1986 Russell Pictorial Map of Silicon Valley, California

This is the 1986 Stephanie Russell and City Graphics pictorial map of Silicon Valley. The map captures the rise of Silicon Valley, with new and established tech firms sprawling across the landscape.

A Closer Look

With San Francisco in the upper right, the map depicts parts of San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, including Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Fremont, and San Jose. Gigantic billboards proclaim businesses. Many are tech companies, such as Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, 3M, IBM, Siemens, and Toshiba. Sprinkled around these companies are more everyday businesses, including wine shops, restaurants, law firms, and even a Goodwill store. San Jose State University, the Shoreline Amphitheater, and City Graphic's office appear as well.

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley, now a global hub for tech innovation, emerged in the late 1930s and 1940s, rooted in the fertile academic environment of Stanford University. Professor Frederick Terman, often considered the 'Father of Silicon Valley,' encouraged his students, including William Hewlett and David Packard, to start their own technology companies, leading to the 1939 creation of Hewlett-Packard in a Palo Alto garage, embodying the Valley's legendary garage startup culture. After World War II, significant military investment in technology led to a surge in tech-oriented businesses and research. At this time, again at Standford, Douglas Engelbart pioneered modern human-computer interfaces (see https://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/engelbarthypothesis-engelbart-2008). The term 'Silicon Valley' was coined in the early 1970s, reflecting the region's growing association with silicon chip innovation, making it the epicenter of information technology. This period set the stage for the area's later role as a major center of the dot-com boom and a cradle for tech giants like Apple, Google, and Facebook.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by Stephanie Russell and published in 1986 by City Graphics of America. We note a single cataloged example, located with the David Rumsey Map Collection. Examples are rare on the private market.