What is the Information Technology Museum?
The Information Technology Museum (or ITM for short) is a museum dedicated to the history of what we know now as Information Technology (that's what 'IT' stands for!), covering the gamut from early manual and mechanical calculators, sorters, and printing/publishing machines, to the modern era, where all of these technologies (and far more!) have been subsumed by the ever-increasing capabilities of the computer.
We strive to be a living, interactive museum - we make as many of our exhibits and artifacts "hands-on" as we can, so that visitors may more viscerally experience these technologies as they were actually used and appreciated in each of their respective eras - sit down and punch a stack of cards on an IBM 029, toggle a program into a PDP-8 bit-by-bit, 'surf the web' as it was nearly 30 years ago - and much more!
None of this would be possible without our team of extremely dedicated volunteers, who have poured thousands of hours of blood, sweat, and tears into dragging many of these machines from their proverbial graves and restoring them to operational status. While many museums hide static, nonfunctional machines behind glass, we can offer you the true sights, sounds, and even smells of these fantastical devices as though they were plucked right off the assembly line.
Where is ITM?
ITM is located in building 9010A of the Historic Camp Evans complex at 2201 Marconi Road, Wall, NJ, operated and maintained by the Infoage Science and History center since 2005.
Who is ITM?
ITM came about from a lucky convergence of three parties - Infoage - founded by Fred Carl, Dimitry Grabbe - former Director of Research & Technology for AMP (and prolific computer collector!), and the newly formed MARCH - founded by Evan Koblentz, Bill Degnan, and Andy Meyer.
Infoage, who strove to build an interactive science & learning center on the hallowed grounds of Camp Evans - where Marconi, RCA, and the US Army Signal Corps all worked to refine the technologies that came to define our modern Information Age - caught the attention of Dimitry Grabbe, who had amassed a particularly large, impressive collection of historic computers, from early integrated circuit packages, to exotic workstations, to a prototype of the Apollo guidance computer itself! Dimitry Grabbe graciously donated a portion of his collection to Infoage, who then sought the aide of volunteers in order to curate and docent a museum of Grabbe's collection.
In 2004, MARCH held its first exhibit at the Trenton Computer Festival, and through the grapevine Fred Carl learned of this new group of retrocomputing hobbyists. Emails were sent, meetings were had, and a deal was struck - and MARCH has been at Infoage ever since!
Our museum has been through many revisions and upgrades over the years, and it has occupied no fewer than three seperate locations since 2005 - and we're due for the fourth very soon!
When is ITM?
ITM's operating hours are the same as Infoage's - Sunday, Wednesday & Saturday, noon - 5 P.M.
Private tours may be arranged by special request - shoot us an email!
How do I join ITM?
We're always looking for volunteers, either to docent, build new exhibits, or restore artifacts! As we get ready to tackle our new museum space - all 6500 square feet of it - we'll also need help with interiors, electrical, plumbing, etc.
Interested in joining? Either inquire in-person during our visiting hours, at one of MARCH's events, or shoot us an email!
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