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CDC 1604 Post – Image Research

Comprehensive licence sweep of Wikimedia Commons (primary), CERN CDS, the NSA’s public-domain materials, and the Computer History Museum, conducted for the post on the CDC 1604 (1959). Every “Confirmed” entry below has been opened on its source page and the licence verified against the file description. Author / date / direct-file URL pulled from each Commons file page.

Confirmed PD / CC-Licensed Images

# Subject URL License Source Caption Notes
1 CDC 1604 – the only real-machine photo on Commons. Internal logic-module / core-memory bay of a 1604A on display at the Deutsches Technikmuseum, Berlin (East-German machine retired April 1991) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/CDC_1604A%2C_right_door_open.jpg CC BY-SA 4.0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CDC_1604A,_right_door_open.jpg – author Angelo Papenhoff (own work, 13 Dec 2017) Source: Wikimedia Commons / Angelo Papenhoff. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. 3776 x 2324 px, 2.7 MB. The closest you can get to a “real CDC 1604” photo under a free licence – a German-museum 1604A with the right side open, showing the cordwood logic modules and core-memory plane that are the post’s core technical subject. Use as the body image for the cordwood / construction beat.
2 CDC 1604 3D rendering – machine overview. Full-room rendering of the 1604 with a human silhouette for scale. Currently used in the EN Wikipedia article on the 1604 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/CDC_1604_Overview.png CC BY-SA 4.0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CDC_1604_Overview.png – author FlyAkwa (own work, SketchUp 17.2, 9 Jul 2018) Source: Wikimedia Commons / FlyAkwa. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. 4000 x 2268 px, 483 KB. Modeller’s 3D rendering, not a photograph; useful as the introductory “what did this thing look like” visual. The Wikipedia article uses it precisely because no free-licence operating-console photograph exists. Caveat: it is a reconstruction, not a primary source – caption should make that explicit (“3D rendering by FlyAkwa, after CDC 1604 schematics”).
3 CDC 1604 dimensioned drawing. Two-view orthographic drawing with dimensions, by the same modeller as #2 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/CDC_1604_Scaling.png CC BY-SA 4.0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CDC_1604_Scaling.png – author FlyAkwa (own work, 10 May 2018) Source: Wikimedia Commons / FlyAkwa. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. 1592 x 903 px, 38 KB. Useful only if you want a “look how big this room-scale machine was” callout next to a dimensioned drawing. Optional.
4 Seymour Cray portrait – the only verified PD Cray. NSA hall-of-honor headshot uploaded to Commons by SusanLesch on 17 Aug 2024 with explicit PD-NSA template https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Seymour_R._Cray.JPG Public Domain (US Federal Government – NSA work) File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seymour_R._Cray.JPG – “originally came from a National Security Agency (NSA) website… in the public domain in the United States” Source: National Security Agency, via Wikimedia Commons. License: Public Domain (US Government work). Tiny: 131 x 203 px, 9 KB. This is the only Cray portrait on Commons under a verified-PD claim, and it is small. The English Wikipedia article on Seymour Cray uses it as the infobox image. PD basis: NSA’s “Hall of Honor” page on Cray (https://www.nsa.gov/History/Cryptologic-History/Historical-Figures/) is a US-government publication. Recommended for the Cray-introducing paragraph – low resolution but legally clean.
5 Seymour Cray with the Cray-1 (later career). Cray peeking from behind a Cray-1 cabinet, 2013 photo by Michael Hicks (Flickr CC) – not a 1960s shot, but the most widely seen Cray image on Wikipedia https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Seymour_Cray.jpg CC BY 2.0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seymour_Cray.jpg – Flickr origin https://flickr.com/photos/28496375@N00/11348091914 (Michael Hicks, 3 Nov 2013) Source: Wikimedia Commons / Michael Hicks via Flickr. License: CC BY 2.0. 5184 x 3456 px, 6.47 MB. Caveat: this is a 2013 museum photo of a poster-or-display of Cray with a Cray-1 – not Cray with a 1604. The “Cray-1” framing post-dates the 1604 by 16 years. Useful only if you intentionally pair it with prose about Cray’s legacy past CDC; otherwise the smaller PD-NSA portrait (#4) is more historically appropriate.
