Guide to the Jeff Rulifson papers
Finding aid prepared by Bo Doub, Kim Hayden, and Sara Chabino Lott.
Processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered
through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant.
Computer History Museum
1401 N. Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View, CA, 94043
(650) 810-1010
research@computerhistory.org
2015
Title:
Jeff Rulifson papers
Identifier/Call Number: 102733946
Contributing Institution:
Computer History Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
5.0 Linear feet
4 record cartons
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1961-1985
Date (inclusive): 1956-1997
Abstract: The Jeff Rulifson papers contain materials that document Rulifson's career as a computer scientist working on projects such
as artificial intelligence, NLS (oN-Line Systems), and office information systems at Stanford Research Institute's Augmentation
Research Center, Xerox PARC, ROLM Corporation, Syntelligence, Inc., and Sun Microsystems. The records span 1956 through 1997,
with the bulk of the collection being from 1961 to 1985. Materials include technical papers and reports, videotape, correspondence,
articles, memos, presentations, computer and programming manuals, and administrative papers.
creator:
Rulifson, Jeff
Processing Information
Collection processed by Bo Doub and Kim Hayden, 2015.
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
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], Jeff Rulifson papers, Lot X6502.2012, Box [#], Folder [#], Catalog [#], Computer History
Museum.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Jeff Rulifson, 2011.
Biographical/Historical Note
Johns "Jeff" Rulifson was born August 20, 1941, in Bellefontaine, Ohio. He began his career working in the computer operations
department of Boeing from 1960 to 1963. He then worked at the Computer Center of the University of Washington from 1963 to
1965, and earned his BS in mathematics from the university in 1966.
Rulifson went on to work for the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) Augmentation Research Center from 1966 through 1973. At
SRI, Rulifson was instrumental in the research of artificial intelligence programming languages, specifically focusing on
question-answering systems. He was also the lead programmer for their pioneering collaborative computing system NLS (oN-Line
System). In 1968, Rulifson represented SRI in the ARPANET network working group, a consortium of computer scientists who worked
together to implement the ARPANET, the networking technology that was the basis for today's internet.
Rulifson left SRI in 1973 and went to work at Xerox PARC, where he was manager of the office research group, which developed
autonomous, distributed office information systems (OIS). In 1980, he began working for ROLM Corporation as an engineering
manager, and in 1985 he moved to Syntelligence, where he was the manager of banking products. In 1987, Rulifson joined Sun
Microsystems, which was purchased by Oracle in 2010, as the director of VLSI Research, a position he still holds. Rulifson
held chairman of the board positions at the Doug Engelbart Institute from 1995 to 2014, and the Open Group from 2001 to 2003.
In 1990, Rulifson won the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Software Systems award for his work on NLS, along with
co-developers Doug Engelbart and Bill English. He became an ACM fellow in 1994.
Scope and Content of the Collection
The Jeff Rulifson papers contain materials collected by Rulifson during his time at Stanford Research Institute’s Augmentation
Research Center, Xerox PARC, ROLM Corporation, Syntelligence, Inc., and Sun Microsystems. The records span 1956 through 1997
with the bulk of the collection being from 1961 to 1985. The materials from Rulifson's work at SRI ARC includes reports, notes,
and videos related to his work on the QA4 artificial intelligence programming language and NLS (oN-Line System), and writings
and video footage of his colleague at SRI ARC, Doug Engelbart. Rulifson's records from Xerox PARC document his work as manager
of the Office Research Group, where they conducted studies on office procedures and information flow in order to develop Office
Information Systems (OIS) like OfficeTalk. At ROLM, Syntelligence, and Sun Microsystems, Rulifson's job responsibilities were
more administrative and managerial, and the materials he collected reflect this change in responsibilities. Out of these last
three positions, the collection contains a much larger amount of material from ROLM than from Syntelligence or Sun Microsystems.
The collection also contains manuals from the 1950s and 1960s primarily for IBM and UNIVAC systems.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into 4 series:
Series 1, SRI ARC records, 1961-1997, bulk 1966-1973
Series 2, Xerox PARC records, 1967-1982
Series 3, ROLM, Syntelligence, and Sun Microsystems records, 1981-1992
Series 4, Manuals, 1956-1969
Related Collections at CHM
SRI ARC/NIC records, Lot X3578.2006, Computer History Museum
Related Collections at Other Repositories
Douglas Engelbart Symposia Records (SC0561). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries,
Stanford, Calif.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Engelbart, D. C., (Douglas Carl), 1925-
International Business Machines
ROLM Corporation
Stanford Research Institute. Augmentation Research Center
Sun Microsystems
Syntelligence, Inc.
