Two additional bits of data in my quest to prove IE6 (released August 2001) wasn't what started it all and disprove the idea that there weren't any standards back then.

From way back in Feb 16, 2001:

From Table Hacks to CSS Layout: A Web Designer’s Journey http://www.alistapart.com/articles/journey/

And from that same day, long before the "Internet Explorer 6 Countdown" WaSP had the "Browser Upgrade Initiative":

http://archive.webstandards.org/upgrade/pr.html