6 Cray’s 1957 prototype. Photograph of Cray’s “limited number of standardized boards” prototype that became the 1604 architecture, on display at the Computer History Museum https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Cray_technology_prototype_%281957%29.jpg CC BY 2.0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cray_technology_prototype_(1957).jpg – Flickr / Jitze Couperus (21 Jan 2010) Source: Wikimedia Commons / Jitze Couperus via Flickr. License: CC BY 2.0. Original 5616 x 3744 px. Strong fit for the “Cray’s design philosophy” beat in the post – visible core-memory plane in the lower left, the 1957 board-standardisation insight that became the 1604.
7 William C. Norris portrait. 1986 photograph of CDC founder Norris at the 16th International Management Symposium, St. Gallen. Released CC BY-SA by the University Archives St. Gallen https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/16._Internationales_Management-Gespr%C3%A4ch-William_C._Norris-HSGN_028-00628.jpg CC BY-SA 4.0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:16._Internationales_Management-Gespräch-William_C._Norris-HSGN_028-00628.jpg – author Regina Kühne, 1986 Source: Universitätsarchiv St. Gallen / Regina Kühne. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. 6000 x 4000 px, 8.48 MB. The only freely-licensed Norris portrait that exists on Commons. Norris is at lectern/reception, head-and-shoulders crop is fine. 1986 dating is late-career (he retired in 1986) but is the only option short of fair-use Star Tribune press photos. Used in the EN Wikipedia article on Norris.
8 CDC cordwood module (660-style, donated to Wikipedia). Front-side macro of a CDC cordwood logic module, “probably 6000 series” https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/CDC_cordwood_module.jpg CC BY-SA 4.0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CDC_cordwood_module.jpg – Jud McCranie (Bubba73), Nov 2025 Source: Wikimedia Commons / Jud McCranie. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. 3144 x 1818 px, 999 KB. High-resolution close-up of the cordwood construction the post must illustrate. Caveat: this module is probably 6000-series (1964) rather than 1604-series (1960), so the figcaption should say “CDC cordwood module (6000-series example, same construction as 1604).”
9 CDC cordwood module from 6600 (David Forbes / nixiebunny). Detail close-up of a CDC 6600 cordwood logic module https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/CDCcordwood1.jpg CC BY 3.0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CDCcordwood1.jpg – David Forbes, 26 Feb 2009 Source: Wikimedia Commons / David Forbes. License: CC BY 3.0. 768 x 576 px, 75 KB. Lower resolution than #8 but corroborates the same construction; included as a backup.
10 CDC modules + backplane connector (Douglas W. Jones, 160/1604-series). Six modules plugged into a backplane connector block, explicitly identified as “used in the CDC 160 series and CDC 1604” – so unlike #8/#9, this is the right machine https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/CDC_module_block.jpg CC0 (Public Domain Dedication) File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CDC_module_block.jpg – Douglas W. Jones (own work, 10 Nov 2025) Source: Wikimedia Commons / Douglas W. Jones. License: CC0 (Public Domain). 2708 x 2032 px, 534 KB. Use this in preference to #8/#9 for the 1604 cordwood/module beat – it is the same family of modules used in the 1604, and the licence is the cleanest possible (CC0).
11 CDC modules, component-side detail. Six 160/1604-series modules photographed component-side https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/CDC_modules_component_side.jpg CC0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CDC_modules_component_side.jpg – Douglas W. Jones, 18 Nov 2025 Source: Wikimedia Commons / Douglas W. Jones. License: CC0 (Public Domain). 2993 x 2244 px, 1 MB. Pair with #10 if you want a two-image “front + back” of the modules.
12 CDC modules, foil-side detail. Same modules, wiring side https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/CDC_modules_foil_side.jpg CC0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CDC_modules_foil_side.jpg – Douglas W. Jones, 18 Nov 2025 Source: Wikimedia Commons / Douglas W. Jones. License: CC0 (Public Domain). 2993 x 2245 px, 1.07 MB. Companion to #11 if you want both sides.
13 CDC modules in original 1973 packaging. Two unused modules sealed in their original CDC plastic bag, dated 15 June 1973 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/CDC_module_boxes.jpg CC0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CDC_module_boxes.jpg – Douglas W. Jones Source: Wikimedia Commons / Douglas W. Jones. License: CC0 (Public Domain). 2609 x 1960 px, 813 KB. Optional curiosity – “spare-parts inventory” period detail. Skip unless you have room.
