The first aim of archivists should be to collect personal papers, company records, and other material created by historical actors in the course of their work and lives. But as I argue elsewhere, one of the peculiarities of contemporary history is that its practice creates primary material that could be as interesting to future scholars as more conventional material. I would like to begin a program to try to bring this material into Special Collections.
Many people I've contacted report that they've lost the tapes and transcripts from old projects, but there are some notable exceptions. Journalists Steven Levy (author of Insanely Great) and Michael Hiltzik (author of Dealers of Lightning) both have their collections intact, and have responded favorably to a proposal to deposit their interviews at Stanford. Levy's interviews include some with Steve Jobs from the early 1980s, and Hiltzik holds 300 hours with 80 people from Xerox Parc, Xerox, Apple, and elsewhere. Likewise, Jane English-Leuck, whose enthnographic study of Silicon Valley work and life has generated some 10,000 pages of interview materials, has expressed interest in discussing donating her enthnographic notes.
This would formalize a practice that has already brought some Silicon Valley-related content into Stanford. The Rob Walker interviews with semiconductor pioneers, and the George Rostky interviews with integrated circuit engineers, are two examples of collections that grew out of historical research. The SiliconBase-University Press project also would bring in similar material.
Stanford will have to take responsibility for securing releases where necessary, though it seems clear to me that the interviews are the property of the authors, not the subjects. However, some of these interviews are with fairly important people (and friends of Stanford in other capacities), and the interviews were not originally created with the idea that they would be deposited in an archive and used by other scholars. Consequently it would be wise to take a more conservative attitude, and give interview subjects the opportunity to add explanatory material to their interviews, or put reasonable restrictions on access to them.
This program would also serve as a way to build bridges between the academic and library communities, and the journalism world. I expect many of these interviews will come from journalists, who are turning out books on Silicon Valley at a furious pace, while others cover it on a weekly or daily basis. They are among the most regular users (and generators) of interviews, and some are in constant contact with CEOs, research managers, PR people, etc.. Further, their work puts them in contact with a broad range of professionals in Silicon Valley, and it would be useful to have their views about who are the region's most important influencers and valuable informants.
I hope to be able to prevail upon the vanity and desire for literary immortality of potential contributors, and the legitimacy that having their papers at Stanford would bestow upon journalists. Certainly we should not expect to pay more than modest honoraria for these materials.