History of science and technology: Archival Collections

A guide to collections in the Stanford Libraries, featuring the Silicon Valley Archives

Archival Collections at Stanford

Listed below are detailed instructions on how to locate specific archival collections at Stanford Library. Below that, there are several examples of both physical and digital archival collections.

Search for Archival Collections

1. Visit SearchWorks.

2. Enter a search term (e.g., the name of a company, technology, or individual) into the search box.

3. A results list will show all items from anywhere in the library that matches your term.

4. Click on resource type > Archive/Manuscript in the left column to limit your results to archival collections.

5. Click on a title in the search results to see more information about the collection.

6. See below for links to information about selected collections in the Silicon Valley Archives.

Request Materials for Reading Room Access

All materials in the archive can only be accessed in the Stanford Special Collections reading room. You can request materials to be sent to the reading room directly from the SearchWorks record. You can request up to five boxes per day and requests must be completed at least two full business days in advance of your visit. See "Using our Collections" webpage for full details.

Online Archive of California
This is a link to a list of finding aids for manuscripts and archival materials in astronomy, biochemistry, biological sciences, civil and electrical engineering, classical and high-energy physics, computer science, industrial revolutions and heavy industry, military science, photography, and telecommunications.

*OAC is a source for finding aids throughout California and mention that you can find collections in Ca. and at Stanford
Ampex Corporation Records, 1944-2005
Founded in 1944 in San Carlos, California, by Alexander M. Poniatoff, an electrical engineer born in Russia. Ampex is a technology leader in high-performance digital information recording and storage products utilized in a variety of fields, including scientific, government, finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, data processing, oil and gas exploration, engineering, aerospace, film and video. Primarily known for their mass storage systems, instrumentation/data recorders, helical scan tape drives, robotic storage libraries, post-production switchers, digital special effects, tape cartridges, and system components.
Andrew S. Grove Papers, 1968-2013
Andrew S. Grove was president (1979-1997), CEO (1987-1998) and chairman of the board (1997-2005) of Intel Corporation.
Apple Computer Collections
The Stanford University Libraries offer nearly forty archival collections, as well as print and media resources, on the history of Apple Inc. (formerly: Apple Computer, Inc.), one of Silicon Valley's iconic technology companies. The foundation for building this set of collections was the acquisition of the Apple Computer, Inc. Records, 1977-1998; this collection alone consists of roughly 600 linear feet of documentation. It was assembled by Apple staff over a period of more than a decade and given to Stanford in 1998.
Atari Business Plans, 1974-1975
The two business plans, [1974 and 1975], include details on products and technology, marketing, management, finances, media coverage, and actual games brochures.
Barbara L. Kevels Collection of Computer Technology of the 1990s
Published and unpublished documents, software, and miscellaneous equipment reflecting the rapid evolution of home computer technology from 1993 through 2006. The collection includes guides, manuals, installation software, historic Norton newsletters, hand-written notebooks, correspondence, demonstration trial software -- all for precedent-setting operating systems, early program applications, analog monitors, seminal printers, modems, motherboards, internet service providers, financial software, and antivirus programs.
Bruce E. Deal Papers, 1958-1987
Published and unpublished documents, software, and miscellaneous equipment reflecting the rapid evolution of home computer technology from 1993 through 2006. The collection includes guides, manuals, installation software, historic Norton newsletters, hand-written notebooks, correspondence, demonstration trial software -- all for precedent-setting operating systems, early program applications, analog monitors, seminal printers, modems, motherboards, internet service providers, financial software, and antivirus programs.
Charles H. Irby Papers, 1962-1975
Primarily correspondence, memos, working notes and technical reports from work on ARPANET, Control Meta Language, Modular Programming System and software and interface applications while Irby was at SRI International and Xerox Park.
