This post is a question directed to historians themselves as opposed to a question about a particular period in the past.
As the title mentioned, my grandfather passed away earlier this year. Among other things he left behind are a large collection of various memos, technical reports, conference proceedings, and other paperwork from his time working as an executive from the 1950s to the 1980s.
I am making this post to ask if such things would have any value to a professional historian whether for a museum, catalog, research, or something else.
I am aware this post is technically about an individual but I am seeking a professional opinion on potentially releasing records from an individual rather than research on said individual. I greatly apologize if this is not the best place for such a question.
Depending on the size of the company, there may well be a corporate archive division of the company where they'd be most useful to people.
Also, those sorts of documents might still be legally considered company property. (These laws can get sort of murky) Given the age I doubt it will matter much, but still.
I'd give the company a call, see if they have an archives division. I should point out that many companies have archives or records management departments, but they are still somewhat accessible to the public for research.
Source: Work as a museum curator specializing in collections management.