Gates Attends Archive Center Dedication in Dayton

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and a prominent philanthropist, recently participated in the dedication of the Mark and Paula Hurd NCR Archive Center. This facility is dedicated to preserving the comprehensive corporate history of NCR, once a major influential corporation in Dayton. Gates highlighted Microsoft's early collaborative projects with NCR, including work on data-entry terminals and the foundational development of Windows NT Server in 1992.

Microsoft's partnership with NCR continued, notably in 1998 when they collaborated on data warehousing and e-commerce software following NCR's acquisition of Teradata. Gates fondly recalled visiting Dayton multiple times, even staying in the Wright brothers' home. He was among the donors contributing to the Mark and Paula Hurd NCR Archive Center, which held its ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, May 30.

Paula Hurd provided the lead gift for the archive in memory of her late husband, Mark Hurd, who formerly served as the CEO of NCR Corporation. Mark Hurd had previously managed NCR's Teradata division before leading the company. Paula Hurd herself had a nearly two-decade tenure at NCR in sales and service roles. She noted that Microsoft's significant order from NCR in 1979 prompted a generous donation from Bill Gates to the center.

The Mark and Paula Hurd NCR Archive Center will safeguard NCR's historical two-dimensional records, encompassing engineering drawings, blueprints, photographs, and corporate documents. A collection of over 300 scrapbooks featuring these materials is also part of the archive.