In 1980 Jean Jones read a history of a Silicon Valley company and noticed that it was filled with inaccuracies. Jones, one of Intel Corporation's first employees and secretary to Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, also recognized that similar inaccuracies about Intel might be recorded if the company didn't take steps to document its own history. She mentioned to Moore that Intel should have its own museum so that the company could be certain its history was recorded correctly.

Moore thought about the idea and discussed it with Andy Grove, then Intel president. While Intel, founded in 1968, had only been in existence for 12 years, its importance in Silicon Valley history had already been established. Among its many accomplishments, Intel had already produced several "firsts" in the world of computing: dynamic random access memories (DRAMs); erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs); and microprocessors, the "brains" of today's personal computers and thousands of other products. Intel's innovations had spawned whole new industries and were rapidly changing the way people work, play, communicate, and learn.

Grove and Moore recognized the importance of accurately collecting and documenting the company's history, and asked Jones to head up a committee to start a company museum.

Jones gathered Intel employees from various departments, who began to establish the direction for a company museum. "I am proud of the committee's involvement in the development of the museum," says Jones. "Their dedication and efforts laid the foundation for today's Intel Museum."

Early on, Jones consulted with staff members at other corporate museums, who advised her to "collect, collect, and collect" artifacts, and not discriminate as to the types of items she would accept for the museum. When the committee asked for artifact donations, Intel employees responded enthusiastically, and over the years have turned over thousands of items, including Intel wafers and chips; employee photos; patent awards; factory equipment; company T-shirts; and digital watches built by Microma, a company Intel acquired in 1972 and then sold five years later.

Among Jones' favorite donations were photos of Grove opening champagne bottles at an impromptu employee party held to celebrate the shipping of the company's first product. She also received several unopened bottles of champagne that were custom-labeled and given to employees on several occasions during Intel's early years to mark company milestones.

The first version of the Intel Museum opened in an Intel building on Walsh Road in Santa Clara, Calif., in celebration of the company's 15th anniversary in 1983. It consisted of a few pedestals on which museum committee member Howard High had arranged items from the collection, such as employee T-shirts, samples of the company's early chips, Microma watches, and a Busicom calculator, the product for which Intel's first microprocessor was designed in 1971. The exhibits were not open to the public, but were intended for employees, their families, and customers who came through the building. Though the primary purpose of the museum at that time was to preserve Intel history through the exhibits, the museum committee also hoped to educate employees about Intel products and to instill a sense of pride in the company's accomplishments.

The collection continued to grow, as did management support of the museum. The committee hired a curator, Jodelle French, who, along with the museum committee, oversaw creation of the second museum. It opened in an Intel building in Santa Clara in 1991 and included professionally designed exhibits that explained the history of microprocessor development at Intel. The exhibits were not open to the public, but more and more employees and their families began to visit, and Intel salespeople often brought customers.

The museum held its first "traveling" exhibit at the Triton Museum in Santa Clara in 1990. On display for six weeks was the Intel Museum's collection of original paintings by artist Patrick Nagel. Nagel had created the art in his definitive, contemporary style for some 60 Intel advertisements starting in 1979. The value of Nagel's artwork skyrocketed after his death in 1984. The Intel Museum is rumored to have the largest collection of Nagel's art in the world.

Spurred by the interest generated by the early exhibits, Intel management committed space for a permanent museum off the lobby of the six-story Robert Noyce Building on the company's Mission College Blvd. campus in Santa Clara, Calif. French and the committee again managed the creation of the Intel Museum, which opened with 3,500 square feet of exhibit space in February 1992.

Although the museum committee's vision of the target audience was still primarily customers, employees, their families, and the public also visited. As word got out, local individuals and groups, as well as Silicon Valley tourists, began to come. Exhibits evolved over the years to suit the needs of the larger, more diverse visitor population.

To accommodate the growing visitor population, Intel expanded the museum in 1999. Museum space now tops 10,000 square feet and includes a computer-equipped learning lab for pre-scheduled educational presentations for student groups. The on-site Intel Museum Store features clothing, toys, and souvenirs, all designed with high-tech themes.

The museum's expansion in 1999 included the addition of a behind-the-scenes storage area for the museum's artifact collection, which now includes tens of thousands of chips, photos, computers, printed materials, and other chip industry-related artifacts.

Museum exhibits now cover topics such as how microprocessors work, how computer chips are designed and manufactured, wireless technologies, how communications and computing are converging in new types of digital devices, Intel's global operations, and more. Visitors can spell their names using a computer's digital "alphabet," and experience what it's like inside one of Intel's ultra-clean, highly automated chip-making factories-including putting on one of the "bunny suits" worn by manufacturing workers. A 10-foot-square animated model shows the steps a microprocessor goes through to solve a math problem, a multimedia presentation reveals employee viewpoints on "Intel culture" and business practices, and another exhibit chronicles the evolution of the well-known Intel Inside® brand marketing campaign. The museum's exhibits change frequently to keep up with the rapid pace of technology.

The museum now hosts thousands of students each year, who come on field trips for free guided tours and hands-on science classes. Student visits are available by advance reservation, and museum docents work to customize field trips to meet the interests and age level of each visiting school group.

For more information, visit www.intel.com/museum, call the museum’s main number at (408) 765-0503.

Visit the museum on the Web at www.intel.com/museum or call (408) 765-0503. To reach the Intel Museum Store, call (408) 765-9026. For information on Intel Corporation, visit www.intel.com.