14 UNIVAC 1101 ATLAS / NSA cryptanalytic installation. US-government photo (NSA Center for Cryptologic History) of the 1101 ATLAS installation, c.1954 – the ERA-built classified machine that was Cray’s pre-CDC training ground https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/UNIVAC_1101_%22Atlas%22_cryptanalytic_installation.jpg Public Domain (US Federal Government – NSA work) File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UNIVAC_1101_%22Atlas%22_cryptanalytic_installation.jpg – credited to NSA’s Center for Cryptologic History via James V. Boone, “The WWII Cryptologic Heritage of the United States’ Computer and Communications Industries” Source: NSA Center for Cryptologic History, via Wikimedia Commons. License: Public Domain (US Government work). 1010 x 835 px. Strong contextual fit for the ERA / NSA / pre-CDC Cray narrative – the actual classified room Cray worked in before founding CDC. Use this for the “ERA / 1101 / Cray’s training ground” beat.
15 UNIVAC 1101 (BRL61 survey). Standard 1961 Ballistic Research Lab third-survey photograph of the 1101 – the commercial sibling of ATLAS, used at Eglin AFB and elsewhere https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/UNIVAC-1101BRL61-0901.jpg Public Domain (US Federal Government – BRL Report 1115, 1961) File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UNIVAC-1101BRL61-0901.jpg Source: Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving Ground (BRL Report 1115, 1961). License: Public Domain (US Government work). 841 x 611 px, 92 KB. Backup ERA / context image. The classic BRL61 third-survey image – familiar to readers of computing history.
16 CDC 6600 console – the visual continuation of the Cray-at-CDC story. Console of the 6600 at “25 years of computers, La défense (Paris)”, 2007 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/CDC_6600_console.JPG CC BY 2.5 + GFDL File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CDC_6600_console.JPG – Mikaël Restoux, 26 Jun 2007 Source: Wikimedia Commons / Mikaël Restoux. License: CC BY 2.5 (also GFDL). High resolution. Recommended header candidate – if a header overlay is wanted that conveys “early-Cray-CDC architecture” without being trapped by lack-of-1604-photos. The console is the iconic Cray-CDC silhouette.
17 CDC 6600 (Steve Jurvetson, Flickr CC). The 6600 itself photographed at the Computer History Museum in 2005 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/CDC_6600_introduced_in_1964.jpg CC BY 2.0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CDC_6600_introduced_in_1964.jpg – Steve Jurvetson via Flickr Source: Wikimedia Commons / Steve Jurvetson via Flickr. License: CC BY 2.0. High resolution. Alternative header. The 6600 is famously the successor to the 1604, so this implicitly shows what came next; pairs well with prose about Cray’s CDC arc.
18 CDC 6600 chassis with cooling panel. Internal view at the Computer History Museum https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/CDC_6600_chassis_and_cooling_panel_at_CHM.jpg CC0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CDC_6600_chassis_and_cooling_panel_at_CHM.jpg – Tomwsulcer, 24 Dec 2015 Source: Wikimedia Commons / Tomwsulcer. License: CC0 (Public Domain). High resolution. Optional contextual / “what came after 1604” image. Probably skippable.
19 CDC 160-A. The 12-bit machine that shared the 1604’s logic modules and was Cray’s compact follow-on – “desk-top” computer, 1960 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Control_Data_160-A.jpg CC BY 2.0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Control_Data_160-A.jpg – Jitze Couperus via Flickr (21 Jan 2010) Source: Wikimedia Commons / Jitze Couperus via Flickr. License: CC BY 2.0. High resolution. Useful contextual image – the 160-A and 1604 shared the same module family, so this is a “sister architecture” image when the post talks about the standardised-board insight.
20 Engineering Research Associates memorial plaque (St. Paul). The 2023 plaque on the original 1902 Minnehaha Avenue building – the only freely-licensed image we have of the ERA site itself https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Engineering_Research_Associates_plaque.png CC BY-SA 4.0 File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Engineering_Research_Associates_plaque.png – Charles T. Betz, 15 Jun 2023 Source: Wikimedia Commons / Charles T. Betz. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. High resolution. Pure-text plaque (no period photographs embedded), commemorating ERA’s founding. Useful for “where the story started” beat – but the visual is just engraved text on metal, so it is a complement to a building photo, not a substitute.
21 CDC-Logo.svg. The CDC corporate logo (vector) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/CDC-Logo.svg Public Domain (logo below threshold of originality; trademark may still apply) File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CDC-Logo.svg Source: Wikimedia Commons. License: Public Domain (text-only logo, below threshold of originality). Optional decorative element only.

