Donating Antique Computers To Museums?

Quantax asks: "I have an Osborn 'luggable' computer which I need to get rid of due to space considerations. However, I consider this much too valuable to be tossed in the trash. Are there any 'Computer Museums' or exhibits located in the NYC area that I could give this to? I would consider shipping it out of the area if the place really wanted it." Aside from NYC, are there any other such museums in the U.S. and around the world?

Donating to a museum.

[jekk]

I don't know about today, but in 1988, I had an old "Ohio Scientific C1P", which I wanted to get rid of, so I donated it to a science museum in Ohio (it seemed, somehow, appropriate). Anyone else remember that computer?

Michael Chermside
[e-mail]

Re:Portland Area

[Baloo Ursidae]

Whichever one the coffee bar is in.

Re:Portland Area

[VAXman]

Where is Powell's computer museum? i.e., which store/location is it in? I never noticed it at Powell's technical, which would be the logical choice.

Boston.

[Green_Tentacle]

I seem to remember there being a computer museum in Boston right near Quincy Market. It was pretty cool to see when I was younger, they had a giant-sized walk-through computer.

They might take donations if you cant find anything in the NYC area ?

-Nick

Is using a search engine so hard?

[clickety6]

Use the string "computer museums" on any decent internet search engine and you'll find the answer to your question.

Good idea..

[Jon Shaft]

I think it's a good idea for you to donate it to a museum... Wish there were more people like you around. I see a lot of people selling antique and rare collectors computers on Ebay for profit all the time. I think it's nice to see someone that wants to give to the public for little or no profit.

Good luck finding a home for the machine. :-)

Re:Boston.

[arcturus21]

The Computer Museum in Boston has recently been aquired by the Science Museum (in boston) as the Computer Museum was not doing well. They hadn't had a new exhibit in ages and all the old ones were either out of date or needing repair in general. They are in a state of disorder last I heard since they are moving to the Museum of Science area, but they might still be taking donations. The science museum has a webpage at http://www.mos.org [mos.org] i don't know if that includes the Computer Museum though.

Intel 8088 Chip

[Andrew Vieyra]

I have an old Intel 8088 chip that I had the legs polished, and mounted in a little glass case. It sits in my cupboard and sometimes comes out. Reminds you of the good old days doesn't it? Cya Andrew

maybe Strong Museum

[extra88]

Strong Museum [strongmuseum.org] in Rochester, NY might be interested. It's an American cultural history museum so they would consider that model's cultural relevance and what they already have in the collection. They also care about an object's provenance so if you bought it new and have a story to tell about what it's meant to you, that should be relevant to any museum.

I know they have a Mac SE/30, it's currently a part of their TimeLab exhibit. It killed me when I found out they got it because not only is the SE/30 pretty sweet (well, less so now than 3 years ago when they got it) but this one has a card for attaching an external monitor! I wanted to say, "Hey! At work we've got a stack of Mac Classics. Give me the SE/30 and I'll give you a Classic with all the manuals." But of course museums don't work that way.

Preserving our era

[maggard]

As a former manager for The Computer Museum I'm biased towards the inheritor of much of their collection: The Computer Museum History Center (www.computerhistory.org) in Mountain View, California USA.

I must warn you however that most museums already have a number of each of the early 'consumer' computers. Indeed I know The Computer Museum had one Osborne on display and several more in storage as I used to lecture on it regularly. Don't let this discourage you however - even if yours isn't going to be "The Osborne" it can oftentimes still help fill an important role: Spare parts, copies of software & OS or simply backup machines are often welcomed and can be important in preserving the history of the Information Revolution.

Items that are being actively sought are usually ones that were never made in any great numbers or ones that were pioneers in a specific area (first used for this or that, first example of this or that technology.) These machines or code are often of great interest to institutions as they presage the more successful ones and provide future generations an idea of the context that various developments happened in.

I expect Slashdot readers could be an important resource in preserving the chaotic development of free operating systems and applications. It's remarkable to think but years down the road folks might be looking over today's articles, postings, and code to understand the context for their own world. For those involved in creating the next generation of technology or for those simply heavily involved in this generation I suggest that serious thought be given to archiving email, code, web-pages, IRC transcripts, etc. as well as machines & peripherals for the future. Someday a Grad Student may well spend a semester reading your notes to understand the development of whatever topic their thesis is on.

Finally, as a former museum manager I am obligated by former nonprofit-staff-ethics to remind everyone that these institutions can always use not just donations for their collections but also volunteer time and funds to preserve, document, and interpret their materials.

-- Michael

Re:Boston.

[maggard]

The Computer Museum (formerly located on Museum Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts USA) has shut down. Their programs and exhibitions went to the Museum of Science in Boston and much of the collection to the Computer Museum History Center in Mountain View, California USA.

-- Michael

Portland Area

[Baloo Ursidae]

Powell's City of Books runs a rather extensive engineering electronics/computer museum and is more than happy to take donations. Thier web page [powells.com] mysteriously doesn't mention it, though...