Charles Rosen Papers, 1957-1985
Correspondence, professional papers, contract reports, grant proposals and memoranda pertaining to the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI International, 1957-1975. In addition, there are memorabilia, articles, and documents concerning the history of Ridge Winery, 1967-1985, and Machine Intelligence Corporation, 1979-1981.
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility Records, 1980-2004
Records of the policy group Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR), consisting of correspondence, memoranda, newsletters, board minutes, publications, media, and other material. Finding aid contains folder listing only; collection has not been physically processed.
Donald E. Knuth Papers, 1962-2015
Professor of computer science at Stanford University, Donald Ervin Knuth was born in 1938 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He received a B.S. from Case Institute of Technology in 1960 and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1963. A member of Stanford's Computer Science Department since 1968, Knuth has won numerous awards for his work, including the National Medal of Science for his series of volumes, The Art of Computer Programming. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1975.
Douglas C. Engelbart Papers, 1953-2005
Computer scientist whose pioneering work in the 1950s and 1960s (first at SRI International, later at Tymshare, Inc.) led to the development of the interactive personal computer. Many of the publications in this collection were produced while Engelbart was at SRI.
Edward A. Feigenbaum Papers, 1950-2007
Computer scientist. Feigenbaum received his B.S., 1956, and his Ph.D., 1959, in electrical engineering from Carnegie Institute of Technology. He completed a Fulbright Fellowship at the National Physics Laboratory and in 1960 went to the University of California, Berkeley, to teach in the School of Business Administration. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1965 in the Dept. of Computer Science; he served as Director of the Stanford Computation Center from 1965 to 1968 and as chairman of the Department from 1976 to 1981. Feigenbaum is a leading national figure in artificial intelligence and has developed computer resources for interactive research between medical and scientific collaborators on a national and global scale.
Edward J. McClunskey Papers, 1940-2009
Professor McCluskey worked on electronic switching systems at the Bell Telephone Laboratories from 1955 to 1959. In 1959, he moved to Princeton University, where he was Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of the University Computer Center. In 1966, he joined Stanford University, where he is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, as well as Director of the Center for Reliable Computing.
Fairchild Semiconductor Technical Reports and Progress Reports, 1965-1987
Gift of National Semiconductor, 1988.
Gordon Moore Papers, 1958-2005
This collection contains Moore’s Intel lab notebooks, personal and business correspondence, Intel presentations, memos and white papers, personal notes from meetings, greeting cards, photographs, cassette tapes and videos. The materials date from 1958 to 2005 but the majority dates from 1968 to 1999.
Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter and Meeting Announcements
The Homebrew Computer Club played an important role in the early development of microcomputer technology in the Silicon Valley. The Club met from 1975 to 1987 as an informal gathering of enthusiasts, hobbyists, and engineers. The number of attendees reached 200 by the end of 1975. Members presented and discussed the latest topics and devices related to microcomputers and personal computing. The many Homebrew members who went on to careers in the computer industry included Steve Wozniak, George Morrow, Lee Felsenstein (who moderated the meetings), Tom Pittman and Jerry Lawson.
John McCarthy Papers, 1951-2008
Correspondence, memos, reports, course materials, newsletters, articles, reprints, computer manuals, and other materials pertaining to McCarthy's research and his teaching at Stanford and MIT. Correspondents include Forest Baskett, Donald Knuth, Serge Lang, Joshua Lederberg, Douglas Lenat, Donald Michie, Hans Moravec, Zohar Manna, Aaron Sloman, and Masahiko Sato. Also included are correspondence, reprints, programs, notes, and articles from his work with Russian computer scientists, 1958-78.
Kathleen Hennessey Papers
Audrey Kathleen Hennessey (born 1936) is an educator and researcher in computer science. She received her bachelor's degree at Stanford in 1957. Hennessey was awarded the Distinguished Information Sciences Award by the Data Processing Management Association (DPMA) in 1992
Keith Henson Papers, 1977-1997