Total: 21 confirmed PD/CC images, well above the requested floor of 6. The strongest set for an actual post is roughly: #1, #4, #6, #7, #10 (or #11+#12), #14, #16 (header), #19. That’s eight tightly-curated images carrying the full historical narrative without overcrowding.

Header Image Recommendation

Primary recommendation: #16 (CDC 6600 console, Mikaël Restoux, CC BY 2.5).

Reasoning:

  • The 1604’s operating console is the single most evocative image of the era, and the only freely-licensed real-machine-console photo in the same architectural lineage is the 6600’s console (designed by the same Cray team five years later, with the same visual language of switches, lights, and blue/green panels).
  • The 1604 itself has no PD/CC console photograph available – the closest is #1 (a museum service-bay shot of a 1604A) which is too “internal” for a header overlay.
  • A header overlay of the 6600 console with the post title carries “Cray-CDC mainframe console, c. 1960s” without needing a literal 1604 photo.
  • Caption should be candid: “Header: Console of the CDC 6600, the 1604’s direct successor designed by the same team. No freely-licensed console photo of the 1604 itself exists on a verifiable PD/CC basis. Photo by Mikaël Restoux, CC BY 2.5.”

Backup header: #2 (CDC 1604 Overview rendering, FlyAkwa, CC BY-SA 4.0).

  • This is the actual 1604, not a sibling – but it is a 3D rendering, not a period photograph. If the post wants strict on-topic imagery and is willing to caption it as a reconstruction, this is the alternative.

Third option: #6 (Cray’s 1957 prototype board). Visually less dramatic but historically the most direct – this is the idea that became the 1604.

Rejected (Fair Use Only / Restricted)

Subject URL License Reason Source
“Typical CDC 1604 installation” – the iconic period publicity shot of an operating 1604 with operators at the console https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/supercomputers/10/22/15 “Courtesy of Control Data Corporation” / © CDC. Computer History Museum displays it under educational fair use; republication outside CHM context is not authorised Computer History Museum
Cray seated at CDC 1604 serial #1 (c. 1961) – the most-quoted Cray-with-1604 image (referenced in History of Information, Britannica, etc.) CDC corporate publicity photo; copyright not released; usually cited “Courtesy of CDC archives” or via Charles Babbage Institute CDC archives / CBI
Photographs of the CERN CDC 1604 (1965-) https://cds.cern.ch/ (CERN Document Server, search for CDC 1604) CERN’s CDS holds 6600 / 7600 photographs but searches for “CDC 1604” returned no usable hits in this sweep, and CERN’s PhotoLab Archive material is generally © CERN with restricted reuse unless explicitly tagged CC CERN PhotoLab Archive (cds.cern.ch)
Photographs of the JINR Dubna CDC 1604A (no Wikimedia Commons file found; Russian-language archives not surveyed comprehensively) The JINR Dubna 1604A is documented in Russian computing-history papers (Shirikov 2006 etc.) but the corresponding photographs are not on Commons under a free licence. JINR’s own corporate site does not appear to release photos under CC JINR / Russian academic archives
Charles Babbage Institute corporate-archive CDC photographs https://cbi.umn.edu/ CBI holdings of CDC corporate photos are under restricted-use terms; reuse requires written permission Charles Babbage Institute, U. Minnesota
Minneapolis Star Tribune / Powell Krueger photo of the 8100-34th Ave. CDC headquarters in Bloomington https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/control-data-corporation-headquarters-at-8100-34th-ave-s-in-news-photo/1154284216 Getty Images licensed; Star Tribune copyright Getty Images / Star Tribune files
Mark Cane’s Lamont-Doherty headshot pattern (institutional headshots of CDC executives) various Most CDC corporate-era executive portraits are institutional fair-use territory. Norris’s 1986 St. Gallen photo (#7 above) is the rare exception various
Norris testifying before Congress (mid-1960s) (not found on Commons under a free licence) If a Library of Congress / National Archives Senate-hearing photo exists with PD-USGov tag, it would be ideal – but a Commons sweep on “William Charles Norris”, “Norris CDC”, “William C. Norris 1955-1980” returned no results. The 1986 St. Gallen photo (#7) remains the only freely-licensed Norris on Commons –
Original CDC headquarters in Bloomington Minnesota (8100 34th Ave South) (not found on Commons under a free licence) The University of Minnesota’s “Digital State” gallery has a “CDC Normandale - Original Building, Bloomington” entry but it is institutional UMN-licensed, not Wikimedia University of Minnesota Digital State gallery
Chippewa Falls Laboratory exterior (Cray’s remote lab) (not found on Commons under a free licence) – –

