The Hewitt D. Crane papers document Crane’s time as an engineer and inventor at Stanford Research Institute (later renamed SRI International), from 1956 to 2005. Included in the collection are materials related to some of the systems and products he developed, including all-magnetic computing and logic systems, the Purkinje Image Eye-Tracker, handwriting verification systems, and auditory neuroscience systems. Also included are manuscripts for his book “A Cubic Mile of Oil: Realities and Options for Averting the Looming Global Energy Crisis” and a history of the winery he co-founded, Ridge Vineyards.

Hewitt D. Crane was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1927. After serving in the United States Navy as a radar technician during World War II, Crane studied electrical engineering at Columbia University, earning his BS in 1947, and Stanford University, earning his doctorate in 1960. Crane’s first jobs in the computer industry were debugging an early facsimile system at Western Union Research Laboratory (1948 to 1949), maintaining one of IBM’s earliest computers (the SSEC) (1949 to 1952), working on the IAS computer project led by John von Neumann at the Institute for Advanced Study (1952 to 1955), and working on magnetic-core memories at Sarnoff Research Laboratory (1955 to 1956).

5.0 Linear feet, 4 record cartons

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The collection is open for research.