.pdf 2 of 12 2026-10-17
102737375 3 of 6 1964-03-24 1964-12-22 118 102737375-05-004-src.pdf 3 of 12 2026-10-17
102737375 4 of 6 1964-03-24 1964-12-22 118 102737375-05-004-src.pdf 4 of 12 2026-10-17
102737375 5 of 6 1964-01-21 1964-05-28 118 102737375-05-004-src.pdf 5 of 12 2026-10-17
102737375 6 of 6 1964-01-02 1964-12-20 222 102737375-05-006-src.pdf 6 of 12 2026-10-17

Ken Olsen Memoranda

All the following are in the repository of the Computer History Museum,

Series Part Start Date End Date Pages File Bytes Indexed Downloaded
102737384 1 of 6 1962-01-02 1962-05-31 247 102737384-05-001-src.pdf 96,542,326 1 of 12 2026-10-10
102737384 2 of 6 1962-06-06 1962-12-31 138 102737384-05-002-src.pdf 52,293,355 2 of 12 2026-10-10
102737384 3 of 6 1962-01-18 1962-05-31 203 102737384-05-003-src.pdf 102,162,939 3 of 12 2026-10-10
102737384 4 of 6 1962-06-01 1962-08-31 155 102737384-05-004-src.pdf 79,926,003 4 of 12 2026-10-10
102737384 5 of 6 1962-09-04 1962-10-30 149 102737384-05-005-src.pdf 72,389,398 5 of 12 2026-10-10
102737384 6 of 6 1962-11-02 1962-12-31 189 102737384-05-006-src.pdf 91,685,426 6 of 12 2026-10-10
102737387 1 of 6 1965-01-04 1965-05-27 169 102737387-05-001-src.pdf 65,095,845 1 of 12 2026-10-14
102737387 2 of 6 1965-06-01 1965-12-31 132 102737387-05-002-src.pdf 53,690,652 2 of 12 2026-10-14
102737387 3 of 6 1965-01-04 1965-03-31 168 102737387-05-003-src.pdf 79,414,692 3 of 12 2026-10-14
102737387 4 of 6 1965-04-01 1965-06-30 172 102737387-05-0004-src.pdf 76,650,391 4 of 12 2026-10-14
102737387 5 of 6 1965-07-06 1965-09-23 157 102737387-05-0005-src.pdf 72,801,289 5 of 12 2026-10-14
102737387 6 of 6 1965-09-28 1965-12-31 196 102737387-05-0006-src.pdf 86,832,525 6 of 12 2026-10-14
102737392 1 of 5 1969-01-01 1969-09-30 198 102737392-05-0001-src.pdf 76,023,929 1 of 10 2026-10-19
102737392 2 of 5 1969-10-01 1969-12-31 75 102737392-05-0002-src.pdf 33,567158 2 of 10 2026-10-19
102737392 3 of 5 1969-01-01 1969-04-31 150 102737392-05-0003-src.pdf 84,904,212 3 of 10 2026-10-19
102737392 4 of 5 1969-05-01 1969-06-30 195 102737392-05-0004-src.pdf 137,615,421 4 of 10 2026-10-19
102737392 5 of 5 1969-07-01 1969-06-30 185 102737392-05-0005-src.pdf 93,781,381 5 of 10 2026-10-19

DEC BiWeekly Reports

All the following are in the repository of the Computer History Museum,

Series Part Start Date End Date Pages File Bytes Indexed Downloaded
102750017 1 of 8 1959-01-16 1959-12-31 101 102750017-05-001-src.pdf 70,26 KB 4 of 16 2026-10-13
102750017 2 of 8 1960-01-15 1960-12-29 146 102750017-05-002-src.pdf 102,061 KB 5 of 16 2026-10-13
102750017 3 of 8 1961-01-13 1961-12-22 246 102750017-05-003-src.pdf 160,307 KB 6 of 16 2026-10-13
102750017 4 of 8 1962-01-5 1962-07-20 246 102750017-05-004-src.pdf 150,016 KB 7 of 16 2026-10-13
102750017 5 of 8 1962-08-3 1962-12-21 189 102750017-05-005-src.pdf 122,058 KB 8 of 16 2026-10-13
102750017 6 of 8 1963-01-4 1963-06-21 217 102750017-05-0006-src.pdf 132,842 KB 1 of 16 2026-10-13
102750017 7 of 8 1963-07-10 1963-12-20 175 102750017-05-0007-src.pdf 109,285 KB 2 of 16 2026-10-13
102750017 8 of 8 1964-01-3 1964-08-28 101 102750017-05-0008-src.pdf 60,860 KB 3 of 16 2026-10-13

