But... I feel that if collectors/museums concentrate
only on their
narrow definition of "computer", they will neglect all the stuff
that led to computers.
There is a good side to this and a bad side. If any museum tries to
cover too much ground in their collection policy, they tend not to do
a good job
Some of the more interesting military special-purpose
computers
are being preserved (e.g. Norden bombsights) along with historical
context, but almost nothing else is.
This is a good point. When it comes to mechanical computation, the
pinnacle of design is in the Naval fire control computers, like the
Arma Mark 1A. Providing that the ships are cared for (and some really
are), these machines can pretty much show just what mechanical
computation is all about, in a most proper context. Many of the ships
are essentially safe until the end of time, so as long as someone
takes care of the machines inside, the knowledge of mechanical
computing is very safe.
The same is not true, to my knowledge, for industrial controls. Is
there a community, however small, of collectors and historians? I
certainly would like to know. I suppose there is some bleed thru from
other disciplines - the railroad history guys do well with knowledge
of interlocks and CTC, for example.
At least one of the great neglected historic fields - the phone
company - is starting to be dealt with by the collectors and museums*.
It is amazing just how much pre-computer history came from Ma Bell,
and until just a couple of years ago, was completely ignored.
*On sad note, the little phone museum in Abeliene, KS closed its doors
recently, due to money issues.
--
Will