The series, Biographical, consists of one folder containing Galler's vitae and an interview conducted by his wife, Enid Galler, in 1981. The interview records Galler's reflections on the many activities and projects he was involved in the course of his career.
The series Professional and Other Activities is the largest in the collection, measuring 13.5 linear feet, and is divided into several subseries: Board Activities, Consulting, Projects, and Other Activities. This series reflects most clearly the high level of creative participation that Galler had in his profession.
The subseries, Board Activities, 1959 to 1993 (1.75 ft.), documents Galler's involvement either as a member of the board of directors or the advisory board of several companies. The longest periods of involvement are reflected in Data Use and Access Laboratories (DUALabs) and National CSS. Documentation of Galler's involvement with DUALabs dates from 1970 to 1985. DUALabs had a nonprofit mission of providing research, training and database development service for users of publicly available statistics, especially census data. Galler's primary correspondent was John C. Beresford, president. Galler was an active promoter of the company and corresponded with Beresford regarding the company's operations. In addition to correspondence, the DUALabs material includes financial information and board minutes. Beresford resigned from DUALabs in 1982 to establish a for-profit company, DUAL-Comm. Galler was a member of the Board of Directors of National CSS, an information services company, from 1975 to 1979. The records include correspondence, press releases, and board minutes.
The Consulting subseries documents various consulting activities in which Galler was involved, including acting as an expert witness in legal cases. The work for Booth Newspapers involved designing a computer system for production and business jobs for nine individual newspapers. The project is very well documented through correspondence.
The subseries titled Other Professional Activities, is the largest within the Professional Activities series and best documents Galler's wide ranging involvement in the profession. One of these profession affiliations was with the American Federation of Information Processing Societies. Galler was heavily involved in the efforts of AFIPS to establish an historical center to enable the profession to document itself. Galler's involvement with the Association for Computing Machinery, particularly his work on the Turing Award Committee underlines the extent of his professional network and his grasp of the profession in terms of contributions made.
Also included with this subseries is Galler's contributions to the creation of the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking (CREN). Created when the Because It's Time Network (BITNET) and the Computer Science Network (CSNET) merged in October 1989, the mission of CREN was to provide low-cost connection services, and to foster new network technology and applications in support of low-cost connections, for education and research in both the academic and industrial communities. CSNET was a project of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research under contract to the National Science Foundation; it provided network communications services to organizations engaged in computer-related research, education, and advanced development. Most of its members were in computer science departments and in industry. BITNET served higher education and research facilities. The successful merger of the two was complex, technically and organizationally, and testifies to Galler's leadership and organizational skills.
Galler served on the Science Council for Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, which was the scientific board of directors for the Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering (ICASE) and the Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS). Funded by NASA, through the University Space Research Association, ICASE was established in 1982. It was chartered to carry out state-of-the-art research in computer science and engineering in areas of potential long-term application to NASA programs. Galler also chaired the planning committee for the Center of Excellence in Space Data and Information Science.
As a member of the Science Committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1968, Galler participated in explorations of a software institute. The effort is noteworthy because it represents an early attempt to cooperate internationally on the development of software.