The Sprawl Library Computer Collection

The Sprawl Technology Library is a private library in Columbus Ohio dedicated to the preservation and study of and education about older and historical technologies.

The Frank J. Olynyk Documents Collection

Doctor Frank J. Olynyk was a computer scientist, science fiction fan, and researcher of military history who lived in Aurora, Ohio until his passing in February of 2022. While originally I was brought in to discuss the science fiction collection, I happened upon a large cache of computer history documents that he had also collected.

While his time as a science fiction fan seems to be fairly well documented (see here and here) and his efforts in military history likewise have some documentation (see his obituary here) his time as a computer scientist seems less so.

According to his obituary he spent his university time at the Case Institute of Technology and eventually worked through his PhD at now Case Western Reserve University in 1969 in Cleveland. At the end of this period he went to work for the Chi Corporation, a commercial offshoot of Case Western designed to sell computer time on the new Univac 1107 they had purchased.

During the 1960s he collected a wide variety of computer resources, including many of the Association of Computing Machinery publications which are available in the library. Some of the older and more obscure technical notes and documents have been scanned and are available here.

We are indebted to Kathy O. Smith-Hundley and all of Frank's family for the donation of these and other materials.