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Hewlett-Packard History Links

This is a directory of links to books, sites, and articles on HP history – the company, the founders, products and reminiscences, reference sites. 

To add or correct a listing, please Email.

Recent additions are highlighted in yellow.

 

Company

The HP Way "We have trust and respect for individuals..."
"The Great Innovators" Business Week: "...the birthplace of a new approach to management"
"Great Garages" Forbes: "...the key to the greatness of Bill Hewlett and David Packard was that they held no attachment to things, only people."
"Founding Fathers" Stanford Magazine: "...their contribution... was as much organizational as technological."
HP History and Facts HP: Timeline, Virtual Museum
Bill Hewlett on Management "The Human Side Of Management" by Bill Hewlett – on private site of Ed Sharpe
Packard on Management David Packard's "11 Simple Rules... for getting along with others" – 1958
Agilent History Agilent: Timeline
HP CEOs HP: Biographies of all HP CEOs
"A Trek through Time" HP: History of the garage and the first years of the company
Acquisitions, Divestitures HPAA's list of dates when HP acquired and divested companies
   

Founders

William R. Hewlett "...ceaseless desire to inspire excellence."
William R. Hewlett "His greatest gift... was not the compass he could build with his hands, but his moral compass."  
Remembering Bill Hewlett "...philanthropy, curiosity, love of nature and music, good humor and stubborn streak."  
Hewlett Oral History Transcript of 1984 IEEE History Center interview – A. Michal McMahon
Bill Hewlett on Creativity "Random Thoughts on Creativity" – Commencement Speech at MIT, 1986
David Packard "...where he had taken a job washing dishes."
Farewell to David Packard "Dave was a decider, not a ducker. He knew what he thought, and he made decisions that worked."
David Packard "...wasn't afraid to point out what was wrong and suggest improvements."
"Big Dave's Legacy" The Packards and Monterey County... "Dave said, 'That's fine, but where are the birds?' "
Fred Terman Mentor to Hewlett and Packard
Silent Partners "Bill and Dave had two silent partners... their wives."
Bill's and Dave's Offices An online photo tour of Bill's and Dave's preserved offices – including the famous "open doors."
Hewlett-Packard 1938-2002 Statement by David Woodley Packard, May 2002
Hewlett Foundation "...to address the most serious social and environmental problems facing society, where risk capital, responsibly invested, may make a difference over time."
Packard Foundation "...provides grants to nonprofit organizations in the following program areas: Conservation and Science; Population; and Children, Families, and Communities."  
Monterey Bay Aquarium David Packard helped create exhibits at his forge in Big Sur.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute "Take risks. Ask big questions. Don't be afraid to make mistakes; if you don't make mistakes, you're not reaching far enough." – David Packard
   

Products and Reminiscences

Clubs and Forums HPAA's directory of independent clubs and online discussion forums:
  • History and products

  • Spinoffs from HP

  • Functional areas, such as Sales

  • Regional and local groups

  • Divisions, business units, and predecessor companies

  • 200A Audio Oscillator

    The first HP product, Bill Hewlett's oscillator – from HP's "virtual museum"

