Skip Navigation
Search
University Libraries
Special Collections and University Archives
HomeStony Brook University Special Collections & ArchivesCollections A to Z AIDC 100

AIDC 100 ARCHIVE: OVERVIEW


HISTORY
Bar codes, smart cards, radio frequency identification (RFID), biometrics, and magnetic stripe are technologies that encompass the rapidly evolving science and industry of Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC). This field of high technology uses advances in scanning and computer processes to capture information quickly and accurately in an automated manner. AIDC technology is ubiquitous, from driver's licenses to credit cards, and it revolutionized the way we live.

But who is recording the history and documenting the work of the scientists, businesses, and organizations that developed these technologies? That was the concern of George and Teddy Goldberg when they approached Stony Brook University in the late 1990s about establishing an archive. As pioneers in the field of AIDC and publishers of SCAN Newsletter, one of the industry's first trade publications, the couple wanted to ensure that the history of AIDC would be documented and preserved.

Stony Brook University Libraries understood the need to collect, catalog, and make this unique history accessible. In 2000, Special Collections established an archive for AIDC and is one of only a few institutions in the United States that has acquired materials pertaining to this field.

The AIDC 100 Archive is named after the AIDC 100, "a not-for-profit, self-sustaining, non-political, international organization of automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) professionals and others who have significantly contributed to the growth and advancement of the industry." George Goldberg was a founding member of the AIDC 100.

The archive comprises personal papers of leaders in the industry, trade publications, journals, books, and artifacts. Diverse formats including print, audio-visual, and artifacts are represented in the archive. In 2006, Special Collections digitized and published the original and international edition of SCAN Newsletter founded in 1977 by George and Teddy Goldberg. Detailed finding aids and related resources provide researchers with comprehensive information about the collections at Stony Brook University.


MISSION STATEMENT
The AIDC 100 Archive at Stony Brook University is a curated collection of primary source materials that documents the history of  automatic identification and data capture (AIDC).

ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS AT STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY

GEORGE GOLDBERG MEMORIAL DIGITIZATION PROJECT
Visit the website for the project to access SCAN Newsletter (September 1977 to December 1996) and SCAN Newsletter: International Edition (November 1982 to October 1984)

AIDC HISTORICAL TIMELINE
"The History of Automatic Identification", augmented and edited by David Allais, August 2015.

"RAISING THE BAR(CODE)": HISTORY OF AIDC TIMELINE EXHIBITION
Curated by Kristen Nyitray in 2010.
Panel 1: Introduction
Panel 2: 1895-1975
Panel 3: 1977-2009

MEMOIR PROJECT

DOUGLAS EDGELL READING ROOM
In 1998, Gabriele A. Edgell established an endowment in memory of her late husband, Douglas Edgell, President and Founder of Edgell Communications, one of the industry’s largest business-to-business publishers. The endowment supports the ongoing stewardship of the archive. The Douglas Edgell Reading Room is named in his honor.