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.

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.

4.13 Linear feet, 1 record carton, 1 manuscript box, 1 half manuscript box, 2 periodicals boxes, 3 volumes, 1 oversize folder

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.

The collection is open for research.