Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Thomas J. O'Rourke collection
- Dates:
- 1950-1997, bulk Bulk, 1960-1990
- Creators:
- O'Rourke, Thomas J.
- Abstract:
- The Thomas J. O’Rourke collection includes business records pertaining to O’Rourke’s work at Tymshare, a corporation he co-founded, the General Electric Company (GE), and to the computer services industry as a whole. There is an emphasis on internal company communications such as memoranda, employee newsletters, employee reunion documentation, and stock value information. Most materials pertain to Tymshare. Materials span the years 1950 to 1997.
- Extent:
- 4.13 Linear feet, 1 record carton, 1 manuscript box, 1 half manuscript box, 2 periodicals boxes, 3 volumes, 1 oversize folder
- Language:
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], [Date], Thomas J. O’Rourke collection, Lot X3105.2005, Box [#], Folder [#], Catalog [#], Computer History Museum.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Thomas J. O’Rourke collection includes records that Thomas J. O’Rourke collected as the founder of Tymshare and former employee of General Electric (GE), as well as thirteen books related to the computer industry. Over half of the materials pertain to Tymshare.
The collection spans 1950 to1997, with the bulk of the material dated between 1960 and 1990. Highlights of the collection include speeches that Tom O’Rourke gave to employees and at conferences, Tymnet diagrams and other product literature, and New York Stock Exchange information and photographs. Also included is quite a bit of content regarding employee reunions at both companies. There is an emphasis on Tymshare stock value and industry trends from a business perspective.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Thomas J. O’Rourke was the founder, President and CEO of Tymshare (founded in 1964 and sold in1984), a time-sharing company in Cupertino, California. Prior to founding Tymshare, he worked at General Electric (GE). O’Rourke received a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington in 1948. He was a venture capitalist for Hambrecht & Quist Venture Partners from 1985 to 1990. O’Rourke was married to Marge O’Rourke and a father of six children. He and his family resided in Mountain View, California from 1964 until he passed away in 2002.
O’Rourke started at GE in the welding department. When the company phased that department out, he became the district manager for the GE computer department in Los Angeles. In this role, he worked on the development of the Electronic Recording Method of Accounting (ERMA), a banking accounting system that GE was building for Bank of America. Later he moved to a sales position in Phoenix, Arizona, followed by a regional manager position in San Francisco. After being fired from this position due to a personality conflict with a manager, O’Rourke declined an offer to relocate and stay with GE and instead started his own business.
The business, at first called O’Rourke Enterprises and later renamed to Tymshare, was based on an idea for time-sharing computer systems. O’Rourke had been exposed to the idea of time-sharing at GE when a Dartmouth University project team had approached GE for donations of computers with which to test this innovative idea. O’Rourke was intrigued by the concept and felt that it was a promising business idea. Tymshare was incorporated in 1966.
Tymshare worked on ways of improving data transfer, and formed a division called Tymnet. Tymnet was likely the first commercial application of a new packet technology that increased the capacity of phone lines to handle larger quantities of data being transferred.
Tymshare became a public company in 1970, going on the New York Stock Exchange in 1974. The business, originally targeting the engineering market, developed new markets including software, financial services, and communications. As the company grew, first domestically and then internationally, it acquired other companies along the way. Tymshare became active in the industry trade group Association of Data Processing Service Organizations (ADAPSO). In 1984 Tymshare was acquired by McDonnell Douglas Automation.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Thomas J. O’Rourke’s son,Tim O’Rourke, 2005.
- Processing information:
-
Doug Jerger of the Software History Center inventoried this collection in April of 2004 as part of the donation process. His inventory included descriptive notes and identified material of special value within the collection. Many of his notes were included in the description field in the catalog entries for the folders.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged into 3 series:
Series 1, Tymshare, 1965-1988
Series 2, General Electric, 1950-1997
Series 3, Books, 1955-1985
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Sponsor:
- Processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from the Computer History Museum’s Software Industry Special Interest Group.
- Date Prepared:
- August 2016
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2016-08-31T10:48-0700
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
The Computer History Museum (CHM) can only claim physical ownership of the collection. 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.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], [Date], Thomas J. O’Rourke collection, Lot X3105.2005, Box [#], Folder [#], Catalog [#], Computer History Museum.
- Location of this collection:
-
1401 Shoreline Blvd.Mountain View, CA 94043, US
- Contact:
- (650) 810-1010