new gifts

Today we got to visit two donors and preview some of the things they have for us. The first is rehabilitating the 1894 Standard-Times Building in New Bedford, MA. Even in its derelict state, this building is beautiful. We have been offered the paper's old computer systems on the 4th floor. The elevators are gone however and removing them would involve either bringing each rach down a narrow winding staircase for the whole 4 floors, or high level defenestration. The good news is that the donor will bring the equipment to the sidewalk for us to load. The systems are two identical DEC PDP-11/70's that seem to date from the early 1980's. There are two CDC 9766 drives and a nice DEC LP26 printer, plus 6-8 terminals. The systems have not been powered on since 1996. They also seem to bear the name of an aftermarket supplier - Systems Industries?- and some sort of system name, which I cannot remember, but suggests typesetting. Our second visit in East Providence, RI let us view the ca1930-35 Art Deco transmitting facility of WEAN. Although not 100% original, the bulk of the original features are there, including the original black and chrome decor. The original transmitter has been replaced twice, but an 80's era Harris MW-5A is the main unit, with a 40's era RCA as a fully functioning backup. The building itself is cast concrete with the main transmitter rooms flanked by office and attendant's living space. This is truly a beautiful building. As most space is now used for storage, we looked over and were given a Printronix, a GE paper terminal and a Data General Nova 4, all in excellent condition, and an American Anadex printer.