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Guide to the Digital Equipment Corporation records

Creator: Digital Equipment Corporation Dates: 1947-2002, bulk 1957-1998 Extent: 1,238.79 linear feet, 611 record cartons, 357 manuscript boxes, 56 newspaper boxes, 169 periodical boxes, and 150 other box types Collection numbers: X2675.2004, X3149.2005, X7042.2014 Catalog number: 102733963 Collection processed by: Bo Doub and Kim Hayden, and CHM volunteers Sherman Baggett, Pat Buder, Mike Gutman, Dick Johnson, Trudy Levy, Barry Sardis, Anna van Raaphorst, Ellen Wang, and Don Williamson, 2016-2017 Finding aid prepared by: Bo Doub, Kim Hayden, and Sara Chabino Lott, 2017 Sponsor: Processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant. Abstract The Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) records comprise DEC’s corporate archives, with material dating from 1947 to 2002. The bulk of the collection was collected and created during the company’s years of operation from 1957 to 1998. DEC, founded by engineers Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson, was one of the largest and most successful computer companies in the industry’s history. Widely recognized for its PDP and VAX minicomputer product lines, by 1988 DEC was second only to IBM as the world’s largest computer company. This collection holds the papers of DEC’s executives, engineers, and personnel -- including the personal collections of founders Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson. Also included are DEC’s administrative records and material relating to product development and engineering, with committee meeting minutes, correspondence, Internal newsletters, product proposals, and engineering drawings. Most of DEC’s publications, such as manuals, promotional and sales material, and technical reports, are represented in this collection as well. Lastly, DEC’s large corporate photo library and archive remains intact as a part of this collection, holding tens of thousands of original product photographs, portraits of DEC personnel, images showing client applications of DEC products, brochures, and historical files with visual documentation of the company’s beginnings and milestones. In 1998, DEC was acquired by Compaq, ending its run as a company, though many of its groundbreaking technologies went on to sell under different branding and influence subsequent directions of computing and its industries.

Digital Equipment Corporation records X2675.2004

Computer History Museum 2

Administrative Information Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Publication Rights The Computer History Museum (CHM) can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Copyright restrictions may apply and users are responsible for satisfying any claims of the copyright holder. Requests for copying and permission to publish, quote, or reproduce any portion of the Computer History Museum’s collection must be obtained jointly from both the copyright holder (if applicable) and the Computer History Museum as owner of the material.

Languages

The collection is primarily in English, with small amounts of material in Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, and Ukrainian.

Preferred Citation [Identification of Item], [Date], Digital Equipment Corporation records, Lot [#], Box [#], Folder [#], Catalog [#], Computer History Museum. Note: For this collection the lot number citation will either be X2675.2004, X3149.2005, or X7042.2014.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The majority of this collection was a gift of the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) in 2004 (X2675.2004). Smaller parts of the collection came from DEC employees Timothe Litt in 2005 (X3149.2005) and Richard Best in 2011 (X7042.2014).

Repository Computer History Museum

1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View, CA 94043 USA 650-810-1010 [email protected] www.computerhistory.org

Biographical/Historical Note Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was one of the largest and most profitable computer companies in the world, initially known for its modules, then for its PDP and VAX families of computers, and finally for the Alpha microprocessor. DEC was founded in Maynard, Massachusetts, by engineers Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson, who had previously worked together at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. It operated from 1957 to 1998. Olsen and Anderson started the company with financial backing from Georges Doriot, one of the United States’ first venture capitalists, and DEC was the first successful venture-backed

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computer company. Olsen served as DEC’s president until 1992 and ran the company with a complicated decentralized management style that pitted product groups against each other for corporate resources. Anderson served as DEC’s executive vice president until he was forced out in 1966 after a falling out with Olsen over the direction of the company. At the time of DEC’s founding, computers were large, complicated to use, and expensive. Olsen and Anderson wanted to produce alternatives to those large mainframes: computers that were powerful and had real-time interactivity, but were smaller, easier to use, and much more affordable. Mindful that investors were not backing computer companies at the time, their business plan was divided into two phases that de-emphasized computer production. Phase one focused on the manufacture and sale of electronic modules to be used in test and prototyping environments; phase two focused on using those modules in the design of a fully interactive computer system. Ultimately, DEC’s focus would be on minicomputers for laboratory, business, and research use customized for clients and including long-term service and technical support contracts with DEC. For its first two years, DEC developed its successful module business. In 1959, DEC’s first minicomputer, the Programmed Data Processor, or PDP-1, was designed and produced, with the first unit sold in 1960. It was a groundbreaking computer because of its low cost and its fostering of direct user interaction. DEC released dozens of other PDP-family minicomputers over the next decade, becoming the market leader in minicomputers by a large margin. In 1977, DEC introduced a new line of computers -- developed as an extension to the PDP-11 -- called VAX, or Virtual Address Extension. The incredibly successful and influential VAX family of computers implemented a 32-bit complex instruction set computing (CISC) architecture and could run DEC’s proprietary operating system VAX/VMS (later OpenVMS) and UNIX. The VAX family included high performance models, mainframes, workstations, and MicroVAX minicomputers. In the early 1980s, DEC began development of a 64-bit reduced instruction set computing (RISC) architecture to replace VAX. What started as several small RISC projects at DEC formed into one, PRISM, which was canceled just before completion. Alpha development started soon after and was based on PRISM concepts. The Alpha architecture, introduced in 1992, was implemented as a line of microprocessors. DEC produced other technologies besides computers. It sold a wide variety of peripherals including magnetic tape and disk memory subsystems, dot matrix printers, and graphics displays. DEC was also focused on networking and produced several systems, including Ethernet, DECnet, and VAXclusters. DEC also created the early search engine AltaVista in 1995. Additionally, DEC produced software that was mostly proprietary to DEC machines. As microcomputers emerged in the 1980s, Olsen was resistant to DEC developing them, believing that most people would not want computers in their homes and that personal computers (PCs) were mostly used for non-serious purposes, like games. However, in response to IBM’s PC (1981), DEC released several personal computer systems: the Professional series, DECmate II, Rainbow 100, and VAXmate. DEC’s personal computer efforts did not take off like the IBM PC, however, because of DEC’s high prices, poor marketing, and insistence on making its machines and software proprietary and thus incompatible with other companies’ products and peripherals. DEC’s PDP-11 and VAX systems continued to sell well, however, but competitors were actively working to create cheaper computers.



In 1988, DEC was second only to IBM as the world’s largest computer company. By 1990, however, the United States was in a recession and DEC’s business began to falter. This loss in revenue was attributable to several factors: There was disagreement within DEC as to the direction the company should take as workstations, personal computers, and open computing became more popular. DEC chose to focus on developing a large mainframe, the VAX 9000, and continued to produce proprietary software and hardware, missing the opportunity to take advantage of the personal computer and workstation revolution. Many at DEC felt the VAX 9000 could not recoup its design and manufacturing costs; this turned out to be true. As DEC concentrated on the VAX 9000, competitors produced workstations that were far less expensive and more powerful. As DEC’s business waned, there were several attempts within different areas of the company to boost DEC’s viability with new products and technologies. Following DEC’s traditional management model, these different factions were competing against each other and unfortunately no successful products came from those efforts. In the early 1990s, after steadily falling sales, DEC implemented the first layoffs in the company’s history. In 1992, the DEC board forced Olsen to resign, appointing Bob Palmer as CEO and president. Palmer attempted to streamline DEC by reorganizing its structure into a business unit system, but the company’s profits continued to slide, particularly with its biggest moneymaker, sales and service of VAX systems. Palmer continued laying off employees and began selling off parts of DEC’s business units. Finally, in 1998, what was left of DEC was sold to Compaq in the largest merger in the computer industry at that time. Compaq struggled with the merger, and eventually sold the Alpha microprocessor business to Intel, and then was itself acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2002. Although it ultimately failed as a company, DEC’s legacy as a pioneer in computer technology lives on. HP continues to sell products derived from DEC technology, such as OpenVMS, under its own branding. Scope and Content of the Collection The Digital Equipment Corporation records are made up of material created and collected at the company during its active years from 1957 to 1998. The collection also contains material created prior to DEC’s founding, dating as early as 1947, and material from the organizations involved in DEC’s final mergers and acquisitions spanning as late as 2002. The first seven series of the collection consist of smaller, personal collections of DEC’s founders, executives, engineers, and other staff. These collections of individuals’ papers were donated intact to the Computer History Museum within the larger original donation. Most of these individuals’ collections were grouped into series based on different types of careers at DEC. “Series 1, Executives’ papers” contain the papers of DEC’s founders, presidents, executive vice presidents, and/or executives in charge of an entire branch of DEC’s operations. Series 1 holds the papers of DEC’s two founders, Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson, which include some of the earliest records of the collection from influencing organizations such as MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. “Series 2, Engineers’ papers” group together engineers and technical specialists. Two of the largest subseries under Series 2 are the papers of Mike Uhler and Timothe Litt, who were both senior consulting engineers at DEC. Litt’s collection of papers is especially large, partly due to his role in facilitating the transfer of portions of the Digital Equipment Corporation records (Lot



