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Guide to the Gary Morgenthaler collection
X3708.2007
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Title: Gary Morgenthaler collection
Identifier/Call Number: X3708.2007
Contributing Institution:
Computer History Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
3.75 Linear feet,
3 record cartons
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1980-1990
Date (inclusive): 1970-2000
Abstract: The Gary Morgenthaler collection consists of financial, marketing, and administrative records that primarily document the
operation of Relational Technology, Inc., a database management system company that Morgenthaler co-founded and was CEO and
chairman of from 1980 to 1989. The collection also has a small amount of material on the company after its name was changed
to Ingres Corporation in 1989, and on Tymshare and Informix, two companies Morgenthaler was associated with. There is also
a small amount of books and manuals related to relational database technology.
creator:
Morgenthaler, Gary, 1948-
Collection processed by Bo Doub and Kim Hayden, May 2015.
Morgenthaler identified the contents of box 2, folder 1 as sensitive material and requested those materials be closed to researchers
until May 8, 2031. Otherwise, the collection is open for research.
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.
[Identification of Item], [Date], Gary Morgenthaler collection, Lot X3708.2007, Box [#], Folder [#], Catalog [#], Computer
History Museum.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Gary Morgenthaler, 2006.
Gary Morgenthaler was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on July 10, 1948. He attended college at Harvard University and received
a BA in International Studies in 1970. After finishing at Harvard, Morgenthaler moved to California in 1970 and worked at
Stanford University teaching and doing data analysis for Stanford's Institute for Math Studies in the Social Sciences. In
1973, Morgenthaler left Stanford and began work primarily as an operating systems designer at Tymshare, Inc., a company that
provided popular timesharing services and third-party hardware maintenance.
Gary Morgenthaler co-founded Relational Technology, Inc. (later renamed Ingres Corporation) with Michael Stonebraker, Eugene
Wong, and Lawrence A. Rowe in November of 1980, launching one of the earliest commercially supported, open-source SQL relational
database management systems. Relational Technology, Inc.'s commercial version of Ingres grew out of a research project at
the University of California, Berkeley. Stonebraker and Wong initiated this project in the mid 1970s, which they called University
INGRES (for INteractive Graphics REtrieval System) in its early stages. Morgenthaler joined them in 1980 and was integral
in securing the funding to create commercial products from the University INGRES prototype and building the company which
would sell those products, Relational Technology, Inc. (RTI). Throughout the early 1980s, RTI and Oracle competed as the leading
hardware-independent relational database management systems (RDBMs).
Morgenthaler became a key figure in RTI's success and began as its chief executive officer in 1983. In 1989 RTI changed its
name to Ingres Corporation, and in 1990 the company was purchased by ASK Corporation. Morgenthaler left Ingres when it was
purchased and started work as a venture capitalist, setting up the West Coast office of Morgenthaler Ventures, an investment
firm founded by his father, David Morgenthaler, in Cleveland, Ohio. Gary Morgenthaler still works as a Partner at Morgenthaler
Ventures, specializing in information technology investments.
Scope and Content of the Collection
The Gary Morgenthaler collection consists mainly of administrative and financial records related to Relational Technology,
Inc., a company Morgenthaler co-founded in 1980 and of which he was CEO and chairman until 1989, when the company changed
its name to Ingres Corporation. The bulk of the Relational Technology, Inc. material in the collection spans 1980 through
1990, and includes business plans and overviews, stock and investment records, financial reports, board meeting minutes and
reports, promotional material, and human resources records. A very small portion of the collection relates to the company
after its 1989 name change. Of note are product development notes and several reports that analyze the company's competition.
Two folders in this collection document other companies Morgenthaler was associated with, Tymshare and Informix. The Tymshare
records document the company from 1970 to 1977, while the Informix records focus on problems the company had financially and
legally from 1997 to 2000, after Morgenthaler sold his company Illustra Information Technology to them in 1996.
This collection also includes books and manuals about relational technology, several of which are INGRES database user manuals.
Also included are manuals for other relational databases and languages, plus books about technology and business in general.
The collection is arranged into 3 series:
Series 1, Relational Technology, Inc. records, 1980-1996, bulk 1980-1990
Series 2, Tymshare and Informix records, 1970-2000
Series 3, Books and manuals, 1981-2000, bulk 1981-1988
Morgenthaler, David oral history, 2005-12-08, Lot X6305.2012, Catalog number 102746212
Morgenthaler, Gary oral history, 2005-12-08, Lot X3654.2007, Catalog number 102658005
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Informix Software
Ingres Corporation
Morgenthaler, Gary, 1948-
Relational databases
Relational Technology, Inc.
Tymshare, Inc.