2 Jun
1998
2 Jun
'98
7:50 a.m.
On Tue, 2 Jun 1998, Tony Duell wrote:
Is it just me, or are most museums clueless when it
comes to electronic
exhibits? I've come across a museum that refuses to complete its PDP8 as
the 2 cards I offered them that they were missing were made a few years
after the the machine itself. This is a machine that was in use and taken
out of service BTW, so it's unlikely that all the cards were original.
Another collection I know about has managed to misplace a PDP12, a
PDP11/70 and all the printsets for them. Losing a board I can understand,
but 6' racks???
No, I don't think it's you. Our local "Museum of Science and Industry"
seems to be equally dim to anything that does not have immediate
'infotainment' qualities and that looks like an instant money maker.
I (tried) to work with them for over a year on a historical retrospective
on computers (basically, all I asked from them was some space and a little
publicity). They did not seem to think it was worthwhile by itself so I
enlisted the help of an educational team from a local (well known) hi-tech
firm. Once there was a 'corporate' name to hang on the banner the museum
was much friendlier to the project...
Problems arose when scheduling conflicts (and budgeting matters) caused
a delay, and later the withdrawl of the 'corporate' folk. Within a couple
of weeks of that I got word (second hand, they did not even contact me
directly) that the museum "did not have the resources available" to stage
this exhibit.
Nothing I like better than shooting a year and a half of effort down the
tubes...
Not to mention the many frustrations during the planning, such aswhen I
inquired as to the availability of the large collection of robots (Heath,
Androbot, many others) that they had once had in their 'Computer Lab'.
They indicated that "they thought" they still had the units, but they were
"somewhere in the warehouse storage facility" and no one was inclined to
search for them...
(sigh) WHAT do you do with these people???
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174