Apple II museum?

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

heuser.marcus@freenet.de wrote:
> > The only reason I placed the winning bid was because it seemed
> > a rare gem and I wanted to make sure it was "preserved".
> > Too much good software gets winning bids in Ebay that never finds
> > its way into archives anywhere else.  I wasn't about to let that
> > happen with this one.
>
>
> Kudos from me!
>
> It's a pity that hardware cannot be preserved this way ;-)

There has been some discussion here recently about Wiki's and other
venues for preserving much Apple II-related knowledge.  There are
many archives of Apple II-related software and documents on the web. 
There are also several private "museums" of Apple II-related hardware
and artifacts.

I have no doubt that there are many more private "treasure troves"
of software, equipment, documents, etc., all over the world in
people's basements, garages, attics, storage units, etc.  (I also
realize that much of the knowledge regarding its purpose and
significance resides with its aging owners.  ;-)

I suspect that many of us share a common interest in preserving
as much of this as possible for future study.  But none of us has
either the resources or the immortality required to ensure that it
is, in fact, preserved.

I would welcome an endowed institution to receive and preserve all
of this information and equipment (with as little redundancy as
deemed prudent) and provide public access to it, to inherit my
collection, rather than have it sold off as scrap or simply carted
to a landfill upon my demise.

Has anyone in our community thought much about this?  Are their
any preservationists with the resources to administer such a thing?

Logically, it might seem to be the purview of Apple Computer, but
this is probably unrealistic and unwise.  It's probably just as
well that we didn't leave preservation of the PDP-8 to DEC!

I think in order to maintain a stable mission, the institution must
be fully endowed, although it could, perhaps, be a member of a group
of similar institutions devoted to various computers.  Non-profit
status would guarantee that it was the beneficiary of many bequests
of equipment, at least until the main "crop" of enthusiasts is
depleted (!).

A moderate sized staff would be required, at least for the first
twenty years or so, to sort through bequests, organize things,
and identify irrelevant or redundant items.  (Auctioning these items
might provide a small cash stream, but would not be a primary source
of funding or diversion from mission.)

Although including education and appreciation in the mission might
be useful for a period of time, realistically the institution would
have to view itself simply as a keeper of the past, unappreciated
by the community at large, but maintaing a presence with a (possibly
dwindling) on-line community.

I'm looking for the "Apple II Smithsonian Institution"...

-michael

Music synthesis for 8-bit Apple II's!
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it is seriously underused."