Abstract :
Dissertation research in the history of computing received a major boost with the establishment of the Adelle and Erwin Tomash Fellowship. This fellowship, as the author explains, was part of the Charles Babbage Institute´s underlying philosophy. One of the Charles Babbage Institute´s foundational concepts to advance scholarship on the history of information processing was providing fellowships for dissertation research. As a result, a CBI/Tomash Fellowship has been granted every year from 1978 to the present, with the exception of two years in which the fellowship had corecipients (1979-1980 and 1986-1987). In 1989, the Charles Babbage Institute Fellowship was renamed the Adelle and Erwin Tomash Fellowship to recognize Erwin and Adelle´s generous support of the Institute and its programs. The CBI/Tomash,Fellows have consistently produced important dissertations about the history of information processing. A number of them have been revised and published as books, or they have been the basis for significant articles. The majority of the fellows came from programs in the history of technology and science, but doctoral students from other disciplines conducting historically based dissertation projects have also received the awards. Many fellowship recipients have become leading scholars of information processing history, while others have furthered understanding of contemporary and historical issues in computing through research and teaching in economics, management, communications, and other disciplines
