Bantoro = Henry Ford
May 27, 2009 10:25 AM   Subscribe

Museum archivist, exploring Henry Ford's office records, stumbles into the interesting world of commercial telegraphic code.
posted by Miko (15 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
Seriously. Cool. This is the sort of stuff I love, and one of the reasons I really want to do document work one day down the road.
posted by strixus at 10:31 AM on May 27, 2009


It does seem odd to me that someone tasked with being a business records archivist would be initially unfamiliar with commercial codes. They were used intensively well into the 1950s at least. (Amusingly, Alfred Bester's 1952 SF novel "The Demolished Man" seems to assume they'd still be around for centuries; a crucial plot point hinges on them.)
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:41 AM on May 27, 2009


The ABC's: Asimov, Bester, and Clarke

What about Bradbury?

I'm familiar with his work.
posted by jonp72 at 10:43 AM on May 27, 2009


MetaFilter: EWVGL
posted by steef at 10:48 AM on May 27, 2009


the whole bit (in wikipedia) on using actual words as codewords for other words and phrases -- because some telegraph companies required that messages be real words -- was fascinating and hilarious, esp for this example:

annosus - Confined yesterday, Twins, both dead, Mother not expected to live
posted by selenized at 11:03 AM on May 27, 2009


In terms of ratio of effort required to favorites/comments, this was my least successful post ever. Part of the problem may have been that I posted it on a Saturday night right after hearing a talk on the subject.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 11:12 AM on May 27, 2009


It does seem odd to me that someone tasked with being a business records archivist would be initially unfamiliar with commercial codes. They were used intensively well into the 1950s at least.

George_Spiggott, actually, as I practicing archivist, I'm not surprised. As the field becomes more and more professionalized, you get less people with subject area expertise fall into becoming archivists and more people educated as archivists (in this country usually through an MLIS program with a specialization in archives and records management, but there is a movement underfoot in the profession to develop separate Masters of Archives programs). I can't speak for the whole profession, but I feel safe in stating that the focus now is on the best ways of describing and arranging the materials to provide access to the materials.

The important thing is that like any information professional worth her salt, she figured it out or asked the right question to the right person/people and thus was able to properly identify the materials.

/stepping away from my archivists' soap box...
posted by kaybdc at 12:12 PM on May 27, 2009 [1 favorite]


Boinged, and they call us smugbastards!
posted by dirtdirt at 12:24 PM on May 27, 2009


Commercial codes play a part in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress but I didn't truly understand what they were talking about until now. Specifically the motivation to save money. I couldn't figure out what the heck the point of a publicly available "code" book would be. After all, the person you are trying to keep your messages secret from could just sally down to the code book shop and pick a copy up. The protagonists did modify their book but still, why would there be a market for commercial books in the first place. Should have been obvious I guess.

"In terms of ratio of effort required to favorites/comments, this was my least successful post ever. Part of the problem may have been that I posted it on a Saturday night right after hearing a talk on the subject."

The mystery meatness of the front page section is probably more to blame.
posted by Mitheral at 2:02 PM on May 27, 2009


The ABC's: Asimov, Bester, and Clarke

What about Bradbury?

I'm familiar with his work.


You shut your filthy mouth.

Also, hang around any software company and you'd think the practice of talking in code never stopped.
posted by GuyZero at 3:30 PM on May 27, 2009


Old old joke now takes on more meaning (pardons to Scotsmen):

A Scotsman had to send a telegram and not wishing to spend more money than necessary, wrote this:
'Bruises hurt erased afford erected analysis hurt too infectious dead'
posted by Twang at 4:06 PM on May 27, 2009 [1 favorite]


That makes sense, kaybcd. Thanks.

Another interesting sidebar: the "American Black Chamber", the cryptanalysis division or cipher bureau of the Department of War run by Herbert O. Yardley from 1919 to 1929 operated out of New York City, instead of the D.C. area as you might normally expect. The reason for this is that it was disguised as an ordinary commercial code operation, most of which were based in New York, which enabled them to openly employ large numbers of code clerks and operate telegraphic equipment without tipping anyone off that this was actually the base of all cryptographic SIGINT operations at the time.
posted by George_Spiggott at 4:08 PM on May 27, 2009


(I haven’t been able to figure out quite how to use the preceding two charts yet.)

LOL what?

The proper name code is a simple substitution code designed to obfuscate identity while leaving names pronouncable, so the vowels are scattered according to one pattern and consonants according to another. To encode you replace left to right, to decode you replace right to left. There was a code like this in the secret codes for kids book I had when I was ten years old.

The number code encodes numbers into seemingly random alphabetic nonsense. Again, a simple substitution cipher, with special codes for units and decimal points / zeroes.

Neither of these codes is about saving telegraph charges; they're about secrecy, in the quarter baked through-obscurity sense that was very quaintly obsolete even before WWII began.
posted by localroger at 4:24 PM on May 27, 2009


My childhood code wonk just woke up and hit me over the head with the fact that both of those codes are in fact ciphers.
posted by localroger at 4:25 PM on May 27, 2009


The mystery meatness of the front page section is probably more to blame.

Goddammit, that's the whole point of that post. I am big. It's Metafilter that got small.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:12 PM on May 27, 2009


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