Closet Archive

Abstract

The 2011 opening at the Computer History Museum of the world's largest and most complete physical and cyber exhibit of computing history marks the sixth stage of a public museum's evolution, which began in 1975 with a closet-sized exhibit in a Digital Equipment Corporation building, migrating to The Computer Museum, Boston.It now lives in an 119,000 square foot public home in Silicon Valley.This chance/luck driven evolution of an institution is due to the dedication and leadership of a few people who persuaded hundreds of others that the endeavor was worthwhile and needed their support.Gwen Bell, The Computer Museum's founding director, and Len Shustek, the founding chairman of the Computer History Museum were committed to its success!Behind nearly every artifact, exhibit, and pioneering effort is a story that the museum is dedicated to understand and tell.This is the story leading to the Computer History Museum.A story of a computer museum's evolution After 15 years, The Computer Museum in New England owned half of a building, as well as its critical collection of artifacts and pioneer stories.After another 15 years, the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley has assets of over $70 million that includes an endowment, two wholly owned permanent buildings, and a major new exhibition featuring 3,200 objects, photographs and videos selected from its collection numbering over 75,000 items.This accelerating progress is reflective of the maturity and scale of the industry, sensitivity to geographic locations, and most importantly, motivating contributing individuals 2 .The progress is also a reflection of a museum's basic tenet -"learn from its past 3 !"This article is about the first stages of the museum's evolution to become the Computer History Museum.It is no doubt a story similar to other world-class museums.It takes time, if for no other reason than the need to accumulate the critical "Mona Lisas" that make visits compelling and support worthwhile.Timeline: A 35 year Quest for Overnight Success "Chance Favors the Prepared Mind" -Pasteur The museum's six evolutionary stages of growth were accomplished by having the right, or "lucky," conditions for the inter-stage transitions over its 35+ year history, each characterized by a new location: I. Concept and seed: Collectors and Preservers (distant past-1975) II.Alpha: The Museum-in-a-Closet Project, Digital Equipment Corporation (1975) III.

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