Where was this Grace Hopper/Univac photo taken?

Question

Here is a photo of a Univac I with four individuals. According to Artifact Details at the Computer History Museum's web page with an extremely similar photo (perhaps a shot a few moments earlier/later):

Date: 1957

Description: Image shows operator's console of Univac I computer and four programmers. From left to right, Donald Cropper, K. C. Krishnan, Grace Hopper, and Norman Rothberg.

Lot Number: X7424.2015

The image can also be found at

• Flickr: public.resource.org
• Wikiquote: File:Grace Hopper and UNIVAC.jpg (full and cropped)
• Twitter: IEEE History Center
• WW2DB: Grace Hopper (also here)

Is it possible to know where this photo was taken? There couldn't have been very many Univac I computers that Grace Hopper would have been photographed with, and that distinctive-looking sunburst logo (watermark?) in the upper-left corner may be a clue as well. That's a non-starter.

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Source

Answer 1

Before I give my guess, let's see what we have so far: Apart from the picture links in the question, we also have this link Grace Hopper demonstrating COBOL at Programming Department (Thank you @uoho). Most links places the picture as circa 1960 or 1957 and several also mentions COBOL. From the WW2DB link in the question, we can see that in this time frame Grace Hopper was working for Univac. The link above even places the picture at "Programming Department", the picture originated from Sperry Rand (Corporation), Univac Division and dates it as 1957-06, ie June 1957.

The date is still a small problem. Even if I believe Hagley Digital Archives more than Wikipedia (Museum Curators normally don't give exact date without good backup evidence) it was impossible to have a COBOL class at that date, since COBOL was designed 1959 Wikipedia. So, either is the date wrong, or the COBOL reference a bit wrong. (It could have been during the work that led up to COBOL).

All of the people in the picture are also in some other pictures from Hagley Digital Archives (you might need to search around a bit). This makes me think that all 4 people were at the time part of Grace Hoppers team at Sperry Univac.

So, my best guess (until any more proof gets up) is that it was taken at Sperry Univac, at their "school room". Time somewhere between 1957 and 1960.

Answer 2

Could be "anywhere". But my guess would be a US government facility, more likely DOD, and most likely of all Navy. In addition to Admiral Grace Hopper, Donald Cropper according to this obituary if I have the right one, was in the Navy and then Marines. So my first guess would be the 1953 installation at David W. Taylor Model Basin as listed in the the Wikipedia Univac I article and sourced from this newsletter

But really that is just a guess. The Army and Air Force had systems as well, and Grace Hopper & Donald Cropper might have been sent over to those systems to help get things running.