Vannevar Bush is viewed by many to be the true father of hypertext. In 1945, he wrote a ground breaking article entitled As We May Think, in which he described a device called a memex. The purpose of the memex was to extend human memory by providing the means to organize information associatively.
Bush felt that the mind worked by association, creating an intricate web of trails interconnecting the memories and data stored within the mind. Therefore, he felt that the optimal design for mechanically organizing information should incorporate association. His conceptual design for the memex provided the means for a user to tie various pieces of information together by forging trails between them. Any item could be linked by many trails. The memex would also allow the user to annotate any piece of information, enter their own information, and link it to the existing web of trails.
The memex was never built, though Bush envisaged it as the product of the extension of the technologies extant in 1945. However, the concepts underlying it inspired succeeding visionaries, such as Ted Nelson.
I feel that any serious WEB practitioner would find Vannevar Bush's article an interesting read. Click here if you wish to read the full article at this time.