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One hundred years have passed since Herman Hollerith invented the punch card as a way of tabulating the 1890 census. That's also, almost exactly, the lifespan of the technology. Punch cards are almost completely gone from public view. With only a few exception, the last few businesses that still use punch cards are phasing them out, replacing punch card systems with computers, optical scanners, and magnetic storage media.[1] But punch cards live on, in a very curious way. One aspect of the era of the punch card has invaded the national subconscious; they've left us one ironic cultural legacy. We remember the punch card era in the phrase "do not fold, spindle, or mutilate." The phrase, and the feelings it represents, have outlasted the technology--not to mention the billions of cards on which it was printed. The cultural manifestations of technologies often outlast their material manifestations (Consider the many expressions based on outdated transportation technologies: "copper-bottom

Steven Lubar Smithsonian Institution May 1991 "Do not fold, spindle or mutilate": A cultural history of the punch card [*] Introduction Early History Punch cards go public The '60s Conclusion Notes Introduction One hundred years have passed since Herman Hollerith invented the punch card as a way of tabulating the 1890 census. That's also, almost exactly, the lifespan of the technology. Punch cards are almost completely gone from public view. With only a few exception, the last few businesses that still use punch cards are phasing them out, replacing punch card systems with computers, optical s

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