    Inside HP (revised 10/06) A 96-page personal narrative history of HP from 1939-1990 – John Minck (1.4MB pdf)
    Barney Oliver Oral history by Barney Oliver, founder of HP Labs – Charles Babbage Institute
    HP Early Years Rough draft and source materials – private site of Ed Sharpe
    "HP Memory Project" History of HP in products from 1939-2000 – private site by Marc Mislanghe
    HP Computer History "HP: The Accidentally On-Purpose Computer Company" – Steve Leibson
    HP Test Equipment Online museum and technical history of HP instruments – Kenneth Kuhn
    "HP Archive" Site Searchable pdf files: 15,000 pages of catalogs, manuals, periodicals, app notes... – Glenn Robb
    Museum of HP Calculators Displays and describes HP calculators introduced from 1968 to 1986 – Dave Hicks
    HP-01 Wrist Instrument Opens New Dimension in Personal Information – HP Journal
    HP-35 A history of the HP 35 – John Minck (pages 65-69)
    HP 80 Series Documentation and software for HP-85 family of BASIC microcomputers – Vassilis Prevelakis
    HP 9100 How the Model 9100A Was Developed – Barney Oliver
    HP 9825 The HP 9825 desktop computer was way before its time – Steve Leibson
    HP Computer Museum Photos, documentation, literature, and downloadable software – Jon Johnston
    HP's Early Computers Interview with Barney Oliver – Kip Crosby
    HP's Early Computers Interview with Joe Schoendorf – Kip Crosby
    HP 1000 "25 Years of Real-Time Computing – the HP 1000" – Todd Poynor, updated by Don Pottenger
    HP 3000 The History of the HP 3000 – Bob Green
    HP 3000 "Lunch, the HP Way" – parody by Stephen Harrison and Noel Magee
    HP 3000 "The Rise, Fall and Rise of the 3000" – Christopher Edler
    HP 9000 "The HP 9000 Computer" – Frank McConnell
    HP 9000 HP 9000 model history in the Wikipedia
    PA-RISC PA-RISC model history in the Wikipedia
    HP-UX HP-UX release history in the Wikipedia
    HP 300 HP 300 (Amigo) note in the Wikipedia
    Plotters and Recorders San Diego Division and F. L. Moseley Co.
    The Jet Set Turns 20 HP: History of the ThinkJet, LaserJet, and DeskJet product lines
    Inkjet Printers "Printing Enters the Jet Age" – from American Heritage Invention & Technology
    Inkjet Printers "Close-up on color printing" – from HP Labs
    LaserJet Early laser printer history – from printer parts company Printer Works
    Semiconductors at HP History of HP's semiconductor business – from Avago Technologies 
    Computer History Links Many HP and DEC sites listed – Computer History Association of California
       

    HP Publications

    Catalogs 15,000 pages of catalogs, manuals, periodicals, app notes... Searchable pdf files – Glenn Robb
    HP Journal All issues – 1949-1998 – HP Labs.
    The search box on the page does not work. Enter this into Google search:
    [ <search terms> site:hpl.hp.com ]
    HP Journal Indexes Searchable pdf files – Glenn Robb
    Measure HP employee magazine. Searchable pdf files – Glenn Robb
    Manuals Manuals, Bench Briefs, Application Notes, more. Searchable pdf files – Glenn Robb
    Digital Technical Journal Issues from 1991-1998 in pdf form – HP Labs
    Tandem Systems Review All issues in pdf form – HP Labs
       

    Books (most recently published first)

    Bill & Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World's Greatest Company by Michael S. Malone
    Portfolio Hardcover (April 5, 2007) ISBN-10: 1591841526
    Portfolio Paperback (March 25, 2008) ISBN-10: 1591841879
    Bill & Dave's Memos by Albert Yuen
    Self-Published via Amazon's BookSurge Publishing (February 8, 2007) ISBN-10: 1424327814
    Tough Choices: A Memoir by Carly Fiorina
    Portfolio Hardcover (October 9, 2006) ISBN-10: 159184133X
    Backfire: Carly Fiorina's High-Stakes Battle for the Soul of Hewlett-Packard by Peter Burrows
    Wiley Hardcover (February 15, 2003) ISBN-10: 0471267651
    Perfect Enough: Carly Fiorina and the Reinvention of Hewlett Packard by George Anders
    Portfolio Hardcover (January 23, 2003) ISBN-10: 1591840031
    Portfolio Paperback (January 27, 2004) ISBN-10: 1591840325 
    The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company by David Packard, David Kirby, Karen Lewis
    Collins Hardcover (May 24, 1995) ISBN-10: 0887307477
    Collins Paperback (January 3, 2006) ISBN-10: 0060845791 (New forward by Jim Collins.)
    Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras (HP is extensively discussed.)
    Collins Hardcover (October 26, 1994) ISBN-10: 0060566108 for 2nd edition
    Collins Paperback (August 20, 2002) ISBN-10: 0060516402
    The Gamesman: The New Corporate Leaders by Michael Maccoby (Dick Hackborn is the thinly-disguised example.)
    Bantam Paperback (January 1978) ISBN-10: 0553114506 or 0553230999
    Simon & Schuster Hardcover (January 31, 1977) ISBN-10: 0671223534
       
     rev cg 3/21/08

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