The vintageTEK museum had a very busy and productive summer starting with preparing for our grand opening, two grand opening events, hosting an evening SID (Society of Information Display) meeting, several summer youth STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) visits, a remote booth exhibit, and hosting several private group tours. We invite you to visit the museum if you haven't already, and if you can't please visit our Photo Tour of the museum.

We've also been busy organizing our library and scanning documents and photos for the museum and website. This month we would like to highlight three Tektronix facilities on our Locations and Subsidiaries pages on the web: Tektronix Holland, N.V., Sony/Tektronix, and Grass Valley Group.

Tektronix Holland, N.V.
Our Tektronix Holland page features a short history of the Heerenveen site, photo slideshow, and two videos of the plant.

Sony/Tektronix
Our Sony/Tektronix page features a short history of Sony/Tektronix, TekWeek articles, photo slideshow, a 30 year Memories of Gotemba booklet, and a 30th Anniversary of Sony/Tektronix booklet. We also have a Sony/Tektronix Products page in our On-Line Exhibits area.

Grass Valley Group
Our Grass Valley Group page features a short history of the Grass Valley Group starting with the formation of the company in 1959, photo slideshow, and two Grass Valley Group videos. We also feature a story by Dr. Hare on the formation of Grass Valley Group in our Employee Stories area.

This month we would like to highlight one of our volunteers, Jerry Hertel. Jerry was a Chemical Process Engineer in the ECB (Etched Circuit Products) Operations in Building 38. He started in June of 1968 and was in that job for 5 years, before leaving Tektronix for new opportunities.

Jerry helped control Tektronix first automatic plating machine for circuit boards. He also worked on developing the process for replacing gold plating with tin on circuit boards. This was critical because of the rapid escalation of gold prices after President Nixon canceled the direct international convertibility of the US dollar to gold. Gold shot up to over $400 per ounce the first year and around $800 by the second, an approximately 10X and 20X increase.

Jerry started volunteering at the vintageTEK museum soon after it opened in 2011. Jerry was responsible for creating our Audio Gallery and maintains portions of our museum database. You will meet him at our front desk on many Saturdays when you visit the museum.

If you would like to volunteer at the museum, we would welcome your help. Simply contact us for details. Our Volunteer Opportunities page highlights some of our needs.

vintageTEK museum