For as long as there has been computing, there has been a need to store the information produced by computing as memory. In this blog, we will explore a brief history of computer memory, from its origins to modern day. The first type of computer memory took the form of paper punch cards. Punch cards were first used in 1725 in the textile industry, to control the mechanized textile looms. In the 1890s, Herman Hollerith used punch cards for census calculation for determining the population of the United States. Essentially a thick sheet of paper with holes punched through it, patterns could be imprinted on the punch card that could be interpreted by a machine. Later, they were used as an input device for computers up to the 1970s.