"HP founder's archive" which is part of the history of Silicon Valley burned down in a large fire

Companies that are the predecessor of current HP Inc and HPE "HP (Hewlett-Packard Company)"Was established in the state of California, USA before the Second World War, celebrating the 80th anniversary of its founding in 2018. However, it turned out that the precious archive of the founder of HP, which is not an exaggeration to say that history of Silicon Valley itself itself was destroyed by the fire that occurred in October 2017 of the previous year.

Hewlett-Packard historical archives destroyed in Santa Rosa fires | The Press Democrat -
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/business/7559762-181/hewlett-packard-archives-at-keysight-destroyed

HP in 1938William HewlettWhenDavid PackardEstablished in Palo Alto, California. A company that later became a global computer company and created a chance for Silicon Valley to gather computer-related companies was founded in the garage that the two purchased for $ 538.

Documents and response records left by the great founder, speech manuscripts and other collections are not only the cornerstone of a company called HP, but also how the Silicon Valley began, how the computer related industry was born It was a historical item that tells of what he did and it was kept carefully and should be maintained for the eternity. Therefore, HP's Karen Lewis began archiving business that collects and protects the historical record of the founder in celebrating the 50th anniversary of HP, and after that the archive is strictly kept inside HP I have done it.


This historical item was later moved to a measuring company company using electronic method for the first time in the world called Keysight Technologies. Keysight Technologies is a company based in Santa Rosa, California, spun off from Agilent Technologies, which spun off from HP in 1999. The historical archive of HP founder in 100 boxes will be transferred to Keysight Technologies building in the process of transferring business from Agilent Technorogies to Keysight Technologies in 2014.

A large fire occurred in the Fountaingrove district of Santa Rosa where the Keysight Technologies building enters, at least 23 people of the inhabitants were killed and 6800 buildings were damaged. Keysight Technologies has two buildings with a flat store, and one of the buildings housed the founder's archive box.


After the fire occurred, access to Keysight Technologies buildings was prohibited, but as a result of a survey conducted three weeks after the fire occurred, it turned out that the historical archive was destroyed. Brad Witworth, who served as the international operations manager in charge of archiving archives 30 years ago, said, "HP was at the forefront of" the industry that fundamentally changed the world (computer industry). " A large part of the business history has gone away, "he said, lamenting the disaster that precious historical materials were lost due to the fire. Also, Professor Emeritus Raymond Blythe of the University of Illinois said, "The archived material contained valuable insights from the founder of the HP who looked at the growth of the company," the lost value is in monetary terms I pointed out that it was valuable things that could not be converted.


There is also a voice to criticize Keysight Technologies' inadequacy about this incident. In addition to saying that Mr. Whitworth mentioned "It is a big loss, but it was easy to prevent", Mr. Lewis who began collecting and archiving the archive at HP said, "We will keep the archive without proper protection measures It is irresponsible to keep it in the building. " According to Mr. Lewis, when HP kept the historical archive, it seems that it was stored in a special cabinet equipped with safety equipment such as fire extinguishing equipment.

In contrast, Keysight Technologies acknowledged the fact of the burning of the collection, but contested the criticism that it was not properly stored. Public spokesman Jeff Weber said, "Keysight Technologies has taken appropriate and responsible steps to protect historical archives, but due to the largest fire in California's history, efforts are nil-free This is a miserable situation for many people in the district, it is time to begin healing the wounds, I do not think to look for responsible person. "