Museum of Computing faces eviction
By Davey Winder in Editorial
Posted in Blog on
Launched in 2003, the Museum of Computing in Swindon was the first dedicated museum in the UK covering the computer and related technology, if you don’t count the Science Museum in London of course. It’s a bit smaller than the Science Museum, it has to be said, occupying space at the Oakfield Campus of the University of Bath in Swindon. Or at least it does for the time being, but as the university withdraws from the campus in July the museum could soon find itself homeless.
That would, in my humble opinion, be a real shame. The Museum of Computing is a truly fascinating place, with more than 2000 hardware exhibits covering the history of the computer, and some 85% of them in full working order, plus another 2500 or so software items, not forgetting the 1500 books, magazines and manuals, it really is something of a geek shrine.
What’s more, unlike many museums, it is run entirely by volunteers and relies upon donations and corporate sponsorship rather than public funding. Swindon outfit Intel, you might have heard of them, last year confirmed a sponsorship deal to enable an education outreach program for example.
I myself have had kit exhibited at the museum, as part of the ‘Calculator’ exhibition in fact. Yes, a sad admission I know, but I do happen to possess an original and pretty much mint condition gold-plated Sinclair Sovereign limited edition calculator from 1977, still in the original wooden presentation box, with manuals and in full working order! It is one of my most prized possessions and I know have a photo of Sir Clive Sinclair himself holding my (or is it his) calculator and smiling fondly at it. You can see a photo of the little beauty at the museum of computing website, says its proud adopted father.
When I visited the museum for that exhibition I took a look around behind the scenes and was impressed by the dedication of the volunteer team, not least because of the relatively small amount of space they had and the relatively huge amount of donated kit still to be sorted and catalogued.
I tip my hat to curator Simon Webb, currently doing his best White Rabbit impression as he juggles organising the latest Pong to Playstation exhibit as well as trying to find suitable new accommodation for the collection itself. If you happen to know somewhere, preferably in the Swindon area so that the volunteer team can remain intact, I am fairly certain that Simon would be rather pleased to hear from you…
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