Item Details

Description

The Computer Museum records are comprised of material created by the Museum between 1971 and 2015, with the bulk of the material being from 1975 through 1998, when the Museum was located in Marlborough and Boston, Massachusetts. The records were compiled and digitized as the TCM website by Gordon Bell in 2015 http://tcm.computerhistory.org/ . The website represents nearly all of the existing records that were retained by the Museum prior to 1998 and contains over 700 files representing over 7000 individual pages and 50 video recordings. There are annual reports, marketing brochures, posters, gift shop catalogs, video recordings of lectures, and working files of the Museum such as board meeting minutes and correspondence. Not included in the records are digital representations of the Museum’s physical exhibitions. However, descriptions of their content, and correspondence and design notes related to each exhibition, are included. Also included are a timeline of key TCM events and a timeline of the 300+ pioneering computer systems that informed the TCM artifact collection.

Biographical/Historical Note

The Computer Museum was founded by Ken Olsen and Gordon and Gwen Bell in 1975 as the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) Museum Project. The first exhibit was in a converted closet at DEC’s building in Maynard, Massachusetts. In 1979 it officially became the Digital Computer Museum (DCM), an exhibition site funded and operated by DEC out of its Marlborough headquarter building’s lobby. In 1982 it received non-profit charitable foundation status from the IRS and changed its name to The Computer Museum, and in 1984 it opened to the wider public with a move to downtown Boston where it was co-located with the Children’s Museum on Museum Wharf. In 1996, approximately half of the Museum’s collection was relocated to Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, California as The Computer Museum History Center (TCMHC). In 1999 TCM officially closed, the corporation was dissolved, and the remainder of the collection was moved to TCMHC. In 2000 TCMCH incorporated as a California non-profit, and changed its name to the Computer History Museum, located in Mountain View, California with additional buildings in Milpitas and Fremont.

From the first Annual Report, 1980, “Several unrelated events and decisions all worked in the direction of Digital Equipment Corporation developing the Digital Computer Museum. Ken Olsen took it upon himself to preserve and store Whirlwind, TX-0 and early DEC equipment … Gordon began a collection of early calculators and logic devices and wanted to continue and expand his interest in the taxonomy of computers … Ken and Gordon went to other computer exhibits and were extraordinarily disappointed that the Smithsonian was not making an effort to appropriately classify and organize its material; fascinated by the IBM wall (now in a warehouse) but considered that its emphasis on the interaction of social events and computing was not the story to be told … These events led to both Ken and Gordon to conclude that a Digital Computer Museum was needed. Ken's goal, to create a place to preserve machines so that computer scientists, engineers, and programmers can see the antiques that they had worked on as little as ten years ago, and Gordon's goal, to create an understandable taxonomy of all computers and related computing devices, are complementary. The role of the Museum is to make sure that significant artifacts are kept ...”

The Computer Museum's mission was three-fold: (1) To educate and inspire all ages and levels of the public through dynamic exhibitions and programs on the technology, applications, and impact of computers. (2) To preserve and celebrate the history, and promote the understanding of computers worldwide. (3) To be an international resource for research into the history of computing.

At the DCM’s opening at Marlborough, Massachusetts on September 24, 1979, where Maurice V. Wilkes spoke, nearly all of the features and functions of the current Computer History Museum were established: artifact and archive collection and storage; lecture series to collect and chronicle the important computing inventions (e.g. the first 20 pioneers from Atanasoff to Zuse); key artifact exhibits; outreach marketing material and archival publications; an intern program; development of ephemera for sale in the museum store; a stellar board of directors, and an active program to attract visitors and members.

By 1982 a board of eighteen directors was installed that included Charlie Bachman, inventor of the first database; Pat McGovern, publisher of ComputerWorld; Les Hogan, president of Motorola semiconductor; Robert Noyce, inventor of the Integrated Circuit and Intel co-founder; Brian Randell, Computer Science professor and historian, and Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas.

Level of description

Series

Date

1971-2015 (Made), 1975-1998 (Bulk)

Author

Gordon C. Bell (Author)

Publisher

Computer History Museum (Publisher)

Extent

4.15 gigabytes

Collection title

The Computer Museum records

Credit

Gift of Gordon Bell

Catalogue number

102776172

Lot number

X8339.2018