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Kitchen Table Kibitzing 9/23/26: Don’t Drop The Box [1]

['Major Kong', 'Greg Dworkin', 'Ice Blue']

Date: 2026-09-23  

Today we celebrate the birth of automatic data processing, patented by Herman Hollerith in 1884.

The term automatic data processing was applied to operations performed by means of unit record equipment, such as Herman Hollerith‘s application of punched card equipment for the 1890 United States census. “Using Hollerith’s punchcard equipment, the Census Office was able to complete tabulating most of the 1890 census data in 2 to 3 years, compared with 7 to 8 years for the 1880 census. It is estimated that using Hollerith’s system saved some $5 million in processing costs”[5] in 1890 dollars even though there were twice as many questions as in 1880.

He worked for the Census Bureau, where they were happy he could speed up the process and reduce error. Unlike today.

I’m old enough to remember computer science majors in college carrying their boxes of carefully sorted boxes. Hence the title.

Happy Birthday to this guy:

Him too:

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/9/23/800099759/community/kitchen-table-kibitzing-9-23-26-t/

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