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| Established | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Location | Cambridge,Cambridgeshire |
| Type | Computers |
| Curator | Lisa McGerty |
| Public transit access | Newmarket Road |
| Nearest car park | On site |
| Website | computinghistory |
TheCentre for Computing History is acomputer museum inCambridge, England, established to create a permanent public exhibition telling the story of theInformation Age.[1]
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The museum acts as a repository forvintage computers and related artefacts. The museum is open Wednesdays through to Sundays from 10am to 5pm in term time and 7 days a week during school holidays.[2] On display are key items from the early era of computers (and even before) from ageingcomptometers through theAltair 8800 to theZX Spectrum andApple II. The museum also holds vintage games consoles, peripherals,software and an extensive collection of computer manuals, magazines and other literature. It is home to the Megaprocessor, an enormous version of a computer chip designed by James Newman.[3]
The centre is aregistered educational charity.[4] It is funded by a combination of sponsors from local businesses and private individuals. Venture capitalist and entrepreneurHermann Hauser was involved with funding discussions.[5] He became patron of the museum in December 2011, 30 years after the launch of theBBC Micro.[6] The museum is run by a board of trustees chaired by Gareth Marlow.[7]
The Centre moved to a 10,500 sq ft (980 m2) site in Rene Court, offColdham's Lane in the east side of Cambridge in summer 2013.[8][9][10] The museum was originally located inHaverhill, Suffolk. Plans to relocate the museum to Cambridge,[11] led to a report in October 2011 that negotiations were underway for a site.[5] The museum was informed in June 2012 that planning permission for the new Cambridge site had been granted, subject to complying with currentbuilding regulations.[12]
In March 2019, the museum was granted Accredited Museum status byArts Council England (ACE).[13] The Accreditation Scheme sets out nationally agreed standards, which inspire the confidence of the public and funding and governing bodies. It enables museums to assess their current performance, as well as supporting them to plan and develop their services.
The founder, Jason Fitzpatrick, was replaced as CEO and Curator by former Project Manager Lisa McGerty in December 2022.[14]
The Centre for Computing History runs regular educational activities for schools and the general public. These range from programming workshops using 1980sBBC Micros to gaming tours to coding using software likeScratch for theRaspberry Pi.[citation needed]
The centre also loans artefacts for film and TV productions and has helped with props and sets forThe IT Crowd,Brits Who Made the Modern World[15] on ChannelFive withPeter Snow and in April 2009 produced theGadget Hall of Fame[16] stand atThe Gadget Show Live exhibition at theNEC inBirmingham. In December 2018, the centre was involved in a groundbreaking interactive Netflix episode of Black Mirror calledBandersnatch.[17]
The centre collects and preserves historical computing related artefacts and has undertaken a project to preserve the data from theBBC Domesday Project and make it available online. They already have data from both the National Disk and Community Disk online and are currently investigating copyright issues before releasing the URL to the general public.[18] The centre's oldest working machine is their Elliott 903,[19] which is regularly demonstrated; other important artefacts in the centre's collection include a prototype ZX Spectrum,[20] ProfessorSteve Furber's Computer Group prototype and a NeXT computer signed bySir Tim Berners-Lee.
In June 2017, some of the centre's volunteers received recognition for their contributions to the museum at the annual SHARE Museums East Volunteer Awards.[21]
In 2017 and 2018, the museum was heavily involved in the Butlin's Astonishing Science weekends, taking a time line of computers and consoles, to show the advancement of technology through the years. