[GSI founders (left to right) J. Erik Jonsson, Cecil H. Green, Eugene McDermott and J.C. Karcher]
Organized in 1930 as Geophysical Service, the company was formed to provide oil exploration services using the reflection seismograph. This technology used sound waves to look deep into the earth to search for oil deposits. By decade’s end, the company’s seismic crews were engaged by the world’s largest oil companies in virtually every major oil field.
Through reorganization, the oil exploration unit became a subsidiary named Geophysical Service Inc. (GSI). In 1941, the GSI subsidiary was sold to Eugene McDermott (cofounder of Geophysical Service) and key employees J. Erik Jonsson, Cecil H. Green, and H. Bates Peacock. In 1951, the company name was changed to Texas Instruments Incorporated, and in 1953, TI obtained its listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
The history of Texas Instruments is a history of meeting challenges: where the company has seen a customer need or an application where the power of technology could provide a positive solution, innovative technologies have been applied. For more than seven decades, Texas Instruments has been pioneering the technologies, systems, and products that are shaping our world.
Early developments include submarine-detection equipment (1941), the first commercial production of silicon transistors (1954), side-looking radar (1955), the integrated circuit (IC) (1958), thermal printing (1965), the electronic hand-held calculator (1967), thermocompression wire-bonding for IC assembly (1969), laser-guidance systems for missiles (1969), and the computer-on-a-chip (1971).
More recent developments include three-dimensional (3D) seismic data processing technology (1975), speech synthesis chips (1978), digital signal processors (1982), quantum-effect ICs that operate at room temperature (1993), and Digital Light Processing™ (DLP™) (1995).
The company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with sales or manufacturing operations in more than 25 countries worldwide. Current businesses include semiconductors and technology. More information about TI is available on the World Wide Web at
Types of records collected include:
Individual inventories are available for most record groups.
Digitized items can be accessed online at:
The collection is physically organized in Accession Number order. Each parcel of records is identified by Record Group, which follows the organization of the company at the time the Archives Project began in 1984. Record Groups for the collection are:
Everette Lee DeGolyer, Sr. papers, 1900-1950s, (Mss 0060)
J. Erik Jonsson collection, 1881-1995, bulk 1964-1995, (A1998.2191)
Intercontinental Rubber Company records, 1903-1953, (A1999.2225)
Jack St. Clair Kilby papers, 1923-2005, bulk 1958-1970, (A2006.0032)
Papers of Jack S. Kilby, 1878-2003 (bulk 1970-1998) available at Library of Congress
Collection is open for research use.
Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the DeGolyer Library.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.
This collection is indexed under the following terms in the Southern Methodist University Libraries' online catalog. Researchers desiring related materials may search the catalog using these terms.
Texas Instruments records, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
Gift, Texas Instruments Incorporated, 2005.
Processing of the TI collection occurred from 1984-1998, with additional processing performed after the collection was donated to SMU in 2005.
Several people made significant contributions to the volume of processed records, including Nancy Merz, Sally Simon-Merryman, and Elizabeth Hokanson-Hinton. Ann Westerlin-Howell, C.A., and former director of the TI Archives processed a significant portion of the collection at TI and transitioned the collection at SMU.
Cynthia Franco, 2008.