Scope and Content Note
The papers of Jack St. Clair Kilby (1923-2005) span the years 1878-2003, with the majority of the papers concentrated between 1970 and 1998. The bulk of the papers document Kilby's work as an inventor and engineering consultant, 1970-circa 1997, mainly for Texas Instruments. The collection also includes a small amount of material relating to Kilby's tenure as an employee and manager with Texas Instruments from 1958 to 1970. While working at Texas Instruments in 1958, Kilby invented the monolithic integrated circuit, also known as the chip or microchip, facilitating the development of the modern computer and numerous electronic products. The papers are in English and consist of seven series: Correspondence, Patent and Project File, Subject File, Speeches and Writings File, Artifacts, 2022 Addition , and Oversize.
The Correspondence series documents Kilby's personal and professional activities. The early correspondence, 1961-1970, consists mostly of Kilby's outgoing letters and memoranda relating to his work with semiconductors. Under Kilby's leadership, the staff at Texas Instruments worked to utilize microchip technology for military, industrial, and commercial applications. Correspondence from the 1980s through 2003 consists mostly of incoming letters, including a few family letters between Kilby and his sister, Jane Kilby, his daughters, Janet K. Cameron and Ann Kilby, and their children. Kilby's letters to his parents during his military service in World War II are in the family papers of the Subject File series. Also interfiled in the Correspondence series in later years is a small amount of business statements and reports, newsletters, and travel vouchers.
The Patent and Project File is comprised mainly of papers relating to Kilby's patents and inventions. Although Kilby took a leave of absence in 1970 from Texas Instruments to focus on inventing, he still served as a part-time consultant for Texas Instruments. The majority of the series relates to his work for the company on a solar energy project, Project Illinois, from about 1975 to 1984. The project studied the use of silicon technology to generate electrical power from sunlight. At the time it was considered to be a promising energy source for residential homes but was discontinued because of lack of funding for commercial production. The files also contain a significant amount of material relating to Kilby's telephone answering devices and a small amount pertaining to projects that Kilby worked on while a full-time employee of Texas Instruments: circuits, semiconductors, and his development of the first electronic miniature calculator. This series does not include files about his invention of the first integrated circuit but contains material about patents and patent disputes relating to the integrated circuit. Also in the papers are drawings for his inventions and a laboratory notebook with notes and a few drawings pertaining to Kilby's teaching machine and system, electrostatic display system, telephone and paging devices, wristwatch, and other projects.
The Subject File consists mostly of files relating to Kilby's work as an independent consultant and adviser for the Department of Defense and companies and organizations such as GM Hughes Electronic Corporation, Semiconductor Research Corporation, and Texas Instruments. The correspondence in the Texas Instruments files include monthly summaries describing Kilby's activities while serving as a consultant. Other prominent topics featured are microelectronics, semiconductors, and integrated circuits. There are many files relating to awards received by Kilby such as the National Science Medal in 1970, the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1982, the National Medal of Technology in 1990, and the Nobel Prize in physics in 2000. Included in the files of the technology medal and Nobel Prize are photographs and transparencies of the first integrated circuit and photographs and transparencies of a page of Kilby's laboratory notebook describing the integrated circuit. Family papers in the Subject File include letters from Kilby to his parents while serving in the United States Signal Corps and his deployment with the Office of Strategic Services to Burma, India, and China during World War II.
The Speeches and Writing File consists mainly of speeches, speech outlines, and writings by Kilby. Also in the writings are newspaper and journal articles about Kilby. The Artifacts include chips, particles, capacitors, solar-energy presentation material, and charts relating to Kilby's inventions and projects.
Prominent and frequent correspondents in the collection are Willis Adcock, J. F. Bucy, Stephen P. Emmons, Al Gross, Patrick E. Haggerty, Kazuo Hashimoto, Peter Johnson, Jay W. Lathrop, Charles H. Phipps, and Wilbur A. Porter.
The 2022 Addition includes a laboratory notebook recording Kilby's invention ideas and experiments and work on various projects. The notebook also documents his collaborations with John Balzer, Carl Johnson, J. W. Lathrop, John McGrady, and Robert F. Schweitzer on the electronic check writer. Photographs of artist renderings of this invention are in the Oversize series. Both the notebook and artist renderings complement material in the Patent and Project File series relating to the check writer. Other topics in Kilby's laboratory notebook include improvements to the cash register, electrostatic printer, flashlight, security system, telephone, watch, and wristwatch. The addition also contains Jack P. Mize's notebook with details of epitaxial processes for printing semiconductor layers.