X2675.2004) and a smaller donation of material (Lot X3149.2005) focusing on the KL10 model of DEC’s PDP-10 mainframe computer family. The last category of personal collections is grouped under “Series 3, Product managers’ papers.” Series 3 contains the papers of DEC’s “group managers” and “product line managers” who steered product development and employee management for specific product lines. Some of the individuals with personal collections were not grouped into the initial three series, due to the natures of their careers at DEC not fitting into these series’ categories. These individuals have their own series. Following the papers of individual staff are DEC’s administrative records, containing Internal newsletters, the minutes and correspondence of internal committees, manufacturing plant records, and records pertaining to personnel and corporate policies. Since the personal collections of the preceding series were kept intact, much of the contents of those series relate to the material in “Series 9, Administrative records.” For example, there are records from DEC’s Operations Committee and Executive Committee held in both the administrative records series and the Ken Olsen papers in Series 1. Another large body of internal documentation is contained in “Series 10, Product lifecycle records,” which includes product proposals, project updates, pricing and manufacturing plans, performance summaries, specifications, field maintenance documentation, and engineering drawings for various product lines at DEC. Other parts of the collection were donated and processed as units of a specific department or group. These include “Series 11, Public Relations department records,” “Series 12, Corporate Contributions department records,” and “Series 13, DECUS records.” This collection also contains large amounts of DEC publications, which are organized into series based on their publication types. These series include promotional and sales material, technical newsletters and journals, manuals, and technical reports. DEC had previously organized some of these publications into lending libraries for employees and other users -- notably with its large collections of manuals and technical reports. One other major part of this collection comprises the still images and documentation of the Digital Equipment Corporation Photo Library and Archive. The photo library holds tens of thousands of original slides, transparencies, prints, negatives, and proof sheets spanning the company’s active years from 1957 to 1998. These images depict client applications of DEC products, brochures and promotional material, portraits of DEC pioneers, and historical files of images documenting the company’s early history and achievement milestones, along with histories of Maynard, Massachusetts and the “Maynard Mill” (DEC’s headquarters). Lastly, this collection contains the audiovisual holdings--primarily videotapes--of DEC’s regional libraries from various facilities, including video recordings of talks and meetings from the DEC Systems Research Center (SRC) in Palo Alto, California. Arrangement The collection is arranged into 22 series:

Series 1, Executives’ papers, 1947-1995, bulk 1960-1994 Series 2, Engineers’ papers, 1951-2002, bulk 1970-1998 Series 3, Product managers’ papers, 1966-1997 Series 4, Sam Fuller corporate research records, 1976-1997 Series 5, Judy Hall TOPS-20 and Jupiter records, 1974-1989 Series 6, Edward McDonough Far East Manufacturing Group records, 1976-1985 Series 7, Ralph Dormitzer America's Cup records, 1982-1992



Series 8, Oral history collection, 1978-1993, bulk 1987-1991 Series 9, Administrative records, 1958-1998, bulk 1970-1992 Series 10, Product lifecycle records, 1952-1990 Series 11, Public Relations department records, 1957-1995, bulk 1973-1993 Series 12, Corporate Contributions department records, 1981-1994 Series 13, DECUS records, 1962-1993 Series 14, Promotional and sales material, 1960-2000 Series 15, Technical newsletters and journals, 1963-1998, bulk 1980-1998 Series 16, Manuals, 1960-1999, bulk 1962-1991 Series 17, Technical reports, 1971-1996, bulk 1980-1993 Series 18, Exhibit records, circa 1950-1988, bulk 1988 Series 19, Non-DEC publications, 1963-1998 Series 20, Photo library documentation, 1957-2002 Series 21, Still images, 1956-1998 Series 22, Moving images, 1979-2002

Indexing Terms Anderson, Harlan E. DEC microcomputers Digital Equipment Corporation Maynard (Mass.) Olsen, Kenneth H. PDP computers RISC microprocessors VAX computers Separated Material Physical objects were separated from the main collection. To view catalog records for separated material search the CHM catalog at http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/search/. Related Collections at CHM Bob Supnik papers, LotX3339.2006. Charles A. Jortberg collection, Lot X2381.2002. Collection of Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-1 Computer Materials, Lot X3602.2006. Company Collection of Computing Manuals and Marketing Materials, Lot X3067.2005. Harlan Anderson PDP Documents, Lot X3575.2006. Related Collections at Other Repositories Digital Equipment Computer Users Society Proceedings and Publications (CBI 150), Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Ken Olsen Personal Archives, Ken Olsen Science Center, Gordon College. Collection Contents

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Series 1, Executives’ papers, 1947-1995, bulk 1960-1994 This series consists of the papers of DEC’s founders and executives. Since DEC classified many of its employees working at various levels of its hierarchy as “vice presidents,” the decisions to group certain individuals under this series were based largely on multiple organizational charts from different years found within the collection. Rather than basing these decisions on job titles alone, DEC staff members were grouped under this series if they were a founder, president, executive vice president, and/or in charge of a whole branch of DEC’s operations (e.g., engineering or sales). Many of the records in this series consist of correspondence and memoranda among DEC’s high-level steering and managing committees, including the Works Committee, Operations Committee, Executive Committee, Business Unit Committee, and Small Computer Guidance Committee. Also of interest in this series are records relating to the development of the early computers of the PDP product family, which are documented in the Olsen, Anderson, and Bell papers. Other administrative aspects of DEC’s operations are also covered, such as correspondence relating to early sources of funding for DEC in the Hindle and Olsen papers. Material in the Gullotti and Olsen papers also documents company-wide reorganizations and their outcomes and consequences. This series is arranged into five subseries: Subseries 1.1, Ken Olsen papers, 1947-1992, bulk 1957-1978 Subseries 1.2, Harlan Anderson papers, 1959-1966 Subseries 1.3, Win Hindle papers, 1958-1994 Subseries 1.4, Gordon Bell papers, 1966-1983, bulk 1974-1983 Subseries 1.5, Russ Gullotti papers, 1979-1995, bulk 1991-1994

Subseries 1.1, Ken Olsen papers, 1947-1992, bulk 1957-1978 This subseries contains material collected and created by Kenneth (Ken) H. Olsen, co-founder and President of DEC until 1992.Olsen was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on February 20, 1926. After serving in the U.S. Navy at the end of World War II, Olsen attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he received bachelor’s (1950) and master’s (1952) degrees in electrical engineering. Olsen founded DEC with his MIT colleague Harlan Anderson in 1957. Under Olsen’s direction, DEC grew from three employees in a corner of a former wool mill to a leading manufacturer of computer systems and associated peripheral equipment and a leader in systems integration with its networks, communications, and software products. This subseries contains the documentation of this success, including Olsen’s correspondence, memoranda, personal research, and product line administration at DEC. One key area of Olsen’s leadership at DEC is documented in the meetings of the Works Committee, which later became the Operations Committee. Meeting minutes from these committees and memoranda sent between committee members are included in this subseries. Outside of DEC, Olsen served on the President’s Science and Advisory Committee, a group of some of the leading scientists and business leaders of the nation assembled to help President Nixon make decisions on technological problems. Olsen also participated on the National Academy of Science’s Computer Science and Engineering Board, a similar group made up of industry leaders who advised government entities on the roles of the computer in the U.S. economy and culture. Documents from both of these committees are included in this subseries. In 1986, Olsen became the first recipient of the IEEE Engineering Leadership Recognition Award and was named "America's most successful entrepreneur" by Fortune magazine. Olsen was forced to retire from DEC in 1992 and later became chairman of Advanced Modular Solutions. He died on February 6, 2011, aged 84. This subseries contains records from Olsen’s time as a student at MIT in 1947 through his retirement from DEC in 1992. This subseries is arranged into eight sub-subseries:



Sub-subseries 1.1.1, Correspondence, 1958-1992, bulk 1958-1970 Sub-subseries 1.1.2, Memoranda, 1959-1984, bulk 1960-1970 Sub-subseries 1.1.3, MIT Lincoln Laboratory memoranda and reports, 1947-1967 Sub-subseries 1.1.4, Internal committees, 1964-1986 Sub-subseries 1.1.5, President’s Science and Advisory Committee, 1967-1974 Sub-subseries 1.1.6, Computer Science and Engineering Board, 1964-1972 Sub-subseries 1.1.7, Subject files, 1952-1990 Sub-subseries 1.1.8, Product design and production, 1967-1979 Sub-subseries 1.1.1, Correspondence, 1958-1992, bulk 1958-1970

This sub-subseries contains correspondence that Olsen received from others and letters that Olsen authored. Most of the correspondence ranges from 1958 to 1970, with one outlier dated 1992. Also included in this sub-subseries are promotional material and pamphlets attached to correspondence to Olsen. Some of the early letters in this sub-subseries comprise ongoing correspondence with Sidney Weinstein of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine detailing features of the PDP-1 and ARC-1. Other correspondents in this sub-subseries include Georges F. Doriot, who was an early investor in DEC; Robert S. McNamara while McNamara was serving as U.S. Secretary of Defense; and David Packard. Letters in this sub-subseries relate to the recruitment and interviewing of prospective employees—including Win Hindle, questions from potential customers about current and planned product offerings and prices, inquiries for financial statistics, availability of stock in DEC, patent issues and infringement claims, customer problems, and solicitations of support from charitable organizations. Letters to Olsen and letters from Olsen were mostly kept in separate folders, which were labeled with this distinction. Indices listing correspondents and subjects of letters were also sometimes included in the front or back of folders – though many of these indices are incomplete drafts. This sub-subseries also contains unprocessed microfiche of Olsen’s correspondence. This sub-subseries is arranged chronologically.

Sub-subseries 1.1.2, Memoranda, 1959-1984, bulk 1960-1970 This sub-subseries consists of internal DEC memoranda to and from Ken Olsen primarily from the 1960s. These memoranda relate to: changing corporate policies and procedures; customer relationships; sales call reports from Ted Johnson; reports by various Engineers on recently-released, non-DEC products; possible names for new products; alternate names for the PDP-1; appropriate quantities of equipment to be kept on hand; proposals for manufacturing equipment to be purchased or built; and discussions of design and manufacturing aspects of work on particular machines. Matters pertaining to corporate structure and manufacturing plant organization are also addressed. Memoranda to and from Olsen were kept in separate folders, which were labeled accordingly. This sub-subseries also contains a small amount of memoranda to and from Stephen (Steve) A. Sobel, which were found in Olsen’s collection of memoranda. Sobel’s memoranda relate to Schedule Review Committee meetings and other product development and review activities for various DEC products. This sub-subseries is arranged chronologically.



Sub-subseries 1.1.3, MIT Lincoln Laboratory memoranda and reports, 1947-1967 This sub-subseries contains the records that Olsen created and collected during the time he was a student at MIT through the founding of DEC up until 1967. The Lincoln Laboratory was a predecessor group for DEC, since Olsen worked there immediately prior to founding DEC, and because many of DEC’s early employees were also alumni of MIT, the Lincoln Laboratory, and MIT’s School for Industrial Management. Most of the material in this sub-subseries consists of memoranda, technical papers, and reports published by MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. MIT’s Servomechanisms Laboratory and Digital Computer Laboratory, which were eventually absorbed by the Lincoln Laboratory, also published material in this sub-subseries. Aside from memoranda and technical papers, this sub-subseries also contains engineering drawings, schematic diagrams, engineering notes, drafts of books on circuit theory and thermodynamics, articles, Lincoln Laboratory administrative records, and one promotional booklet published by Lincoln Laboratory introducing some of its projects and functions. There is also a significant amount of material documenting Project Whirlwind and the development of the Whirlwind I computer at MIT’s Servomechanisms Laboratory. Other systems represented in this sub-subseries include the TX-0 and TX-2 computers, which were designed and developed under Olsen’s supervision. Lastly, this sub-subseries contains writings authored by Olsen, including multiple printings of Olsen's thesis, "A Magnetic Matrix Switch and its Incorporation into a Coincident-Current Memory," submitted to MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Sub-subseries 1.1.4, Internal committees, 1964-1986 This sub-subseries consists of material created within specific date ranges from three internal DEC committees: the Works Committee (1964-1967), the Operations Committee (1968-1969), and the Marketing Sales/Strategy Committee (1983-1986). Most of the records in this sub-subseries appear in the form of meeting minutes and memoranda sent between committee members. In 1967, the Works Committee was renamed to the Executive Committee and then renamed again to the Operations Committee. These committees had budgetary control over all of the separate product lines at DEC. Product line managers, group managers, and vice presidents had to go through the Works and Operations committees to gain support for the products they managed. Records from the earlier Works Committee include charts titled “Forecasted Product Line Profitability Summary,” which chart and predict the finances of different DEC product lines. Related topics covered in the Operations Committee meetings include salary administration, product proposals, corporate reorganizations, and DEC activities at trade shows. This sub-subseries also contains microfilm reels from Operations Committee meetings ranging from 1970 through 1977. In 1983, the Operations Committee was replaced by three new committees: the Product Strategy Committee, the Marketing/Sales Strategy Committee, and the Management Committee. For more material from the Works and Operations committees, see “Subseries 9.2, Administrative records: Works and Operations committees meeting minutes.” The last committee covered in this sub-subseries, Marketing Sales/Strategy Committee (MSSC), relates to marketing strategies for



various DEC products, pricing proposals, revenue projections, and marketing effectiveness studies. This sub-subseries is arranged chronologically.

Sub-subseries 1.1.5, President’s Science and Advisory Committee, 1967-1974 This sub-subseries contains memoranda, correspondence, press releases, and reports from Olsen’s participation in the President’s Science and Advisory Committee (PSAC). PSAC was created in 1951 under Harry S. Truman’s administration to provide advisory opinions on science and technology to the executive branch of the federal government and to influence government agencies. Olsen participated in PSAC’s final years under the Nixon administration, before Nixon eliminated the program in 1973. Some of the records in this sub-subseries document the context behind the end of PSAC and includes a letter from Olsen to the Office of the President resigning from his position in PSAC. During Olsen’s participation, PSAC was divided into panels, with four to six members with special expertise in each panel’s subject focus advising the Science Adviser to the President, which in Olsen’s time was Edward E. David Jr. Olsen mainly worked on panels relating to “civilian technology” and programs that promoted research and development in science and technology. However, this sub-subseries also contains records relating to other PSAC initiatives, including health care, environmental health, energy, education, population control, urban planning, and unemployment. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 1.1.6, Computer Science and Engineering Board, 1964-1972 This sub-subseries contains the records that Olsen collected during his time on the National Academy of Science’s Computer Science and Engineering Board (CS&E). The Computer Science & Engineering Board was created in 1968 by the National Academy of Sciences to study the role of the computer in the economy and culture of the nation. The Board also advised parts of the federal government “to ensure U.S. leadership in the various fields of computer science and engineering.” Olsen was involved in CS&E activities relating to a “computer export problem” involving aspects of competition in international computing industries. The CS&E panel that Olsen served was called the Export Panel. Included in this sub-subseries are agendas and meeting minutes from various CS&E meetings and conferences; administrative correspondence; National Academy of Sciences overviews, directories, and promotional material; Congressional records and legislative material; press releases; and information related to developing programs for computer science education. Much of the correspondence in this sub-subseries involves Anthony G. Oettinger, founder and chairman of CS&E from 1967 to 1973 and Warren C. House, Executive Secretary for the Board. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Sub-subseries 1.1.7, Subject files, 1952-1990 This sub-subseries comprises material that Olsen collected on various topics relating to research or DEC administrative concerns. Research topics covered in this sub-subseries include military technologies, transportation, multinational corporations and international trade, national productivity, and aeronautics. Some of this research material relates to Olsen's participation in the President’s Science and Advisory Committee (PSAC), though none of the files in this sub-



