Help sought on early IBM hard drive R&D

From: Michael Williams <williams_at_computerhistory.org>
Date: Mon Mar 31 19:36:50 2003

Bonnie,
I think you would be best to talk to a couple of the "old Timers" who
worked in these buildings or who knew the major individuals very well.

Two people immediately come to mind:
Jim Porter - likely knows more about the disk drive business and how it
developed than anyone else

and

Jack Harker - was involved in the early development of many things in SJ.

Both live around here (Harker lives in Palo Alto and Porter is local). I
don't have their contact information at the moment (it is sunday afternoon
and the people that supply such info to me are out enjoying a lovely day)
but if you don't have your own sources please let me know and I can supply
some type of contact data later.

Mike Williams






At 11:30 AM 3/30/2003 -0800, lee courtney wrote:
>Bonnie,
>
>Drop Mike Williams (Head Curator) or Dag Spicer
>(Exhibits Curator) at the Computer History Museum an
>email as they can probably direct you the appropriate
>person at IBM that can help you, or maybe even know
>the answer themselves.
>
>Lee Courtney
>
>--- Michael Nadeau <menadeau_at_attbi.com> wrote:
> > Can anyone answer her question? She is particularly
> > interested in the years
> > 1957-1962 when Building 014 was being built and then
> > opened.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: <bbamburg_at_pacbell.net>
> > To: <letter_at_classictechpub.com>
> > Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2003 5:29 PM
> > Subject: Question
> >
> >
> > > I found the Classic Tech Publication website with
> > many interesting
> > > articles. I am preparing a historical and
> > architectural evaluation of
> > > the Advanced Research Building 025 on the IBM
> > Cottle Road Campus as
> > > part of an EIR for the site. The majority of the
> > campus was included in
> > > the sale of the IBM Hard Disk Drive Unit to
> > Hitachi, however this
> > > building was excluded. It is proposed for
> > demolition and the site to be
> > > redeveloped. The building has architectural
> > significance as one of the
> > > finest examples of the Modern Industrial style
> > (1940-1985) in San Jose.
> > > The question that has not been adequately answered
> > is what research or
> > > prototype occurred in this building. It is
> > suggested that the flying
> > > head research was done in this building. The
> > building was designed for
> > > Reynold Johnson's design team which moved from 99
> > Almaden in San Jose.
> > > Can you direct me to information that would
> > identify the research
> > > conducted in this building?
> > > Thank you for any assistance you can provide.
> > > Bonnie Bamburg
> > >
> > Michael Nadeau
> > Editor/Publisher
> > Classic Tech, the Vintage Computing Resource
> > www.classictechpub.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Michael R. Williams
Head Curator
The Computer History Museum
1401 Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View, California 94043
U.S.A.

williams_at_computerhistory.org
(650) 810-1024
Received on Mon Mar 31 2003 - 19:36:50 BST