Oughtred Society

The Oughtred Society was founded in 1991 by a group of slide rule collectors.

In the 1620s William Oughtred, an obscure self-taught mathematician, discovered that he could quickly perform mathematical operations using two logarithmic rules, and the slide rule was born.

Through the mid-20th-century, the slide rule was the most useful device any engineer, scientist or mathematician could have.

Now, as the computer inexorably merges with our wetware brains, there are those among us who say, "not quite yet."

The society currently has over 400 members.

Twice a year it publishes The Journal of the Oughtred Society, the world's most authoritative source on slide rules and mechanical calculators.

Each issue contains a wealth of material about makes and makers, models, uses, history and more.

Members can acquire back issues from the inception of the journal in 1991, and also receive the Annual Members Directory.

Annual meetings and auctions occur on the West coast of the U.S. in June and the East coast in the fall.

Membership costs $35 annually if you live in the U.S., $40 elsewhere, and includes includes the two annual issues, a copy of the latest Members Directory, and admission to both annual meetings and auctions.

I learned about the society in an enclosure that came with the slide rule I ordered last week ("just like the ones astronauts carried on five Apollo moon missions") from The Slide Rule Universe, which boasts much of interest to those of a calculating — and pre-calculator — bent.