History
of the Museum
The
Computer Museum of America was established in 1983 by Jim
and Marie Petroff, founders of the San Diego Chapter of Independent
Computer Consultants Association (ICCA).
While
without a display space in its early years, through the efforts
of a tireless band of volunteers the Museum continued to collect
and preserve historic computer equipment, as well as display
portions of its collection every year at the California Computer
Expo (formerly the San Diego Computer Fair).
The
Petroffs' generous underwriting during those early years allowed
the Museum to obtain and maintain storage facilities throughout
San Diego County as it accumulated one of the world's largest
collections of historic computing equipment.
In
1992, Coleman College invited the Museum to exhibit a portion
of its collection on the grounds of the school's La Mesa campus,
beginning a fruitful partnership between the College and the
Museum that culminated in the Coleman Foundation taking over
operation of the Museum.
Today
The award-winning museum is looking for a new home. A dedicated group of volunteers, advisors and the former director/curator
have formed a new nonprofit organization under the banner of the San Diego Computer Museum.
We look forward, with the help of our community and those who support our mission,
to carrying on the important work of the Museum.
Equipment
donations
Due to the overwhelming generosity of the community,
we no longer have the room to accept donations of common computer-related
equipment. However, we do still seek older (pre-1975) computer-related
artifacts. Please call the Museum for more details.
Archives
and Research
The
Museum has a large collection of computer-related magazines,
manuals, books and other related materials in its archive.
It makes available these materials and information to students,
authors, researchers and others for historical research.
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