subseries were stored with Olsen’s PSAC material and they seem to reflect some of Olsen’s independent research as well. This sub-subseries also contains DEC-related records, including material relating to the "International Digital Clean Room and Cleaning Technology Conference," DEC building blocks (system plug-in units), a small number of personnel records, and memoranda about a magnetic core memory patent. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Sub-subseries 1.1.8, Product design and production, 1967-1979 This sub-subseries contains records collected by Olsen relating to the design and production of various DEC products. Included in this sub-subseries are memoranda, business plans, financial records, engineering status reports, presentation material, and a small number of design drawings covering a variety of issues encountered during product development and manufacture. Comparisons to competitors’ products are also included. Of all the products covered in this sub-subseries, the PDP-11 product line is the most documented. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Subseries 1.2, Harlan Anderson papers, 1959-1966 This subseries is made up of material collected and created by Harlan E. Anderson, who co-founded DEC in 1957 along with Ken Olsen after the two had worked together at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. Anderson served as DEC’s executive vice president until 1966, when he left after a falling out with Olsen. He managed finance, sales, and the PDP-6 product line while at DEC. Material dates from 1959 to 1966. Most of this subseries is made up of correspondence and memoranda to and from Anderson related to various DEC technologies and systems—particularly the PDP subseries—clients, and sales. Attachments like reports, diagrams, and articles are frequently included. Before the entire collection was processed, 16 letters and memos from or to Anderson were individually cataloged and digitized. Of particular interest within this digitized group is a 1961 proposal to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to use a PDP-1 during the Mariner project, a 1959 memo about what to name the PDP series, and a 1959 list of prospective PDP-1 customers. This subseries also contains DEC Biweekly Reports from 1959 to 1966, which detail progress and plans for various DEC projects. There is also a small amount of material related to the development and lease of the PDP-6 line, including operation plans, market analyses, product strategies, budgets, sales information, and the details of a failed agreement with Charles W. Adams Associates to lease a PDP-6 for Adams' Keydata Corporation division, which was ultimately terminated due to DEC’s failure to fulfill its obligations. The PDP-6 material is of particular interest because it offers a glimpse of a system’s development from analysis to sale. Anderson was involved with the Eastern Joint Computer Conference as the head of the publications committee in 1959, and later the general chairman in 1966, and this subseries contains a small amount of material related to the 1959 conference, including submitted papers, a program, financial statements, and correspondence regarding proceedings. Lastly, there is a small group of Small Computer Guidance Committee meeting minutes from 1964 to 1965. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Subseries 1.3, Win Hindle papers, 1958-1994 This subseries contains memoranda, notes, correspondence, and other material primarily created by Winston R. Hindle Jr., Senior Vice President of DEC’s Corporate Operations. Much of this subseries relates to the administrative committees that Hindle participated in, including the Executive Committee and Operations Committee. Also



included are records reflecting business strategy and capital investment that DEC received from sources external to the company. Of particular interest is the material in this subseries relating to Georges F. Doriot, one of the first American venture capitalists. Doriot founded one of the earliest venture capital firms, American Research and Development Corporation (ARDC), which provided the initial capital for Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson to begin DEC’s operation. This subseries contains correspondence from Hindle to Doriot, the transcript of a 1978 interview with Doriot, some of Doriot's notes on DEC, and records from a Georges F. Doriot memorial service that DEC participated in. Also included is a copy of the 1957 proposal for Doriot's firm, ARDC, to invest in DEC. Other external guidance documented in this subseries came from The Research Board Inc., an international think tank organization that guided DEC in operational strategies. Other records in this subseries include a transcript of an interview conducted with Hindle in 1994 and promotional material and development records for early DEC products – including LINC (Laboratory INstrument Computer) and PDP-6. This subseries had previously been arranged and divided into small series by the DEC archives. Because of their small size, these original series from the DEC archives were transferred into individual catalog records under this single subseries. The last series in the DEC archives arrangement was titled “Miscellaneous.” Each topic that was previously grouped under the miscellaneous series was given its own catalog record. The arrangement of the material in this subseries reflects the original order of the DEC archives series.

Subseries 1.4, Gordon Bell papers, 1966-1983, bulk 1974-1983 This subseries consists of material primarily collected by Chester Gordon Bell while he was DEC’s vice president of engineering from 1972 to 1983. Material dates from 1966 to 1983, with the bulk from 1974 to 1983. Bell began his career at DEC in 1960 as an engineer who was instrumental in the design of the PDP series of computers. He designed the PDP-1’s input-output subsystem and the PDP-11 Unibus, and he was the architect of the PDP-4 and PDP-6, co-architect of the PDP-5, and a consultant on the design of the PDP-11. As vice president of engineering, Bell led the development of the VAX computer family. This subseries is arranged into four sub-subseries:

Sub-subseries 1.4.1, Product development and research records, 1966-1983, bulk 1974-1983 Sub-subseries 1.4.2, Product and engineering strategy planning, 1977-1983

Sub-subseries 1.4.3, Correspondence and memoranda, 1970-1983 Sub-subseries 1.4.4, Computer Engineering book drafts, 1977-1978

Sub-subseries 1.4.1, Product development and research records, 1966-1983, bulk 1974-1983

This sub-subseries is made up of material related to the research and development of various DEC systems and technologies from 1966 to 1983, with the bulk from 1974 to 1983. The majority of material is related to the development of VAX systems, including the VAX-11/780 (code name Star), VAX 8600 (code name Venus), VAX 8700/8800 (code name Nautilus), and MicroVAX I (code name Seahorse), and the V-11 microprocessor chip set (code name Scorpio). The V-11 and VAX 8600 have the most material of all the systems, and this includes project requirements, project proposals, system development plans, business plans, technical descriptions, specifications, design drawings, performance estimates, and project status documents. Also included is material on the early research and development of the technologies that became VAX. Besides VAX systems, this sub-subseries also contains material related to the



research and development of the PDP series of computers and the canceled Jupiter project, multiprocessors, memory and storage, and personal computers. Of particular interest is one of Bell’s notebooks filled with his handwritten notes from circa 1975. Also included are memos and meeting minutes from the Office of Development and articles and papers by various authors, including DEC staff, on distributed information systems, editors, office communications systems, artificial intelligence, time-sharing, networking, and UNIX. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 1.4.2, Product and engineering strategy planning, 1977-1983 This sub-subseries is made up of material related to the strategic planning of DEC’s products and engineering department from 1977 to 1983.. Included are product strategy reports, budget reviews, engineering strategy overviews, and Red Books and Beige Books, which were the Central Engineering department's reports on product, market, and support project long-range plans. A 1983 DEC organizational chart is also included. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 1.4.3, Correspondence and memoranda, 1970-1983 This sub-subseries contains correspondence and memoranda that were sent to and from Bell from 1970 to 1983. Topics include engineering budgets, product and marketing strategies, the PDP-11, VAX systems and low-end VAX, extended memory, a computer program for deaf people, the Office of Development, personal computing, WPS, VT278, Scorpio, and the BI module. Also included are related notes and attachments, such as proposals, product descriptions and summaries, reports, and papers. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Sub-subseries 1.4.4, Computer Engineering book drafts, 1977-1978 This sub-subseries consists of drafts, notes, and prepublication reviews of the book Computer Engineering: A DEC View of Hardware Systems Design by Bell, J. Craig Mudge, and John E. McNamara and published in 1978. Material dates from 1977 to 1978. The book is organized into five parts, and included here are drafts of the opening chapters and first three parts of the book, which comprise chapters 1 through 17, plus drafts of the preface, forward, table of contents, references, and bibliography. There are no drafts for parts four of five or the appendices. Most drafts have handwritten editing marks and comments by reviewers. Also included are prepublication reviews of the entire book, which include both positive and negative reviews. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Subseries 1.5, Russ Gullotti papers, 1979-1995, bulk 1991-1994 This subseries is made up of material collected and created by Russell (Russ) A. Gullotti from 1979 to 1995, with the bulk from 1991 to 1994. Gullotti was with DEC from 1977 to 1994, and during that time he held a variety of leadership roles, including president of sales and service for the Americas area from 1992 to 1994. He also served as vice president of several DEC departments, including U.S. sales and service, the global service organization, enterprise integration systems, manufacturing, and Digital Services. This subseries is arranged into three sub-subseries:

Sub-subseries 1.5.1, Group and committee records, 1979-1995, bulk 1989-1994 Sub-subseries 1.5.2, Customer records, 1988-1995, bulk 1992-1994



