Autobiographical Documents
name: label: Collection Donor
content: Baer, Ralph H., 1922-2014
setName: label: See more items in
content: Ralph H. Baer Papers
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1962 - 2006
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0854, Series 1
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This series provides detailed documentation of Baer's life. An unpublished autobiographical manuscript, "One Inventor's Odyssey: The Life Story of an Engineer and Inventor" (463 pages), is found in hardcopy and, in several versions, as electronic text on a CD. Baer's book, Videogames: In the Beginning, 2005 (Rolenta Press, 2005), draws on the manuscript and reproduces many of the documents in Series 4. David Allison, Chair and Curator of the Museum's Division of Information Technology and Communications, was the principal interviewer in an April 2003 oral history with Baer. Lasting approximately three hours, the interview focuses on Baer's work with television video games but also touches on his life history, his other inventions, the invention process, and the legal complexity surrounding his inventions. There are original and reference audio tapes and an abstract and summary of the interview.