As we continue to work our way through our archive of photos, we run across some that are a bit out of the ordinary.  They may be humorous or unique but they stand out from the other photos. We post new photos here monthly with the previous photos in the slideshow.

The Photo of the Month for June 2026 is a rare color photograph of Tektronix' early management team. The eight people depicted were largely responsible for launching the company. From left to right in the foreground: Jack Murdock, Logan Belleville and John Taylor. In back, Bill Webber, Howard Vollum, Milt Bave, Bob Herron and Miles Tippery (links are to museum web pages for additional photos and information). The photo was probably taken around 1952.

In addition to Howard and Jack, Miles Tippery is one of the co-founders of Tektronix. Befriending Jack Murdock in the US Coast Guard during World War ll, Miles, like Jack, ran a retail business selling and servicing radios in Silver Lake, Washington prior to the war. Once Tektronix got started he was instrumental in establishing instrument manufacturing and test while also assisting in procurement and personnel. In addition, in the first years he and the other co-founder, Glenn McDowell, ran Hawthorne Electronics, the retail part of the new business intended to provide bridge revenue until instrument sales got started. Glenn McDowell left Tek by 1949, apparently because he wasn't completely bought into the business plan. Miles retired from the company in 1953 for health reasons, but he recovered and later documented his tenure at Tek in a chapter of his autobiography. The museum has published this chapter as a book for sale on our eBay store, our Lulu bookstore, and at the museum.

Bob Herron had a number of engineering responsibilities starting at the Hawthorne Plant as service manager. He later supervised the Test Department and managed design and build of test equipment. Nicknamed "Mr. Fixit", he was also responsible for building and facilities maintenance. In the 1982 Bob retired after 35 years at Tektronix.

Milt Bave, a mechanical designer in Ohio before the war, was another of Jack's Coast Guard friends. Jack recruited Milt as one of Tek's very early employees. Described in Marshall Lee's forty -year history of Tek as a mechanical genius, he worked closely with Howard to transform Howard's benchtop 501 prototype into Tektronix' first oscilloscope product, the 511. His wife, Emelia, also worked at Tek, building all the cables, doing the wiring and some assembly for the early production Type 511 oscilloscopes. While not a founder, Milt was given the opportunity to purchase stock in the fledging company and served on the Board of Directors in the early 1950s.

Bill Webber was stationed at Camp Evans on the New Jersey shore during World War ll. There he met Howard Vollum who had been transferred back to the states after his time in Britain on a radar design project. Bill was an administrative officer in the US Army and Howard recruited him for that role at Tektronix. His initial job description was to "help Jack". He was recognized with a TEKEY award (ability to purchase founder’s stock prior to the IPO) as a key contributor in 1959. He advanced to a Vice-President level after a few years and retained that position until he retired in 1977. He was head of public relations and the company's primary community spokesperson. He later was a Trustee for the Tektronix Foundation.

John Taylor joined Tek at the Hawthorne Facility in 1948. He had a number of jobs associated with oscilloscope production, primarily instrument assembly early on. Later he was responsible for production coordination. He was recognized with a TEKEY award as a key contributor in 1959. He was an early member of the Tek Flying Club, later owning his own plane. John later headed the Industrial Engineering and Support Group and received his 30 Year pin in 1978.

As was the case for many electronic engineers of the time, Logan Belleville honed his skills in radio technology in his early years, and like Howard, worked on radar design during the war. When the US Forestry Service moved their Vancouver, WA, facility involved in communications radio design, Jack Murdock recruited Logan to join Tektronix as the company's second electronic engineer, after Howard. Logan Belleville was responsible for improvements in the Type 511 oscilloscope as well the design of the Type 512, the Type 517 and Type 104 and 105 square wave generators. When work started on Howard's concept of the oscilloscope plug-in, he and Howard were at odds over the concept. Logan felt there was a risk of diluting quality and performance in the process. He left the company in the 1953, ahead of Miles Tippery and Milt Bave.

Photos of the Month:  Jan 2025 - Present

Photos of the Month:  Feb 2019 - Dec 2024