Wilber Williams has spent the past 25 years or so building the Museum of IT at Queensland University. Now the University has decided to shut down the museum, and a large section of historical computer hardware, software and documentation faces the very real threat of being thrown in a skip. We’re hoping that someone out there can help find this equipment a new home.
The museum, which incorporates approximately 200 square metres worth of old IT stuff from over the past 100 years, includes things like a mechanical calculator from 1906, old mainframe parts, old PCs and SGI workstations has just over a week or so to find a new home or it will end up being thrown out.
The best case scenario is that Wilbur can find someone willing to rescue the entire museum – although some of the items have already been cherry-picked by other museums already. It is quite possibly the biggest collection of historical IT-related hardware in the country, and it would be a real tragedy if any of it ended up being thrown out.
You can check out the museum’s old site, including some classic images from the 60s and 70s, to get an idea of what a real tragedy losing this history could be. If either you – or someone you know – could possibly find a home for the museum, let us know.