Theodor Holm "Ted" Nelson (1937-) is an American pioneer of information technology, philosopher, and sociologist. Nelson founded Project Xanadu in 1960, with the goal of creating a computer network with a simple user interface. He coined the terms hypertext and hypermedia in 1963 and published them in 1965.
Scope and Contents
The Ted Nelson email archive spans the years of 2001 to 2019. The archive contains correspondence related to Ted Nelson’s life and career as an information technology entrepreneur and philosopher. Many of Nelson’s projects are documented through this email collection, including Project Xanadu, XanaduSpace, ZigZag, and his 2010 autobiography, Possiplex: Movies, Intellect, Creative Control, My Computer Life and the Fight for Civilization. The correspondence also documents Nelson’s speaking and teaching engagements at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Chapman University.
Other well-known information technology figures found among Ted Nelson’s correspondence include Douglas Engelbart, Steve Wozniak, Harry Mendell, and Laurie Spiegel.
Rights and Conditions
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94305-6064. Consent is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: https://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-our-collections
Notes
The Ted Nelson email archive includes some messages identified by the donor, or Stanford Libraries, as sensitive. These messages may contain financial, medical, legal, and other sensitive information. For this reason, 5,157 messages have been restricted according to federal and state guidelines, and Stanford Libraries policy, for up to 80 years. These email messages are not included in this release of the collection; they will be made available in 2095. Additionally, due to the potentially sensitive nature of their content, 2,721 messages are available only in the full-text version of the collection that is accessible in the Field Reading Room at Green Library. Please contact the host repository if you would like to request access to full messages, including any attachments.
