Collecting to Curating

Scott M. Campbell and Zbigniew Stachniak, "The York University Computer Museum (YUCoM): From Collecting to Curating"

Canadian Science and Technology Historical Association Biennial Meeting, Ottawa, Ontario, Sept. 29-October 2, 2005.

Abstract: The York University Computer Museum (YUCoM), established in 2002, is a historical collection and a research centre for the history of computing, located in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at York University. Its mission is to preserve, document, and interpret the history of the information age in Canada. Aside from typical museum birthing issues of defining it's mission and functions, curating, and storage, the challenging problem at YUCoM has been transforming a research collection of Canadian microcomputer artifacts and documentation into a sustainable museum. A second issue has been to recognize the historical significance, enthusiasm and expertise of the Canadian microcomputer hobbyists' movement of the 1970s and to convert this energy into a museum resource today. This talk will focus on YUCoM's origins, the first three years of operation, and the long term objectives.

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