The mouse made its commercial debut in 1981.
On April 27, 1981, the Xerox Star workstation, the first commercial computer to feature a graphical user interface (GUI) controlled by a mouse, was released. This marked the commercial debut of the computer mouse, a device pioneered by Douglas Engelbart in the 1960s and further developed by Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). The Xerox Star's mouse allowed users to interact with on-screen elements like windows, icons, and menus, laying the groundwork for modern computing interfaces. While the Star was not a commercial success due to its high cost, it heavily influenced later systems, including Apple's Macintosh.
National Archives caption: Tulare County, California. Cheap auto camp housing for citrus workers.
Photographer: Dorothea Lange
Created in February 1940.
Access: Unrestricted
Use: Unrestricted
National Archives Identifier
521799
Local Identifier
83-G-41555
NAIL Control Number
NWDNS-83-G-41555