Sub-subseries 1.5.3, Corporate polices, guides, and reports, 1986-1994

Sub-subseries 1.5.1, Group and committee records, 1979-1995, bulk 1989-1994 This sub-subseries contains material related to various DEC committees, business units, and groups, from 1979 to 1995, with the bulk from 1989 to 1994. The majority of material is related to DEC’s 1992 reorganization into business units and the planning that went into it, including business plans and Business Unit Committee records; the administration of the Americas and U.S. territory sales and service departments that Gullotti oversaw, including planning reports, organizational charts, policies and procedures, employee surveys, and Gullotti's memos; and the planning of the New Hampshire School Improvement Program (SIP), which Gullotti was involved with as a member of the New Hampshire Business Roundtable on Education. Other groups, committees, and units with material in this sub-subseries include the Audit Committee, Computer Special Systems, Digital Consulting, Digital Services, Educational Services, Enterprise Integration Services, the Healthcare Business Unit, the Investment Committee, the Operations Committee, and the Personal Computer Business Unit. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 1.5.2, Sales and service customer records, 1988-1995, bulk 1992-1994 This sub-subseries consists almost entirely of correspondence between customers and DEC regarding customers’ complaints and the concerns they have with the direction DEC is headed after the reorganization in 1992. Material dates from 1988 to 1995, with the bulk from 1992 to 1994. Many of the letters from customers detail the problems they are having working with DEC, including repeated changes in their customer service representatives and a lag in DEC’s responsiveness, and how it negatively impacts their business. The correspondence and memoranda in this sub-subseries show that Gullotti, as head of sales and service in the Americas area, was heavily involved with allaying his customers’ worries and trying to find solutions to their complaints, frequently responding to them personally. Also included are customer satisfaction surveys from 1993 and 1994, which rate DEC poorly, and listings for national accounts and the Executive Partner Program. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title, and the folder titles are the names of each company. Sub-subseries 1.5.3, Corporate polices, guides, and reports, 1986-1994 This sub-subseries is composed of DEC administrative material from 1986 to 1994. Employee guides and corporate policy and procedure manuals make up the bulk of material. Also included are sales and earnings reports from 1986 to 1990, and a 1990 Engineering Beige Book, which summarizes engineering product and support project plans, and its related Yellow Book, which reports updates and changes to those plans. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Series 2, Engineers’ papers, 1951-2002, bulk 1970-1998 This series is made up of the papers of DEC engineers, dating from 1951 to 2002, with the bulk of material from 1970 to 1998. The focus of the material is on the research and development of various DEC technologies and products, with the majority related to the computer systems VAX and PDP, processors, computer architecture, semiconductors, and modules. In particular, there



is a large amount of material on the development of the PDP-10 family of computers and its operating systems in both the Mike Uhler papers and the Tim Litt collection; the PRISM and Alpha architectures in the Chip Nylander, Dileep Bhandarkar, and Uhler subseries; DECnet network protocols in David Mitton’s records; and modules from DEC’s early years in the Dick Best papers and for the PDP-8 and LSI-11 in the Don White papers. This series is arranged into nine subseries:

Subseries 2.1, Mike Uhler papers, 1970-1994 Subseries 2.2, Tim Litt collection, 1965-2002, bulk 1979-1998 Subseries 2.3, Walter Metz papers, 1962-1991, bulk 1980-1991 Subseries 2.4, Chip Nylander PRISM and MIPS records, 1976-1990 Subseries 2.5, David Mitton DECnet records, 1977-1990 Subseries 2.6, Dick Best papers, 1951-2001, bulk 1959-1984 Subseries 2.7, Don White papers, 1960-1987 Subseries 2.8, David Morgan microprocessor records, 1984-1999 Subseries 2.9, Dileep Bhandarkar papers, 1977-1989 Subseries 2.1, Mike Uhler papers, 1970-1994 This subseries contains material collected and created by DEC senior consulting engineer G. Michael (Mike) Uhler from 1970 to 1994. During his time at DEC, Uhler worked on the development of VAX and Alpha system architecture and VAX microprocessor chips. This subseries is arranged into five sub-subseries: Sub-subseries 2.1.1, VAX development records, 1979-1993 Sub-subseries 2.1.2, PDP-10 development records, 1970-1984 Sub-subseries 2.1.3, Alpha and PRISM development records, 1984-1994 Sub-subseries 2.1.4, Other systems and technologies research files, 1974-1992 Sub-subseries 2.1.5, Engineering notebooks, 1983-1994

Sub-subseries 2.1.1, VAX development records, 1979-1993 This sub-subseries is made up of material related to the development of various VAX computer systems and processors, from 1979 to1993. Uhler led the architecture development and microcoding of the NVAX and Rigel VAX microprocessors, and this sub-subseries has a large amount of material related to both, including bus and chip specifications, planning and design development records, and performance analyses. Also included is material related to the VAX computer systems 11/750 (Comet), 6000 (Calypso and Neptune), 8600 (Venus), 8700-8800 (Nautilus), and 9000 (Aquarius), and the canceled systems Argonaut, BVAX, and Raven. There is also material on other VAX processors, microprocessors, and chips, memory, and the VMS operating system. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 2.1.2, PDP-10 development records, 1970-1984 This sub-subseries consists of material related to the development of the PDP-10 supercomputer family. Material dates from 1970 to 1984. Included are project proposals, microcode, large design drawings, and specifications for the PDP-10 models KC10, KC14, KD10, KL10, and KS10. There is also material on the canceled systems Dolphin and Jupiter, with Jupiter having the most material of all the models in this sub-subseries. Also included is material related to PDP-10 architecture, performance analyses, and the operating systems TOPS-10, TOPS-20, and RSX-20F. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 2.1.3, Alpha and PRISM development records, 1984-1994



The majority of material in this sub-subseries is related to the development of DEC’s Alpha RISC architecture and line of microprocessors. Only a small amount of material relates to the PRISM RISC architecture project and its subprojects the Shrike workstation and Emerald operating system. The PRISM project was canceled in 1988 before its completion, and Alpha was based on PRISM’s design. Material dates from 1984 to 1994. The majority of Alpha material is related to the system’s microprocessors, including specifications and design drawings for the Alpha 21064 (EV-4) and its variants 21066 and 21068 (also known as Low-Cost Alpha), 21164 (EV-5), 21264 (EV-6), and other support chips. There is also material related to Alpha’s architecture, memory, graphics, and performance. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 2.1.4, Other systems and technologies research files, 1974-1992 This sub-subseries contains material from 1974 to 1992 that is related to other computer technologies and DEC projects not specific to the systems in the previous sub-subseries. The material not produced by DEC includes research articles and reports on various engineering topics, such as buses, processors, chips, CMOS technology, memory, performance, reliability, and human factors in computing. Material created by DEC includes development and research files on several of the company’s engineering projects, including the Kestrel processor and other processors, CMOS 4 and 6, various buses, workstations, ULTRIX, and the PDP-14. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title

Sub-subseries 2.1.5, Engineering notebooks, 1983-1994 This sub-subseries is made up of Uhler’s engineering notebooks from 1983 to 1994. The notebooks contain Uhler’s handwritten notes, with related documents stapled inside. Some notebooks are labeled as specific to a project, such as the PDP-10 model KD10, the Rigel microprocessor, the EV-6 (Alpha 21264) microprocessor, and system management, but most are simply labeled with the date and include notes on varying topics and projects. This sub-subseries is arranged chronologically.

Subseries 2.2, Tim Litt collection, 1965-2002, bulk 1979-1998 This subseries consists of material created and collected by Timothe (Tim) Litt, whose career mirrored the trajectories of many of DEC’s later products, moving beyond DEC to Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel. Litt worked at DEC from 1979 to 1998 in many roles relating to software engineering and DEC’s Large Computer Group (LCG) – ending his career there as a senior consultant engineer. After DEC was acquired by Compaq in 1998, Litt moved there as well, working as a principal member of Compaq’s technical staff. Then, the same year that Compaq merged with Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2002, Litt began working at HP as distinguished technologist. Finally, Litt finished his career at Intel, where DEC’s semiconductor and Alpha microprocessor groups eventually moved. Material that was distributed to employees during DEC’s acquisitions and mergers with Compaq and HP can be found in this subseries. One focus of Litt’s collection is the development of the PDP-10 mainframe computer family. Specific PDP-10 models that are more documented in this subseries include the KS10, KL10 (also marketed as DECsystem-10), and DECsystem-20. This subseries also holds significant information on the operating systems developed for PDP-10 computers, TOPS-10 and TOPS-20, along with the smaller software programs used within those systems. This subseries is arranged into nine sub-subseries:



Sub-subseries 2.2.1, Background research and corporate communications, 1973-2002

Sub-subseries 2.2.2, Product development, 1968-1998, bulk 1975-1993 Sub-subseries 2.2.3, DECUS records, 1971-1999 Sub-subseries 2.2.4, Promotional and sales material, 1971-2001 Sub-subseries 2.2.5, KL10 records, 1971-1989

Sub-subseries 2.2.6, TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 software performance reports, 1983-1990

Sub-subseries 2.2.7, Manuals, 1965-1998 Sub-subseries 2.2.8, Periodicals, 1973-2002, bulk 1980-1998 Sub-subseries 2.2.9, Course material, 1974-1986

