Nov 11, 2022·edited Nov 11, 2022Liked by Anna Mancini
Anna,
This article is just so personal to me. I used to go to the library often. After having a lunch at Mac Cafe, I stopped by to browse through papers and magazines there. I could not help, since the library had so much of eye candies for me as a fun of Apple products. It seems that we were working there in the same time frame. I had worked there for three plus years starting early in 1995. Some materials in the archives are something I have gone through back then. Definitely good old days.
I was quite disappointed when I had heard that the library would be closed in 1997. Running into the library, I saw you guys were packing things up. It was sudden. I think I asked where the materials are going with no clear answer at that point. That was it. I saw the "closed" sign in another day.
Today a good friend of mine forwarded me about this article. I am so grateful that you guys saved those materials. Thank you. Thank you. Hopefully I have a chance to browse through some of them at some point.
As far as I can tell, your story is the one history should remember.
I had heard about the Apple Archive at Stanford, but I failed to look into the specifics of what this archive was prior to its donation. The Apple Library at Infinite Loop! Very cool. I went to work at Apple in 1999, so I missed out on the days of an on-site technical and historical library. That's too bad because I love this stuff. And my favorite detail of this account was, "a layoff extension to October 31 for the 3 Apple staffers that worked with the historical collection, myself included, and the packing began." That is a sure sign of a dedicated professional that sees their work as having value (and, perhaps, joy) beyond the obvious value of a salary. (I had a similar post-layoff-announcement experience, working until midnight on the last possible day to try and complete a software feature.) Kudos to the (former) archivists at Apple!
Great article, Anna! I never heard the full story of the disposition of the collection. It’s a fascinating and heroic one. Great work by you and the team!
Thank you so much for sharing, what an interesting story. Would make a good addition to folklore.org i would think. Autocorrect seems to have changed "our expansive space at Infinite Loop" to "our expansive space at Infinity Loop"
Thank you so much, Anna, for this! I used the Apple collections at Stanford when researching THE CODE and always wondered about the backstory. An important case here not only in terms of Apple and other tech companies (whose leaders’ thoughts about archives and preservation of / relevance of history tend to be similar to Steve’s in 1997!) but also the challenges and significance of corporate archives generally. Thank you for all you and your colleagues did to ensure historians like me could access these materials decades later.
> It’s that they go beyond the facts to attribute a motive to Steve Jobs that did not exist. Steve was a hero for many things, but he did not heroically save and donate the Apple Archive
My reading is that this quote:
> The Apple collections, gathered by Apple's impressive library and archival staff, reflect what amounts to the Apple crusade, as led by Steve Jobs, …
Intended to say that there was an “apple crusade” (presumably to democratize personal computing or similar) and that such a crusade was documented in the apple collections. That collection, then, was gathered by the archival staff. I didn’t read any of Jobs or the others into the gathering of materials, just had them in the crusade itself.
Thank you so much, Margaret! Your thanks are very meaningful. As I was talking to other Apple Library alumni about this article, we all expressed how we were so hopeful that researchers would see this stuff, and this is the first feedback we've gotten! It does make it all worth it.
Very interesting story given I was at the headquarters in 1985 visiting Monica at the time Jobs was first telling her he planned to eliminate her job and the need for libraries. Guess he didn't get the chance until he came back in the 90's.
I remember visiting Monica at Apple headquarters in 1985, maybe in March. She told me then, as I recall, that Steve Jobs planned to eliminate her job as there would be no need for a library at Apple, or presumably anywhere,
Sounds like Steve Jobs proving yet again that he was simultaneously the best and the worst thing for his own company.
I wonder if copies of the "Mr. Clean" fully 32bit ROMs for pre-IIci systems are in that archive? They were made for developers to use while the IIci and IIsi were being designed. Apparently those ROMs are one thing Apple managed to recover 100% because unlike other prototype and pre-release hardware, *nobody* in 34 years has turned up any of the ROM simms or copies of the code.
Bravas to all of you for preserving this important history in the face of all losing your jobs! I'm familiar with heroics and service performed by corporate archivists and librarians, but the stories rarely get told. Yours is extraordinary. Thank you.
As you know, I know quite a bit about the aftermath of this situation, but I'm glad you cleared up some of what I heard! Now I can be correct when I talk about it.
Great article! I have a lot of historical Apple CDs and documentation in my possession that I've acquired over the years. Many of which do not exist in any of the archives, museums, or even online. I'm working to upload them, but it's a daunting task. It's amazing that Apple wasn't interested in keeping boxed copies of their software through that era.
