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Houston Computer Museum liquidation July 24th

J

joev

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Feb 12, 2020
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15
Location
Providence, RI, USA
Found this just now: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...8156389355802/

I am holding a final sale at the warehouse of the formally known as the "Houston Computer Museum" and is in the Southwest Houston area on Saturday July 24th from 10AM to 6PM & Sunday July 25th from 10AM to 6PM Most items are pre-2000. EVERYTHING MUST GO! Inventory that will be at the warehouse includes but not limited to: Apple Computer IBM Digital Equipment Corp (DEC) Sun HP Dell Compaq Tandy TRS-80 Commodore Various clones of different types Equipment types include computer, systems, luggables, laptops, displays/monitors, keyboards, mice and other accessories. There are also many computer manuals, software, magazines, etc.
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The pictures show a lot of Apple gear, a stack of what look to be VT240 and VT525 terminals Everything looks in pretty rough shape, though.
 
Hopefully there is another way to reach you than via Facebook. I refuse to use that trash. I live near Houston but can't get an address or location.
 
That 129 Keypunch and 5362 is rough but if someone could get it closer to the border I would take a stab at it.
I can see a number of items I would be interested in but it's all too far away. :(
 
So it's been run through a few times now, including by Deskthority, now it's left to Twitter and facebook for the vultures to take care of the rest. Sad.
 
There was a thread on cctalk, I believe to the effect of "if you donate something to a museum and it goes belly-up, don't expect to be able to get your stuff back." :(
 
Chuck(G) said:
There was a thread on cctalk, I believe to the effect of "if you donate something to a museum and it goes belly-up, don't expect to be able to get your stuff back." :(
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The ugliest example of this I can think of is Larry Tesler donated his Apple I to the Computer History Association of California (CHAC) which collapsed. The collection ended up mixed with the Perham Foundation, which ran the Foothill Electronics Museum. Perham disbanded and everything went to History San Jose, which is focused on SJ history, so much of the out of the area computer stuff was scrapped. Then the guy who started CHAC wanted the Apple I back for obvious reasons. Good luck with that..

I'm still bitter about the scrapping of things like a Straight-8, and only being given a few hours to go through their warehouse to pick out what CHM
was going to take. The big thing which took years to sort out with the government was the SDS 930 that CHAC had that turned out to be on loan from NOAA

https://www.computerhistory.org/coll.../?s=X3872.2007
 
That is particularly bad...

If you 'donate' something to a museum - it is generally that. View it as it is no longer yours...

If you have (or may have in the future) a sentimental or financial attachment to the item - then make sure you are loaning the item to the museum with a signed legal agreement in place that protects both parties.

I know what I would have done in this case - that would have been to locate the original donator of the items and give them first refusal of the item back. But perhaps that is just me. I (like many here) would prefer to give stuff away to a 'deserving cause' rather than scrap it. I scrapped way too much stuff many years ago when it was just that 'scrap'. I know better now!

Any museum that scraps stuff (especially a so-called computer museum) ought to ashamed of themselves...

I am with you regarding the Straight-8 (I hadn't heard of that). That is really sad.

Dave
 
https://www.historysanjose.org/wp/re...am-collection/

https://www.mercurynews.com/2012/01/...will-be-tamed/

They've changed their web presence a lot, I don't know where the catalog of physical artifacts from Perham is now
The PDP-8 may still be there, in thinking about it I think I did see it in the back after they had scrapped a lot of things
in the warehouse. One of the weird things they have is a cut-away chuck-e-cheese that looks absolutely terrifying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2uStAT7ecM

I went through the first link, and I see there is no mention of CHAC in it anywhere. I am absolutely positively sure
that Apple I came from CHAC


A donation is a transfer of ownership, if you don't want that to happen you need to understand that and make it
clear it is only on loan.

You should receive a deed of gift from the institution in return for a donation.

Loans are a PITA for museums to deal with. Staff changes, deals get forgotten. MAKE SURE A LOAN
IS DOCUMENTED IN WRITING. Also, 'permanent loans' are a hassle because you need to try to stay
in touch with people then to see what their status is. If you have something for over 10 years it should
have been a donation. A good collections director tries to get those sorts of loans turned into donations.

Also, 'drive bys' , things just left without an incoming recept (somtimes just dropped at the door), are VERY VERY BAD.

museums may discard annonymous donations because it is impossible to legally document their donor.


-- I also need to add that I am not a spokesperson for CHM, and these are my opinions only
 
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So they hit some kind of hardship and it ends up on facebook and twitter? Then we have to learn about it here AFTER THE FACT?! Thats just terrible and idiotic.Why do people choose to use those moronic mediums? I have no faith in people anymore.
 
VERAULT said:
So they hit some kind of hardship and it ends up on facebook and twitter?
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Keys' museum died years ago. His last message about it was in 2015
Most people today don't know the history of all of this, which is why I put up the tweets that I did.
It is not the "Houston Computer Museum" that is conducting this sale.

There have been questions if John Keys is even still alive. He said he was 70 in 2015
and no one has heard from him in years.
 
If not its a shame he didn't have any directives. One more reason we all need to make directives towards our collections for when the time comes. Even younger people with large collections. Whose to say an accident wont strike.

Sorry Al, I dont read facebook or twitter posts but I hear you there is more to the story.
 
You can make all the directives you want, unless somebody who can pay for a lawyer is around to make sure it happens nobody will know or care about it when you die. If you living relatives don't feel like following the directives they can and will get away with it.
 
From the photos I just see a computer graveyard. I see no evidence of a museum from the photos. What a shame. I could really use a small monochrome monitor, I sure there's one there somewhere, but ... speechless...

Good luck to the buyer I which him speed in getting that sorted out.
 
IMO, there is no way a "computer history" museum could ever survive on it's own long-term. There just isn't a large enough audience. Any of them that exist would only be from a very wealthy individual that is looking for a tax dodge.

I would love for it not to be the case, but that is what it is. It is only interesting to us 0.01%

As for what is left here, it's obviously the worthless scraps...
 
Yeah Rittwage, I would have to agree with you about the people who would find it interesting.

But dissagree about it being scraps. I see plenty of value in just the monitors and such in that photo. Those Amdek monitors alone have value.
 
VERAULT said:
But dissagree about it being scraps. I see plenty of value in just the monitors and such in that photo. Those Amdek monitors alone have value.
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I also see at least 5 IBM 5153 monitors and one IBM 5151. All of which have value.
 
So what happens to all of it, since "all must go" and I know "all will not go". Just gets recycled? Too bad.
 
Anyone go and see all they have? If so, any Heathkit 8-bit items? I'm about 3 hours away, might be tempted to drive there if there is any of that.
 
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