Sub-subseries 2.2.1, Background research and corporate communications, 1973-2002 This sub-subseries contains background files and corporate-wide communications for employees of DEC, Compaq, and Hewlett-Packard, which Litt collected during his time at all three companies. Included are articles and clippings from various non-DEC publications, many of which relate to the 1998 merger between DEC and Compaq and the 2002 merger between Compaq and Hewlett-Packard. Also relevant to these mergers, this sub-subseries contains a "Compaq/DIGITAL Merger Communications and Engagement Kit for DIGITAL Services Managers," "Compaq Services: A New Beginning Communication Kit," and instructional material for Compaq employees during the Compaq-Hewlett-Packard integrations. Two separate collections of microform are also contained in this sub-subseries. The first of these is the Reed Powell collection of 105mm duplicate microfiche, a collection of microfiche labeled and arranged in a numerical system that documents manuals, specifications, internal memoranda, DECUS proceedings, periodicals, product development records, and promotional material. Reed Powell was an employee of DEC who had various roles in technical marketing and sales, software support, and DECUS. In a 1982 directory of DEC’s Large Computer Group (LCG)—also included in this sub-subseries—Powell is listed as LCG’s principal technical support specialist. The second collection of microform in this sub-subseries is a set of eleven microfilm rolls, also arranged in a numerical system, that contain DECUS proceedings, manuals, and course material. Lastly, material relating to competitors’ products, a small amount of manufacturing financial records, and personnel reference guides are included here. One helpful personnel reference guide in this sub-subseries is a pamphlet for new DEC employees completely devoted to writing out all of DEC's internal acronyms. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Sub-subseries 2.2.2, Product development, 1968-1998, bulk 1975-1993 This sub-subseries comprises Litt’s collected program listings, engineering drawings and schematics, design guides, specifications, and other technical documentation relating to DEC’s product development. Products with significant amounts of material in this sub-subseries include the VAX 9000 family of computers (code-named Aquarius) and PDP-10-related systems, including KL10 and KI10 models and the TOPS-10 operating system. This sub-subseries also contains a large quantity of design guides and “technology files” from DEC’s Semiconductor Engineering Group and CMOS Process Integration Group relating to various CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) systems. Laboratory notebooks from multiple DEC engineers are also included in



this sub-subseries, along with documentation of engineering standards and instructions at DEC. Another major part of these records consists of engineering drawings and program listings. Hidden among program listings for DEC products are game listings that Litt and other engineers created and/or edited, for games including TREKII (Star Trek-related) and SNIPER. This sub-subseries also includes a large number of backups of software, systems, databases, and internal inventories on magnetic tape and optical disk cartridges. These backups are mostly related to TOPS-10 and TOPS-20, TOPS-10 on the XKL TOAD-1, KL10 and other PDP-10 systems, VAX 9000 design, other VAX systems, and other software and programming languages. Lastly, this sub-subseries contains microfiche of TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 program listings and product development records relating to Project Jupiter and KC10 systems. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 2.2.3, DECUS records, 1971-1999 This sub-subseries contains records published by DECUS, which Litt collected as a member of DECUS and as a contributor to the DECUS Program Library. Included in this sub-subseries is a near-complete run of the DECUS periodical titled Copy-N-Mail, printed from 1973 to 1980. Most of this periodical’s editions focus on DECsystem-10 and DECsystem-20 models of the PDP-10. The final issue of Copy-N-Mail identifies John Simon as the editor. Other DECUS periodicals in this sub-subseries—with much fewer editions—include DECUSCOPE, DECUS magazine, Moby Munger (the official organ of DECUS’ TECO Special Interest Group), DECUS Update, and DECUS Journal. Another large portion of this sub-subseries comprises DECUS Program Library catalogs and software abstracts, along with forms and correspondence relating to Litt’s borrowing and submitting programs to the library. DECUS Program Library records in this sub-subseries include both text and microfiche. Lastly, a DECUS membership guide is included with this sub-subseries. These DECUS records are arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 2.2.4, Promotional and sales material, 1971-2001 This sub-subseries consists of Litt’s collected promotional material, press kits, sales and marketing guides, and technical summaries. Most of the material in this sub-subseries was published by DEC, though there are publications from Compaq and Hewlett-Packard and promotional material regarding Intel’s DEC-related products—all published after DEC’s mergers and acquisitions with these companies. There is also a small amount of material published by National Information Systems (NIS) and Tektronix. The majority of the material published by DEC in this sub-subseries promotes DECsystem-10, DECsystem-20, VAX 9000 systems, and products developed by DEC’s Large Computer Group (LCG). Some of this material appears in the form of technical summaries. Also see “Sub-subseries 2.2.7, Manuals” for technical summaries that were previously filed with related manuals and kept in that arrangement. Of interest in this sub-subseries are promotional booklets relating to DEC’s early history and achievements, one of which, titled Digital's Mill: 1847-1977 (1985), covers overlaps between DEC's history and the history of Maynard, Massachusetts. Lastly, this sub-subseries contains material used by DEC sales staff to market and sell products. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 2.2.5, KL10 records



This sub-subseries comprises a separate, but related donation (X3149.2005) made by Tim Litt and Hewlett-Packard a year after the larger DEC collection donated by Hewlett-Packard in 2004 (X2675.2004). Most of the material in this sub-subseries documents KL10-based computing systems. The KL10—also marketed as DECsystem-10—was one model of the PDP-10 mainframe computer family. One other PDP-10 model that is well-documented in this sub-subseries is the KS10. Types of material in this sub-subseries include program listings, manuals, engineering drawings, and microfiche. Also included in this sub-subseries are microfiche library manuals that instruct DEC employees on using the standards and policies of DEC microfiche libraries, particularly libraries relating to large computer hardware documentation like the majority of microfiche in this sub-subseries. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 2.2.6, TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 software performance reports, 1983-1990 This sub-subseries contains software performance reports for various programs within the TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 operating systems. TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 were both DEC operating systems used on PDP-10 computers. Most of these reports address errors and possible diagnoses for specific software programs written for TOPS-10 and/or TOPS-20. The reports reflect feedback and service to clients of various organizations using TOPS-10 or TOPS-20 systems, as well as other DEC employees using these systems. Specific programs with significant amounts of documentation in this sub-subseries include instances of COBOL-74 and FORTRAN, with reports for these programs under both TOPS-10 and TOPS-20. A small number of the software performance reports address problems with software-related textual documents. In these cases, the reports are titled after the document title, such as a manual title or an edition of the DEC periodical, Software Dispatch. For the majority of this sub-subseries, folder titles are named for each letter of the alphabet, and within the folders, the reports are arranged alphabetically by each program name. The only exception to this system is with the folders that were previously arranged consecutively by versions of the TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 operating systems. This arrangement was preserved for those cases. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 2.2.7, Manuals, 1965-1998 This sub-subseries comprises Litt’s collection of manuals, published by DEC and other institutions. The majority of these manuals are published by DEC, but other publishers include American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T), Control Data Corporation (CDC), Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix, Xerox Corporation, IBM, and Intel. Many of the manuals in this sub-subseries relate to the PDP-10 product line, including manuals for DECsystem-10, DECsystem-20, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, KL10, and KS10. Also included is a significant amount of material for PDP-11 and VAX-based systems. Programming languages are also well-documented in this sub-subseries, including BLISS. Aside from manuals, this sub-subseries contains smaller amounts of educational material, training guides, maintenance manuals, sales guides, and technical summaries. These other types of material were previously filed with related manuals so this arrangement was preserved. For more of Litt’s educational material, sales guides, and technical summaries, see “Sub-subseries 2.2.9, Course material” and “Sub-subseries 2.2.4, Promotional and sales material.” Many of the manuals in this sub-subseries are preliminary and/or incomplete drafts of manuals for internal



