My Mission: TIME Magazine calls, they want our Enigma machine for a photo shoot in Hollywood featuring The Imitation Game star Benedict Cumberbatch. The movie is based on Andrew Hodges’ book, Alan Turing: The Enigma.
Is anyone willing to lead a project to restore an IBM 1401?” Mike Cheponis enthusiastically asked with a glint in his eye. I knew Mike after attending several of his DEC PDP-1 restoration sessions at the Computer History Museum. While most of my late night college hours were spent on DEC, UNIVAC, and SDS computers, I h
The race is on! The Computer History Museum was recently awarded a prestigious two-year federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to catalog 10,000 backlogged physical objects (hardware and ephemera). That’s a lot to accomplish in such a short time but we know we’ll cross the Finish Line with our
What do a lame fox, loose disk drive reels and J.M. Jacquard’s dirty face have in common?
Every now and then we hear of a document being “found” or “discovered” in an archive.
With his clipped red hair, freckled ruddy skin, and open yet no-nonsense manner, Nick Hughes could play a British army officer in the movies. But this quietly effective former geologist is the architect of the world’s leading mobile payment system, one that has changed daily life in Kenya and offers a possible glimpse
Oral histories have the capability of breathing life into inanimate objects. They can bridge gaps by providing introductions to otherwise unknown people, remote places, or obscure things. Most importantly, oral histories have the ability to merge and connect the past with the present, creating a lasting legacy for futu
“Yes, we buy cattle with M-Pesa on our mobile phones. It is far more secure than carrying cash.”George is sitting on a folding stool and wearing his tribe’s full traditional dress, a mix of loosely wrapped bright red and purple and pink plaids – as well as fluorescent beaded jewelry – that can make the Day-Glo acid col
If you have ever played games on a computer or a console system, you have probably played at least one Blizzard game. In fact, at least 10 million people were subscribed to World of Warcraft as of October 4th, 2012. Blizzard continually produces some of the best selling and most critically acclaimed games in the indust
In the course of my work managing CHM’s collections, I often hear people use the terms preservation, conservation, and restoration synonymously. In everyday use, that’s fine. However, these terms actually mean something quite different inside the walls of a museum.