Anna,
This article is just so personal to me. I used to go to the library often. After having a lunch at Mac Cafe, I stopped by to browse through papers and magazines there. I could not help, since the library had so much of eye candies for me as a fun of Apple products. It seems that we were working there in the same time frame. I had worked there for three plus years starting early in 1995. Some materials in the archives are something I have gone through back then. Definitely good old days.
I was quite disappointed when I had heard that the library would be closed in 1997. Running into the library, I saw you guys were packing things up. It was sudden. I think I asked where the materials are going with no clear answer at that point. That was it. I saw the "closed" sign in another day.
Today a good friend of mine forwarded me about this article. I am so grateful that you guys saved those materials. Thank you. Thank you. Hopefully I have a chance to browse through some of them at some point.
As far as I can tell, your story is the one history should remember.
I had heard about the Apple Archive at Stanford, but I failed to look into the specifics of what this archive was prior to its donation. The Apple Library at Infinite Loop! Very cool. I went to work at Apple in 1999, so I missed out on the days of an on-site technical and historical library. That's too bad because I love this stuff. And my favorite detail of this account was, "a layoff extension to October 31 for the 3 Apple staffers that worked with the historical collection, myself included, and the packing began." That is a sure sign of a dedicated professional that sees their work as having value (and, perhaps, joy) beyond the obvious value of a salary. (I had a similar post-layoff-announcement experience, working until midnight on the last possible day to try and complete a software feature.) Kudos to the (former) archivists at Apple!
Great article. And wonderful that you set the record straight! Cheers
Great article, Anna! I never heard the full story of the disposition of the collection. It’s a fascinating and heroic one. Great work by you and the team!
Thank you so much for sharing, what an interesting story. Would make a good addition to folklore.org i would think. Autocorrect seems to have changed "our expansive space at Infinite Loop" to "our expansive space at Infinity Loop"
Thank you so much, Anna, for this! I used the Apple collections at Stanford when researching THE CODE and always wondered about the backstory. An important case here not only in terms of Apple and other tech companies (whose leaders’ thoughts about archives and preservation of / relevance of history tend to be similar to Steve’s in 1997!) but also the challenges and significance of corporate archives generally. Thank you for all you and your colleagues did to ensure historians like me could access these materials decades later.
> It’s that they go beyond the facts to attribute a motive to Steve Jobs that did not exist. Steve was a hero for many things, but he did not heroically save and donate the Apple Archive
My reading is that this quote:
> The Apple collections, gathered by Apple's impressive library and archival staff, reflect what amounts to the Apple crusade, as led by Steve Jobs, …
Intended to say that there was an “apple crusade” (presumably to democratize personal computing or similar) and that such a crusade was documented in the apple collections. That collection, then, was gathered by the archival staff. I didn’t read any of Jobs or the others into the gathering of materials, just had them in the crusade itself.
Thank you so much, Margaret! Your thanks are very meaningful. As I was talking to other Apple Library alumni about this article, we all expressed how we were so hopeful that researchers would see this stuff, and this is the first feedback we've gotten! It does make it all worth it.
Thank you, Mark, what a lovely insight!
Very interesting story given I was at the headquarters in 1985 visiting Monica at the time Jobs was first telling her he planned to eliminate her job and the need for libraries. Guess he didn't get the chance until he came back in the 90's.
I remember visiting Monica at Apple headquarters in 1985, maybe in March. She told me then, as I recall, that Steve Jobs planned to eliminate her job as there would be no need for a library at Apple, or presumably anywhere,
Sounds like Steve Jobs proving yet again that he was simultaneously the best and the worst thing for his own company.
I wonder if copies of the "Mr. Clean" fully 32bit ROMs for pre-IIci systems are in that archive? They were made for developers to use while the IIci and IIsi were being designed. Apparently those ROMs are one thing Apple managed to recover 100% because unlike other prototype and pre-release hardware, *nobody* in 34 years has turned up any of the ROM simms or copies of the code.
Bravas to all of you for preserving this important history in the face of all losing your jobs! I'm familiar with heroics and service performed by corporate archivists and librarians, but the stories rarely get told. Yours is extraordinary. Thank you.
As you know, I know quite a bit about the aftermath of this situation, but I'm glad you cleared up some of what I heard! Now I can be correct when I talk about it.
Great article! I have a lot of historical Apple CDs and documentation in my possession that I've acquired over the years. Many of which do not exist in any of the archives, museums, or even online. I'm working to upload them, but it's a daunting task. It's amazing that Apple wasn't interested in keeping boxed copies of their software through that era.