distribution and development. Some of these partial manuals were compiled into “notebooks” (e.g., “TOPS-10 Software Notebooks”), which contained related user documentation from different manuals, collected together into a single notebook for a specific use. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 2.2.8, Periodicals, 1973-2002, bulk 1980-1998 This sub-subseries consists of Litt’s collected newsletters, magazines, catalogs, and price lists published periodically. Most of this material was published by DEC, but there is a small amount of periodicals published by other organizations. Most of the catalogs, price lists, and “product summaries” of this sub-subseries come from DEC’s Large Computer Group (LCG). LCG also published its own magazines and newsletters, including the Large Computer Group Buy-Line and Large Systems News, also both in this sub-subseries. Another magazine with a significant amount of editions in this sub-subseries is Forefront, which was published by DEC and then by Compaq after the latter acquired DEC in 1998. Lastly, this sub-subseries contains microfiche collections of Software Dispatch, a periodical published by DEC’s Software Maintenance Service and microfiche of three DEC newsletters: Small Buffer, Large Buffer, and The Buffer. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 2.2.9, Course material, 1974-1986 This sub-subseries contains Litt’s collection of course outlines, student handouts, and seminar notes from his time at DEC. Most of this course material was published by DEC’s Educational Services department, though material from other DEC departments and other institutions are also included. Most of the records in this sub-subseries relate to the TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 operating systems, which were developed for DECsystem-10 and DECsystem-20 computers, all of which fell under the PDP-10 family of mainframe computers. Other systems with educational documentation in this sub-subseries include the ANF-10 network protocol, a version of a program called Galaxy 4.1, UNIX, VMS 5.1, and the BLISS programming language. Also see “Sub-subseries 2.2.7, Manuals” for more instructional guides from DEC’s Educational Services department, but without accompanying course outlines, notes, and/or student handouts. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Subseries 2.3, Walter Metz papers, 1962-1991, bulk 1980-1991 This subseries contains Walter C. Metz’s papers from his engineering work in DEC’s Advanced Semiconductor Development (ASD) Group. Metz’s engineering titles at DEC included Principal engineer for semiconductor operations and also epitaxial/chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process engineer. The majority of the records in this series relate to Metz’s work with epitaxial (epi) growth research in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) development. Metz, collaborating with Gregory J. Grula, invented at least two methods under this area of research and development titled "Method for Forming Trench Isolated Regions with Sidewall Doping" and "Method of Fabricating Trench Isolated Transistors with Sidewall Doping." Included in this series are correspondence, laboratory results and analyses, Metz’s notebooks, patents, specifications, and articles related to this work in semiconductor development. Metz was also involved in a variety of partnerships between DEC and research entities, including North Carolina State University’s (NCSU) Engineering Research Center (ERC); the SEMATECH Center of Excellence (SCOE) on Advanced Single Wafer Processing; a campus-based engineering center at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany; and the



Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC). This subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Subseries 2.4, Chip Nylander PRISM and MIPS records, 1976-1990 This subseries is primarily made up of material related to the development of DEC’s PRISM and MIPS reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor architectures, collected and created by Charles (Chip) G. Nylander from 1976 to 1990. Nylander was a senior consulting engineer and the technical director for DEC’s Software Development Technologies group, heading many software and systems architecture development projects. The bulk of material in this subseries is related to PRISM. Officially started in 1985, the PRISM project grew from other RISC projects at DEC, but was canceled by DEC management in 1988 as it neared completion. The next largest portion of this subseries is related to MIPS, a RISC architecture developed by MIPS Computer Systems and implemented by DEC with its DECstations following the end of PRISM. Material for both architectures includes documentation about project planning, development, languages, and calling standards. A smaller amount of material in this subseries is related to the early development of Alpha, which was based on PRISM, ULTRIX, the GEM compiler, and PRISM’s MICA operating system. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Subseries 2.5, David Mitton DECnet records, 1977-1990 This subseries contains material collected and created by DEC consulting software engineer David Mitton related to the planning and development of DECnet. Material dates from 1977 to 1990. DECnet, DEC’s network protocol, was introduced in 1974 and made up its Digital Network Architecture (DNA). The material in this subseries includes records related to the planning and development of DEC's Personal Computing Systems Architecture (PCSA), including OS/2, Pathworks, MS-NET, and NETBIOS emulation; DECnet-DOS; the PCxx personal computer's network architecture and software; and DECnet for Rainbow computers. Included are memoranda, presentations, reports, product descriptions and requirements, sales data, and press. Also included are project management records that show plans, timelines, procedures, individual work plans, product resource reports, and meeting notes. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Subseries 2.6, Dick Best papers, 1951-2001, bulk 1959-1984 This subseries consists of material collected by DEC chief engineer Richard (Dick) L. Best, who began working at DEC in 1959 when he was hired to work on the PDP-1 design. Material dates from 1951 to 2001, with the bulk from 1959 to 1984. Best’s papers were acquired by the museum in two separate donations (X2675.2004 and X7042.2014), and this subseries is arranged into two sub-subseries, one for each donation. The majority of material in each sub-subseries is focused on specific aspects of Best’s job, but there is overlap on subjects and types of material in each sub-subseries.

Sub-subseries 2.6.1, Committee and product development records, 1951-1990, bulk 1959-1984

Sub-subseries 2.6.2, Module records, 1959-2001, bulk 1959-1973

Sub-subseries 2.6.1, Committee and product development records, 1951-1990, bulk 1959-1984 This sub-subseries comprises material related to various engineering committees and the research and development of products and technologies, plus some



administrative material. Material dates from 1951 to 1990, with the bulk from 1959 to 1984. As chief engineer, Best served on many committees, including the Design Review Committee, Engineering Committee, Library Committee, and Engineering Review Board. Material related to these and other committees includes meeting minutes, notes, product proposals and reviews, and evaluations of engineers for job title reclassification. The Design Review Committee and Engineering Committee have the most material. There is a large amount of records on the research and development of different products and technologies, such as memory systems, computer systems, wiring, video terminals, circuits, and modules. Records on the research and development of modules is one area where the two sub-subseries overlap. While the focus of sub-subseries 2.6.2 is on modules, this sub-subseries does contain a small amount of material on the subject. Also included here is a large amount of promotional material and product specifications from other companies, plus correspondence between DEC and those companies and its clients, and reports of trips DEC personnel took to visit other companies with the purpose of learning more about their products. There is also material on internal and industry standards; field service records; manufacturing, sales, and pricing information; and memos from Ken Olsen from 1959 to 1983 that document the development of a variety of DEC technologies and the growth of DEC as a company. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Sub-subseries 2.6.2, Module records, 1959-2001, bulk 1959-1973 This sub-subseries is almost entirely made up of material related to the research and development of modules at DEC. Records date from 1959 to 2001, with the bulk from 1959 to 1973. Best was in charge of module design at DEC. Just under half of this sub-subseries consists of schematics for DEC modules, including Flip-Chips, VHF modules, and the G, H, K, M, and W series. There is also a large number of module bulletins, module descriptions, module lists, option designation lists, and option/module lists. Additionally, there are photographs, standards, specifications, catalogs, price lists, and sales material related to modules. This sub-subseries does contain some material not directly related to the research and development of modules, including a large number of issues of Engineering Newsletter from 1963 to 1992, a small number of issues of DEC Engineering Note from 1969 to 1976, material on the development of the EV7 Alpha microprocessor, and architectural drawings for DEC’s facilities at the Maynard Mill in Maynard, Massachusetts. This sub-subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Subseries 2.7, Don White papers, 1960-1987 This subseries is made up of material created and collected by DEC engineer Don White from 1960 to 1987. White worked at DEC from 1960 to 1989, where he developed PDP-8 logic modules based off of DEC’s Flip-Chip module series, led the team that developed the PDP-8’s OMNIBUS assembly, and was responsible for the design of the PDP-8/L computer. About half of this series is made up of PDP-8 schematics, including those for the M-series of integrated circuits, R-series Flip-Chip modules, and analog memory design. Also included is an R-series terminal loading chart and memoranda and correspondence related to various DEC engineering procedures and projects, including the development of the PDP-8 and its modules. White also collected material related to modules for the LSI-11 microcomputer. Of particular interest are White’s engineering notebooks from 1960 to 1980 and material related to some of his patents. This series



