IEEE History Center: Mission

IEEE is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.  The IEEE established the IEEE History Center in 1980, in anticipation of its Centennial celebration in 1984.  In 1990, the Center moved to the campus of Rutgers University, which became a cosponsor.

The mission of the IEEE History Center is to preserve, research and promote the history of information and electrical technologies.  The Center maintains many useful resources for the engineer, for the historian of technology, and for anyone interested in the development of electrical and computer engineering and their role in modern society.  Kindly note that the History Center is not a Museum.  We do not maintain artifacts and exhibits!  We are solely a research facility!  Visiting scholars and researchers are welcome to use our research library and archives, by appointment only!  (If you are interested in learning more about historic engineering sites in the State of New Jersey, click here! 

Most of the Center's resources are available on-line at this site.  The Center’s holdings include the IEEE Archives, which consist of the unpublished records of the IEEE and a collection of historical photographs relating to history of electrical and computer technologies, and a collection of oral history transcripts of pioneering engineers.  Within IEEE, the History Center is part of the IEEE Educational Activities Department, and it is co-sponsored by Rutgers University , where it is affiliated with the History Department of the New Brunswick Campus Faculty of Arts and Sciences.