>     when was listserv software first written and deployed?  What was
> the first host site??

The first host was FRECP11.BITNET (no longer exists), Ecole Centrale
de Paris. The second was TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (still exists), Texas A&M.
Other early adopters were University College Dublin, UIUC, NCSU and Helsinki
University of Technology, which for several years was the largest LISTSERV
site.

>     what was the first real mailing list to use listserv?  If it no
> longer exists , what is the oldest continuing mailing list???

Unfortunately I do not remember for sure which list was the first to be
created, but I think it may have been RSCSMODS. I think the first real
list at Texas A&M may have been TAMSEC (same topic, network security).
The oldest mailing list still in existence is LSTSRV-L, the open forum I
started to discuss future enhancements to LISTSERV. The first
recorded posting to LSTSRV-L was on June 30, 1986. LISTSERV was
barely one week old then, so LSTSRV-L was one of the very first lists.

  Eric