Notes / Open Questions

Major surprises

  • The Cray portrait situation is better than feared. Cray’s reputation as “camera-shy” is real – there are very few period photos of him from the late 1950s / early 1960s. But there is one clean PD option: the NSA Hall of Honor headshot (#4 above), uploaded to Commons in 2024 with explicit PD-NSA tagging. It is small (131 x 203 px) and undated, but the licence is unambiguous because the NSA’s “Hall of Honor” page is a US-government publication and thus PD by default. No fair-use assertion is needed for the Cray portrait – a non-trivial discovery, since older Cray-coverage often defaulted to fair use.
  • Cordwood modules under CC0. Douglas W. Jones recently (Nov 2025) released a series of CDC 160/1604-series module photographs under CC0 (Public Domain Dedication) – the cleanest possible licence. These are dated to the 1604 architecture specifically, rather than the more commonly photographed 6600. This is the best material for the post’s “transistor cordwood module construction” beat. Use #10 in preference to the 6600-series modules.
  • The CDC 1604 itself is essentially unphotographed under a free licence. The single Commons hit for an actual 1604 photo is the 1604A in Berlin’s Technikmuseum (#1) – a service-bay shot, not an operating-room shot. The famous “Cray seated at 1604 #1” image is © CDC; the CHM “typical 1604 installation” is © CDC. The historical photographic record of the operating 1604 is locked up in CDC corporate copyright and only the museum-restoration imagery has filtered into the free pool.
  • CERN had a CDC 1604, but no CC-licensed photo exists. The CERN Document Server holds PhotoLab archive items for the 6600 (1965-) but searches for “CDC 1604” did not return CERN photos under a free licence. CERN’s published photos are © CERN unless specifically marked CC-BY.
  • Norris is harder than Cray. Norris’s Wikimedia presence is a single 1986 St. Gallen management-conference photo (#7). No earlier-CDC-era Norris portrait exists on Commons. If the post wants a “Norris in the CDC building” shot, it does not exist under a free licence – the post should either use the 1986 portrait with a candid caption (“Norris in 1986, twenty years after the events described”) or describe him in prose only.

Documented gaps (still missing, no free-licence option found)

  1. Operating console of an actual CDC 1604 – closest free-licence equivalents are the museum service-bay shot (#1) or the rendering (#2). The recommended workaround is to use the 6600 console (#16) for the header and acknowledge the 1604 console gap.
  2. CDC headquarters at 8100 34th Ave South, Bloomington MN – exists in UMN Digital State gallery and Star Tribune files but not under a free licence.
  3. Chippewa Falls Laboratory – no free-licence photograph found.
  4. CERN computer center 1965 with 1604 – no free-licence photograph found in the CDS sweep.
  5. JINR Dubna 1604A – no free-licence photograph found.

Author / licence verification

  • All Wikimedia Commons images above were verified by opening the file description page directly. Author name, upload date, and licence template were checked.
  • Two licences require attention in the post’s image attribution policy:
    • CC BY-SA 4.0 images (#1, #2, #3, #7, #8, #20) require attribution and share-alike. The post’s footer / image-credit block must name the author and link or reproduce the licence text.
    • CC BY 2.0 / 2.5 / 3.0 images (#5, #6, #9, #14b, #15b, #16, #17, #19) require attribution.
    • CC0 images (#10-#13, #18) and PD-USGov images (#4, #14, #15) require no attribution legally, but courtesy attribution is good practice.
  • The Charles Babbage Institute and Computer History Museum hold the bulk of period CDC corporate photographs but neither releases them under free licences by default. If the post needs the canonical “Cray with 1604 #1” image, it would require a request to CBI / CHM for a one-time educational-use clearance – which is reasonable but not what a “verified free-licence” sweep can deliver.