Computers & Genealogy in 1975

The following is an extract from the October 1975 issue of the Keyhole, Vol. III, No. 4, page 3. Dr. Austin H. Montgomery, Jr. had addressed a meeting of the Genealogical Society of Southwestern Pennsylvania on the subject of "The Use of Computer Technology in Genealogical Research".
Dr. Montgomery talked of the efficient use of the computer to organize one's data acquired in genealogical search in order to make the work of compilation more useful and more easily up-dated as new information is added to one's files. Dr. Montgomery pointed out that the main requirement to begin such work is access to a keypunch machine, often available by borrowing or renting. After the desired program is worked out and the cards punched, the cards may be run through the computer owned by universities or companies, frequently as a service to the person, at no cost to the user. Each card accounts for a line of printed material, which can be reproduced by offset printing at nominal cost. Those who have prepared indexes through the tedious process of items written on cards, arranged alphabetically, the typed, sometimes tediously corrected, can appreciate the more efficient computer system which is more easily corrected, more facile to up-date, and more versatile in cross reference arrangement, and provides other facets of use which are set up in the original programming.
Dr. Montgomery had vision. Twenty-two years later, given we have exceeded this vision. Now, in 1998, with the Internet and projects like http://www.chartiers.com , genealogists have added yet another dimension to their use of computers. Welcome aboard!