Xerox PARC (Firm)
Univac computer
SRI ARC records,
Series 1,
Bulk, 1966-1973
1961-1997
Language of Material:
English
Series Scope and Content
This series contains reports, notes, and videos that document Rulifson's work at Stanford Research Institute's Augmentation
Research Center from 1966 through 1973. A large part of this series consists of notes and reports about the QA4 artificial
intelligence programming language that Rulifson, Jan Derksen and Richard Waldingerat developed. There is also a large amount
of material on NLS (oN-Line System), which Rulifson helped design and develop. One folder contains reports and articles written
by Doug Engelbart. There is also one carton of Sony videotape reels, one of which is labeled as a recording of Engelbart giving
a presentation to the Stanford Electrical Engineering Conference around 1970. This series is arranged alphabetically by folder
title.
102734175
NLS (oN-Line System)
1966-1969
102734173
QA4 and artificial intelligence programming
1967-1973
102734174
Reports by Douglas Engelbart
1961-1962; 1997
102734160
Videotape reels
ca. 1970
Xerox PARC records,
Series 2,
1967-1982
Language of Material:
English
Series Scope and Content
This series contains technical papers, correspondence, program descriptions, presentation materials, and manuals collected
during Rulifson's time at Xerox PARC from 1973 to 1980. Rulifson worked as the manager of the Office Research Group, conducting
research and studies on office procedures and information flow in order to develop Office Information Systems (OIS). Much
of this series is comprised of the methodologies and results of these research projects. Another significant part of this
series is the description, specifications, and program listings behind one such OIS called OfficeTalk. OfficeTalk was a project
to design a language for expressing typical office procedures so that these procedures could be performed with the aid of
a computer system. It was designed to enable office workers to write simple computer programs to perform useful activities
such as file organization, sending and receiving documents, and tracing lost forms. This series is arranged alphabetically
by folder title.
102734172
OfficeTalk
1975-1977
102734167
Presentation at the Diebold Research Program conference
1979
102734168
Studies of office procedures and information flow
1975-1979
102734171
Xerox PARC manuals
1976-1978
102734169
Xerox PARC projects, program descriptions, papers, and articles
1967-1982
ROLM, Syntelligence, and Sun Microsystems records,
Series 3,
1981-1992
Language of Material:
English
Series Scope and Content
This series contains business records, correspondence, technical papers, and notes that Rulifson collected while at ROLM,
Syntelligence, and Sun Microsystems Laboratories of Sun Microsystems between 1981 and 1992. The bulk of the records in this
series are from Rulifson's time as an engineering manager at ROLM from 1980 to 1985. Most of these records relate to performance
reviews of departments or specific employees. There is also a significant amount of material about management philosophies
at ROLM — one written by Rulifson. And there are notes and records from ROLM-sponsored courses that Rulifson attended on topics
such as interviewing job candidates and influence management. The Syntelligence records are similar to the ROLM records and
the Sun Microsystems records are primarily comprised of a paper on Sun Microsystems and the UNIX operating system. This series
is arranged chronologically.
102734178
ROLM Corporation
1981-1984
102734177
Syntelligence, Inc.
ca. 1987
102734176
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
ca. 1992
Manuals,
Series 4,
1956-1969
Scope and Content of the Collection
This series contains information and programming and reference manuals for computer systems and programming languages from
1956 to 1969. The bulk of the series is made up of IBM and UNIVAC manuals for several computer systems, including the IBM
360, 650, 1401, and 700/7000 series, and the UNIVAC 80, 1103, and 1107. There are also manuals from Burroughs, Scientific
Data Systems (SDS), and Philco, plus programming manuals for Fortran, ALGOL, and COBOL. This series is arranged alphabetically
by folder title.
102734166
A Philco Multiprocessing System
1965
102655318
ALGOL and COBOL
1962-1963
102734163
Burroughs Corporation
1961-1966
102734164
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)
1957-1966
102734165
Scientific Data Systems (SDS)
1964-1969
102655321
UNIVAC
1956-1963
