The Silicon Valley Archives, founded in 1985 as the Stanford and Silicon Valley Project, is today the world's greatest repository of materials on the history and development of Silicon Valley.  

Few areas in the world compare with the region known as Silicon Valley as a center of scientific and technological innovation. The rapid growth of high-technology industries in this region has transformed society through technologies such as the laser and the microprocessor, the personal computer, video and sound recording, the integrated circuit, video game technology, aerospace and office automation, cloud computing, and virtual reality. The centrality of Silicon Valley in the recent history of science and technology has made this region a major focus of scholarly and journalistic inquiry. 

Even in a place where so much attention is focused on the future, it is important to value the past. This is the mission of the Silicon Valley Archives, housed in the Stanford Libraries. To study the origins and development of Silicon Valley in detail, researchers require access to primary source materials such as unpublished professional correspondence, research notes, diaries, journals, project files, technical reports, organizational charts and other corporate records, patent applications, blueprints, company brochures, product documentation, photographs, and transcripts or recordings of speeches and interviews. These records, which may be in paper or digital form, are the building blocks of history. Stanford's Silicon Valley Archives identify, preserve, and provide access to this documentary record of science, technology, business and culture.