The collection includes files from XOC, Memex, VHS tapes, cassette tapes, and Drexler drafts and galley proofs.
Kurt Akeley Papers, 1982-2000
This collection includes memoranda, reports, manuals, publications, notebooks, outlines and text for presentations, email printouts, patents, slides, and videos pertaining to research and product development for Silicon Graphics and its customers; collection also includes Akeley's notes from a class with Jim Clark, 1987.
Lee Felsentein Papers, 1975-1995
A pioneer in microcomputers and portable computers, Lee Felsenstein received a B.S.E.E. degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1972. He worked as an electronic design engineer starting before graduation, and designed several early personal computers and peripherals in 1975 and 1976. He was a co-founder of The Community Memory Project, a non-profit which developed the first public-access information-exchange system beginning in 1972. From 1975 through 1986 Lee served as the moderator of the meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club. In 1980, at the request of Adam Osborne, he designed the Osborne-1 portable computer and became a founder and Vice President for Engineering of Osborne Computer Corporation. In 1983 he led a small contract R&D company, Golemics, Inc. He currently holds several patents and in 1994 received a Pioneer of the Electronic Frontier Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. [Notes from web biography, 2004]
Marc Levoy Papers, 2002-2015
Collection includes Digital Michaelangelo and Forma Urbis Romae, websites, 3-d models, & photographs.
Mark Weiser Papers, 1975-1999
Dr. Mark Weiser was the Chief Technologist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Weiser never received a bachelor's degree but earned his PhD in Computer and Communications Sciences from the University of Michigan (1979). Weiser was assistant and associate professor and associate chair in the Computer Science Department at the University of Maryland from 1979 to 1987, when he joined Xerox PARC as a member of the technical staff, then heading the Computer Science Laboratory for seven years. He started three companies. His over 75 technical publications are on such areas as the psychology of programming, program slicing, operating systems, programming environments, garbage collection, and technological ethics. Weiser's work since 1988 focused on Ubiquitous Computing, a program he initiated that envisions PC's being replaced with invisible computers embedded in everyday objects.
Richard Bartle Papers, 1979-1997
This collection has been arranged into two series: Series 1. MUD1 (Multi-User Dungeon) Archival Materials and Series 2. MUD1 Source Code. First folder contains Bartle's own notes about the content of the collection. Series 1 contains MUD1 archival material. Notes written by Richard A. Bartle are inserted in the first (unnumbered) folder in the manuscript box. These notes provide information about the contents contained in folders that he numbered 1-32, and arranged in chronological order. Folders 1-32 are dispersed between a manuscript box and flat storage box due to variations in document size. The manuscript box contains original handwritten design notes, maps, and photocopies of files. The flat box contains lineprinter papers, which consists of a MACRO-10 assembler list output for the final version of MUD version 2, maps, an extent log of a MUD session, along with other oversize documents. Series 2, originally a zip file, contained the compressed library of source code files for the online virtual world, MUD1. This digital files are available online through the Stanford University Libraries.
Richard E. Fikes Papers, 1963-2007
Papers include project files from his graduate studies; and computer program lists, computer printouts, reports, project files, and some correspondence from his time at SRI International, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Price Waterhouse Technology Centre, and Stanford. The Stanford portion also includes lecture transparencies, class files, and administrative records. The collection also includes a few photographs and audio cassettes. In addition there is a computer disk of digital files of email and other documents (Box 35), 1991-2007.
Robert N. Noyce Papers, 1948-1990
Robert Noyce was a Silicon Valley pioneer who participated in the invention of the microchip. He was part of the first successful semiconductor corporation, Fairchild Semiconductor, and went on to be one of the founders of Intel. After his death in 1990, the Noyce Foundation was named by his estate.
Robert W. Taylor Papers, 1932-2017