Ken Olsen Memoranda 1959-1960, Part 1 0f 4, 102737382-05-0001-src.pdf, 231 pages,
Ken Olsen Memoranda 1959-1960, Part 2 0f 4, 102737382-05-0002-src.pdf, 184 pages,
Ken Olsen Memoranda 1961, Part 1 0f 8, 102737383-05-0001-src .pdf, 158 pages,
Ken Olsen Memoranda 1961, Part 2 0f 8, 102737383-05-0002-src.pdf, 163 pages,
Ken Olsen Memoranda 1961, Part 3 0f 8, 102737383-05-0003-src.pdf, 134 pages,
Ken Olsen Memoranda 1961, Part 4 0f 8, 102737383-05-0004-src.pdf, 109 pages,
Ken Olsen Memoranda 1966, Part 1 of 12, 102737388-05-0001-src.pdf, 96 Pages

1966 102737388-05-0001-src.pdf, 96 Pages102737616-05-0002-src.PDF

Memoranda to Harlan Anderson 1959-1966, Part 1 of 58, 102750027-05-0001-src.pdf, 116 Pages
Memoranda to Harlan Anderson 1960, Part 2 of 58, 102750027-05-0002-src.pdf, 127 pages
Memoranda to Harlan Anderson 1960, Part 3 of 58, 102750027-05-0003-src.pdf, 245 pages
Memoranda to Harlan Anderson 1961, part 4 of 58, 102750027-05-0004-src.pdf, 286 Pages
Memoranda to Harlan Anderson 1961, part 5 of 58, 102750027-05-0005-src.pdf, 159 pages
Memoranda to Harlan Anderson 1962, part 6 of 58, 102750027-05-0006-src.pdf, 176 pages,
Memoranda to Harlan Anderson 1962, part 7 of 58, 102750027-05-0007-src.pdf, 165 pages
Memoranda to Harlan Anderson 1962, part 8 of 58, 102750027-05-0008-src.pdf, 160 pages

Harlan Anderson Memoranda 1959-1960, Part 2 of , 102737398-05-0003-src.pdf, 158 pages

Ken Olsen Memoranda 1959-1960, Part 3 0f 4, 102737382-05-0001-acc.pdf, 230 pages,
Ken Olsen Memoranda 1959-1960, Part 4 0f 4, 102737382-05-0002-acc.pdf, 183 pages,

File Start End Pages PDP-X PDP-1 PDP-1C PDP-1C
ADX		 PDP-1D PDP-1X PDP-2 PDP-3 PDP-4 PDP-5 PDP-6 PDP-7 PDP-8 PDP-9 PDP-10 PDP-11 PDP-12 PDP-14 PDP-15
102737375-05-001-src.pdf 1961-01-01 1962-12-31 272 17 0 11 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0
102737375-05-002-src.pdf 1962-01-01 1962-12-31 195 6 0 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0
102737375-05-003-src.pdf 1963-09-01 1963-12-31 186 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 18 0 0
102737375-05-004-src.pdf 1964-01-01 1964-12-31 118 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 13 0 1 11 0 0 0 0
102737375-05-005-src.pdf 1964-01-01 1964-05-31 116 9 0 0 1 0 0 0 10 16 19 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
102737375-05-006-src.pdf 1964-01-01 1964-12-31 222 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 8 10 21 13 10 0 0 0 0 0 0
102737384-05-001-src.pdf 1962-01-01 1962-05-31 247 0 6 0 2 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0

File size grew too large for this server and I've split the file into years.

1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970