Wartime production demands led Hewlett-Packard’s workforce to grow from 3 employees in 1940 to around 200 by 1945. The combination of a national labor shortage and the company’s nondiscriminatory hiri ...

The 400A vacuum tube voltmeter was Hewlett-Packard’s first voltmeter. Voltmeters would become one of the young company’s most important business avenues.

The war brought Hewlett-Packard into its first work on microwave technology through the Leopard project, a top secret program to disrupt enemy radar and protect Allied ships. The demands of the projec ...

In 1946, with the company’s instrument and measurement business growing by the day, the Hewlett-Packard logo was simplified to create something legible and easy to engrave. Its basic elements remained ...

Although Hewlett-Packard’s production operations grew in scale as the company expanded dramatically the 1940s, floor plan arrangements continued to emphasize open spaces with employees working side by ...

When Dave Packard designed the HP 400AC voltmeter in 1948, he was on to something big. This product launched the beginning of a voltmeter product line that would continue for 50 years and more than a ...

Wartime production brought more employees into the fold, especially women and retirees. “Rosie the Riveters” were a common sight on Hewlett-Packard assembly lines in the mid- to late-1940s. ...

Hewlett-Packard committed to philantrophy early in its history. The first page of this ledger noted a $5 donation as “Misc. – Contribution” in June 1940 — the year after HP was founded. That ethos wou ...

Hewlett-Packard employees were invited to share in the company’s Army-Navy “E” Award with personalized certificates of appreciation.

A group of employees were busy at work in the Attenuator Department, which in 1946 was made up mostly of women. Workers constructed attenuators — a small current-regulating device — and performed othe ...