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There are also concerns that this could have been avoided. Keysight says it took “appropriate and responsible steps” to protect HP’s archives, putting material in toughened boxes with a sprinkler system. However, it also stored the archives in modular buildings, rather than in Keysight’s permanent offices (which survived the fires relatively unharmed). When HP and Agilent had ownership, they stored the archives in permanent, carefully controlled vaults with foam fire retardant and other protections. There’s a real chance the archives could have been safe if they’d been kept in a similar location after 2014.
Whether or not the damage could have been prevented, there’s no question that this is a significant blow for anyone interested in early tech culture. Hewlett and Packard are widely considered the founding fathers of Silicon Valley, and losing some of their writing amounts to losing a piece of the tech world’s roots.