also includes a set of wiring diagrams for the Teletype Model 33, which was the teleprinter that came with the PDP-8. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Subseries 2.8, David Morgan microprocessor records, 1984-1999 This subseries is made up of material collected by David K. Morgan related to the development of DEC microprocessors from 1984 to 1999, with the majority of material concentrated on VAX, Alpha, and StrongARM microprocessors. Morgan was a DEC engineer and engineering project manager, with several engineering patents under his name. This subseries includes plans, reports, drawings, and specifications for the VAX microprocessors CVAX, Rigel, NVAX, and XMX; the Alpha microprocessors 21064 (EV4), EV45, 21164 (EV5), and 21264 (EV6); and the StrongARM microprocessors SA-110, SA-1100, and SA-1500. Also included are patents and patent applications by Morgan and the third volume of the DEC Semiconductor Engineering Group's Chip Portfolio (1988-1989), which consists of descriptions and color photographs of chips. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Subseries 2.9, Dileep Bhandarkar papers, 1977-1989 This subseries consists of Dileep P. Bhandarkar’s presentation material, notebooks, and some correspondence related to his work managing DEC systems and their architectures. The largest portion of this subseries relates to PRISM architecture (Parallel Reduced Instruction Set Machine). Other systems and design strategies that are documented in these records include VAX-11, PDP-11, reduced instruction set computing (RISC), and large scale integration (LSI). The only job title listed in these records for Bhandarkar is technical director of Mid Range Systems. In other DEC documentation Bhandarkar is described as a principal engineer in the VAX-11/PDP-11 Systems architecture department and as leading the technical direction and product strategy of Alpha Personal Systems, Alpha and VAX Servers, and High Performance Computing. Bhandarkar also worked as Architecture Manager for MicroVAX, Chief Architect for VAX Vector Processing, Technical Director for Base Platforms, and co-architect on the PRISM RISC architecture on which Alpha is based. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Series 3, Product managers’ papers, 1966-1997 This series contains the papers of DEC employees who were in charge of managing a specific product line or “group” within DEC’s corporate structure. In 1964, DEC reorganized into a business unit-oriented structure. After this restructuring, each business unit had a manager, which DEC initially titled “product line managers.” Subsequently, product line managers became “group managers” under DEC nomenclature. Many of the DEC managers grouped within this series had “product line manager” or “group manager” in their titles at some point in their careers. Some of the people grouped under this series did not have these terms in their job titles, but were generally in charge of managing product development for specific product lines. Also, many of the collections under this series cover multiple stages of each person’s career. The decisions to group these subseries under “Project manager personal papers” were based on the work that the majority of the records in each subseries reflect. DEC’s Alpha-based systems have the most documentation in this series, covering its early development in the late 1980s to its release in 1992. Most of the people grouped in this series managed the Alpha product line at different points in their careers, especially Supnik, Conklin, and Avery. The earlier-developed VAX architecture and VAX-based systems are also well represented in this series. The Peter Conklin and Bill Demmer papers in this series contain early documentation of VAX’s beginnings, including systems migration instructions for DEC’s existing PDP-11



customers to migrate to the VAX-based systems when they were first released. This series is arranged into eight subseries:

Subseries 3.1, Bob Supnik Alpha papers, 1980-1993 Subseries 3.2, Bill Demmer papers, 1985-1995 Subseries 3.3, Peter Conklin papers, 1966-1995, bulk 1975-1994 Subseries 3.4, Al Avery papers, 1978-1994 Subseries 3.5, Roger Cady papers, 1974-1983 Subseries 3.6, Bev Schultz OpenVMS papers, 1979-1994, bulk 1991-1994 Subseries 3.7, Lou Philippon papers, 1967-1997, bulk 1981-1995 Subseries 3.8, Eli Glazer memoranda, 1978-1983

Subseries 3.1, Bob Supnik Alpha papers, 1980-1993

This subseries is made up of material collected and created by Robert (Bob) M. Supnik from 1980 to 1993 that is related to the development of DEC’s Alpha RISC architecture and line of microprocessors, the Rigel and V-11 microprocessor chip sets for VAX, and the VAX 9000 family of supercomputers and mainframe computers. Supnik held a number of positions during his time at DEC, including senior corporate consulting engineer, engineering program manager for Alpha, technical director for the Alpha and VAX Systems Group, group manager for microprocessor development and semiconductor engineering, laboratory manager, vice president of technology and architecture in the Computer Systems Division, and vice president of corporate research and advanced development in the Corporate Strategy and Technology Group. The majority of material in this subseries is related to the Alpha program that Supnik led, including quarterly reports, memos, project plans, design drawings, and presentations that document the development of Alpha from concept to product from 1989 to 1993. A small portion of the material in this subseries is related to VAX-9000 and the development of the VAX microprocessors Rigel and V-11. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Subseries 3.2, Bill Demmer papers, 1985-1995 This subseries consists of material collected and created by William (Bill) R. Demmer from 1985 to 1995. Originally an engineer who helped build VAX, Demmer served as the vice president of both the Mid-Range Systems Business Group and the VAX/VMS Systems and Servers Group, and was in charge of Alpha product development. The material in this subseries touches on many facets of the units Demmer helmed and his responsibilities as vice president. The majority of material is made up of correspondence to and from Demmer from 1993 to 1995 that is related to various business and personnel issues, with attached presentations, reports, articles, and other documents. There is also a large amount of material related to the planning, development, and licensing of Alpha, plus records from the Alpha Task Force Demmer created to look at sales and marketing strategies. Also included are long-range plans for the Mid-Range Systems Business Group and VAX/VMS Systems and Servers Product Creation Unit, plus business and development plans for CALYPSO/CVAX and CALYPSO/RIGEL. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Subseries 3.3, Peter Conklin papers, 1966-1995, bulk 1975-1994 This subseries contains records collected and partially created by Peter F. Conklin during his roles at DEC as Director of Alpha Product Development, Software Director of the Advanced Systems Group, and, lastly, Director of Systems Development in the Engineering Excellence Program Office. A large portion of this subseries covers the



early development and architecture of VAX and VAX-based computers. Included in the VAX documentation are systems migration instructions for existing PDP-11 DEC customers to migrate to VAX-based systems, VAX glossaries, early VAX architecture development, strategic review meeting documents for EVAX, VAX-11/780 promotional material, and multiple editions of the VAXnews newsletter. Other DEC products covered in this subseries include Alpha, DECsystem-10, and OpenVMS. A major theme that appears throughout this subseries is management strategies – especially strategies that reflect Conklin’s methods in managing Alpha product development at DEC. Also emphasized in these records are partnerships and collaborations between DEC and other companies, including Olivetti, Cerner Corporation, IBM, and Mitsubishi. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Subseries 3.4, Al Avery papers, 1978-1994 This subseries contains papers collected by Albert (Al) Avery from 1978 to 1994 related to a variety of roles he worked in at DEC, including in the Alpha Systems Technical Office working with Alpha AXP Systems, in software integration with the Advanced Systems Group, as a product manager in High Performance Systems, and in Engineering Processes and Systems. A large amount of material in this subseries is focused on efforts to develop better internal processes within the engineering departments and between engineering and DEC’s market-focused business units. This material dates from 1989 to 1994, when DEC’s business was floundering and management was looking for ways to improve the company’s standing with customers and within the computer industry. Included are project presentations by the consulting firm Booz Allen & Hamilton, internal process documents, revenue analyses, and interviews with customers and DEC employees to gauge satisfaction with the company. This subseries also includes material related to specific systems and technologies, such as Alpha AXP and VAXclusters, DEC’s Stratton conference proceedings, and Avery’s engineering notebooks. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Subseries 3.5, Roger Cady papers, 1974-1983 This subseries comprises Roger C. Cady’s correspondence and administrative records from his work at DEC from 1974 to 1983. During these years Cady worked as a manager for three different product groups at DEC: first as product line manager for the Telephone Industry Products Group; then in multiple management roles under Commercial Systems Marketing groups; and finally as group manager and vice president of the Manufacturing, Distribution, and Control (MDC) Product Group. Of particular interest in this subseries are notes and outlines of Cady’s presentations given to clients, sales symposia, and conferences relating to his work in the MDC group – including talks given for a visit by Philip Morris representatives to DEC, a Montgomery securities seminar, and a White House meeting of the U.S. Council for World Communications Year (1983). This subseries is arranged into two sub-subseries: Sub-subseries 3.5.1, Correspondence, 1974-1983

Sub-subseries 3.5.2, Manufacturing, Distribution, and Control Product Group records, 1980-1983

Sub-subseries 3.5.1, Correspondence, 1974-1983

This sub-subseries contains Cady’s letters, memoranda, and handwritten messages primarily internal to DEC. From 1974 to 1977, most of Cady’s correspondence occurred within DEC's TELCO Product Line when Cady worked as product line manager for DEC's Telephone Industry Products Group. During the following years, from 1978 to 1980, the bulk of Cady’s correspondence was



under DEC’s Commercial Marketing department – including related units called Commercial Systems Marketing and Commercial Systems Group. During these years Cady first worked as group manager for Commercial Systems Marketing and then as director of marketing. The remaining years of Cady’s correspondence relate to the management of DEC’s MDC product group. For many of his files, Cady kept an “index to correspondence,” included at the beginning of each month’s file, which lists the subjects, dates, and participants for each month’s correspondence. A large portion of these files only contain correspondence that Cady authored to others; however, for letters and memoranda authored during Cady’s work under MDC, correspondence sent to Cady by others was also filed. Correspondence from parts of 1977-1978 and 1980-1983 were not included with this donation. Lastly, Cady kept a file titled “external correspondence,” containing let