A punched card, is a piece of stiff paper that contained either commands for controlling automated machinery or data for data processing applications. Punch cards are known to be used as for controlling textile looms. The cards were later used to store and search for information by Semen Korsakov. Later Herman Hollerith developed a method for machines to record and store information on punch cards to be used for the US census.
Punch cards were the primary method of storing and retrieving data in the early 1900s today are rarely found or used with computer storage.