Archives
The Alumni Association's Archive Committee has the responsibility to catalog and store two important parts of SRI history: 1) printed material of a non-contractual nature and 2) all photographic material up to the start of digital photography. The first category includes all the various SRI research journals and staff publications, phone books, annual reports and much more, while the second consists mainly of tens of thousands of negatives and some slides. We are attempting to bring all this together in one place at SRI.
If you have any old photographs, documents, reports, or other interesting and historically important SRI materials, we would like to hear from you. Examples are issues of "Research for Industry", "SRI Journal", "Highlights", Staff Notes, or other publications that SRI has produced over the years. Interestingly, the only easy way to trace the existence of various SRI laboratories is through the phone books. To depict SRI capability over time, it is also good to have descriptions of laboratories, including the names and capabilities of their members. Any written history of a part of SRI or news clipping or other write-ups of projects with important impacts is needed.
Less obvious documents are also welcome. For example, we have a copy of the Harvard Radio Research Laboratory personnel directory, dated 1945. Stanford’s Dr. Fred Terman led this Laboratory during WWII and, as you scan this document, you will find the names of about a dozen or so of its staff who came west in the late 1940s and formed part of the first Engineering Division at SRI.
Another example: We have an account of Tom Poulter's 1933 trip to the South Pole under Admiral Richard Byrd. This was the expedition where Byrd, who was spending the Antarctic winter alone at the polar base, became ill and unable to maintain contact with the other members of the group. Tom Poulter, being second-in-command, organized and led the crossing of the polar ice in the middle of winter and rescued Admiral Byrd. We also have a copy of Byrd's book "Alone", which is his own account of that expedition.
If you have archive material about SRI that you believe might be of importance or general interest, please contact the Archive Chairman before bringing or shipping it. We will endeavor to index and archive any material you contribute. Finally, if any of you in the SRI locale have a little time to help organize and refine our print and photographic collection, we welcome your participation and thank you in advance. Please contact the Archive Committee.
