Former TIers attending the Big Event Nov. 15 were treated to a special exhibit of GSI and TI artifacts, in keeping with the theme "Back to the Future."

They crowded around the items, reminiscing about the products they helped create. Judging from the crowds, the display was a hit.

The exhibit was made up largely of items donated or loaned by retirees, supplemented with a few items on loan from the TI Archives. The TI Retiree History and Archives Team selected the items and wrote descriptive labels, which were typed by Linda Lambert.

Ed Hassler provided the space and bright lights for the exhibit, adjacent to the Austin time capsule opened at the event. Team members were on hand to answer questions during the Big Event.

GSI Artifacts

The GSI table featured an early "harp"—an ingenious device with tiny gold wires whose vibrations were photographed to display the seismic patterns used in the search for oil and gas. Skinnie Holbert, whose legendary career with GSI spanned several decades, donated the harp to the TI Archives, along with a miniature seismometer.

Art Mills, who worked with Skinnie in Columbia for many years, donated an early seismometer—called a "jug" by GSI crews—that was part of the exhibit.

Also on display was a plaque, with the autographs of many GSIers and TIers, given to Bill Edwards upon his retirement from GSI. Bill was one of GSI’s first employees, joining the company in 1930.

Gary Castro, a TI subcontractor, donated the plaque. He obtained it in a sale and thought it might have historic value. TIer Pat Currin brought it to the attention of the history team, and the plaque made it to Southfork Ranch just in time for the exhibit.

DSEG Memorabilia

The centerpiece of the Defense Systems and Electronics Group table was the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, won by DSEG in 1992. This came from the lobby of the former TI plant in Austin.

Other DSEG items included early merchandising brochures; a plastic-encapsulated integrated circuit for an early defense electronic application, donated to the Archives by Jim Van Tassel; and a MERA solid-state radar module, donated by Sherel Horsley.

Parts from an Advanced Scientific Computer were also displayed, including one of its memory disks, measuring about 31 inches across. Gene Helms, with assistance from Al Riccomi and Ed Hassler, developed charts that gave details of the ASC memory capacity.

SC Display

The Semiconductor Group table displayed a range of devices and silicon slices, including early 1-inch slices and today’s 12-inch wafer; a TTL data book and marketing material on loan from Jon Jackson; a Regency Radio—the first transistor radio—loaned by Jim Adams; a plastic-encased IC used in development of the handheld calculator, donated by Jim Van Tassel; and a copy of Harvey Cragon’s pencil sketch made in 1979 of the signal processing computer chip.

Consumer Products

Items from Ralph Dosher, Harvey Cragon, Ed Millis and Jim Peterman were on display on the Consumer Group table, including digital watches, calculators and an early laptop computer.

TI’s newest calculator products were shown at the TI Booth at the Big Event. Ed Hassler worked with the product department to bring their TI N-spire display to the Big Event. The exhibit included the first handheld calculator.

The Corporate table included old annual reports and photographs of TI facilities, assembled by Lewis McMahan; old universal planning forms donated by Larry James; and a photocopy of the first shares of TI stock, bought by Erik Jonsson when TI shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1953. Max Post loaned this for the exhibit. Also on display were vufoils and carbon paper, two communication mediums that had a place in TI’s history.