NPR : "Marketplace" on Human Computers today

[John Allain]

FWIW,
The Radio story was the five-minute introduction to the book
  "When Computers Were Human" by David Alan Grier.

The author tracked down survivors stories from math
workers before 1945.  Sounds like he found out
a lot about how people lived their careers before the 
Univac, etc took over.  A book to check out at the store.

John A.
No affiliation with anybody mentioned, NPR, etc.
re: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0691091579

or Amazon.com, or "In Living Color",