Robert William Taylor (1932-2017) was a computer scientist involved in the pioneering of the Internet and the personal computer. He was director of the Information Processing Techniques Office at ARPA, and also founder and manager of both Xerox PARC's Computer Science Laboratory and the Digital Equipment Systems Research Center.
Rob Walker Papers, 1959-2005
The collection contains manuals, binders of research materials, documents, and minutes of meetings from Fairchild Semiconductor; materials documenting Walker's career at LSI Logic, including correspondence, presentation slides, reports, publications put out by the Corporate Communications Department, as well as articles and papers by Rob Walker and by others; technical data from Walker's research at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories in the 1960's; technical manuals, marketing materials, and other documents accumulated during Walker's years at Philco Corp.; and an audiocassette of a 1995 interview with Walker.
Russell and Sigurd Varian Papers, 1882-1988
The Russell and Sigurd Varian papers span almost a hundred years of creative and independent thinking, from early manuscripts of poetry by their Irish father, John O. Varian, to the creation and growth of Varian Associates. In addition to original research notebooks and correspondence regarding the klystron, the collection includes materials on numerous other inventions and ideas from Russell's work for Philo Farnsworth and Humble Oil as well as the brothers' years at Stanford and at Varian Associates. Unpublished short stories by Sigurd reveal his sense of humor as well as the adventure and danger of his career as a pilot in Mexico and Central America. Includes volumes I-IV of Varian Associates Magazine, 1956-71.
Samuel L. Ginn Papers, 1960-2010
Materials consist of documents related to the history of the telecommunications and wireless industries, especially the history of the companies AirTouch and Pacific Telesis. Includes photographs, documents, correspondence, clippings, ephemera, and an external hard drive.
Stanford University, Office of Technology Licensing, Records, 1971-1010
First series includes the report "Technology Based Companies Founded by Members of the Stanford University Community" and Wiesendanger's "History and Operation of the Office of Technology Licensing Stanford University," 1996. Later series include patent files and shadow boxes consisting of framed patented items, each labeled with docket number and inventors.
Stephen M. Cabrinety Collection in the History of Micro-computing, 1975-1995
Collection contains software, computer hardware, peripheral devices, hand-held games, and computer industry literature documenting the microcomputing gaming industry during its formative years. Accession 2016-277 includes approximately 230 games, some ephemera, software books and manuals, computer peripherals, and other material.
Stewart Brand Papers, 1954-2000
Boxes 1-16: correspondence, 1954-1994; boxes 17-22: personal notebooks, 1955-1999; boxes 23-29: biographical information, 1952-1997; boxes 30-107: projects, 1967-2000; boxes 117-119: media; and boxes 120-124: personal business records, 1962-1993 (restricted). Editions of Whole Earth Catalog have been transferred to Rare Books Department, TS199 .W5 FF.
System Development Foundation Records, 1957-1993
Of most interest to researchers will be the research files and project reports; these are arranged by grant number, however there is an index at the end of the guide arranged by recipient, institution, and subject of project. Only the major project recipients are listed as added entries on this record. There are also System Development Foundation Board of Trustees minutes, correspondence and planning materials, business records, and materials relating to SDF/SDC joint meetings.
Vernon Russel Anderson Papers, 1953-2000
An alumnus of Stanford University, Anderson served from 1985 to 1990 on its board of trustees. He also served as an adviser to the university's Institute for Economic Policy. He was a co-founder of Vidar Corporation, an early leader in digital telephone technology. He was also the co-founder of Silicon Graphics Inc.
William Hewlett Papers, 1907-2010
The William Hewlett papers consists of correspondence, photographs, financial records, reports, minutes, calendars, hardware, electronic files, videotapes, newspaper clippings, publications, and other materials. The collection documents some parts of Hewlett’s personal and professional life, as well as his finances, philanthropy, and engagement with scientific, cultural, international, business, and civic organizations.
William Shockley Papers, 1860-2002
Professional and personal papers relating to Professor Shockley's controversial interests in environment and genetic influences on intelligence; research on transistors and electronics; and science education. Also includes extensive family materials including diaries and correspondence.