Technology Review: Keeping Tabs

Here’s a fascinating history of a small but influential idea that’s touched the lives of every librarian, accountant, office supply fetishist, and web surfer: the tab.

The original tab signaled an information storage revolution and helped enable everything from management consulting to electronic data processing.

The tab’s story begins in the Middle Ages, when the only cards were gambling paraphernalia. Starting in the late 14th century, scribes began to leave pieces of leather at the edges of manuscripts for ready reference. But with the introduction of page numbering in the Renaissance, they went out of fashion.

Apparently, the modern index card really hit its stride after file cards — and the “randomly accessible, infinitely modifiable arrangement of data” they afforded — became the province of a company founded by Melvil Dewey (yes, that Dewey):  read more »