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17. 1970 to 1972_WLC/MRC Sale of RASCOL/RASCOL SCANNER to ETS, 1970-1972

 File — Box: 3
Identifier: Box 3

Scope and Contents

Prior to the acquisition of MRC by Westinghouse Learning Corporation in June 1968, the proprietary MRC OMR Scanning Technology (hardware & software) to only a few select customers who posed no direct competition with MRC, such as Science Research Associates, Chicago, IL, and Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois. However, following the WLC-MRC acquisition, a more aggressive 'hardware-delivery' approach was begun, and one of the early (contentious!) sales was to Educational Testing Service (ETS), in Princeton, NJ. MRC had recently developed (and later patented) a novel turn-around concept for a high-speed scanner, initially dubbed RASCOL, which permitted the independent reflective scanning of both sides of each OMR sheet on a single pass through the feed mechanism. ETS Management expressed an interest in purchasing two of these systems from WLC in favor of purchasing a less capable product from MRC competitor, National Computer Systems. The enclosed JVM-to-UI Accession Pocket Folder (200+ estimated pages) contains MRC-ETS correspondence, MRC internal MEMOS, product specifications, contract terms and responsibilities, and many related documents, dating from 22 JAN 1970 to 24 MAY 1972; the final document covering the formal acceptance by ETS on this date per contract signed on 5 MAY 1971, signed by John V. McMillin, MRC, and Russell Martin, Jr, ETS

Dates

  • Creation: 1970-1972

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Extent

From the Collection: 14.50 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Repository Details

Part of the University of Iowa Archives Repository

Contact:
100 Main Library
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City IA 52242
319-335-5921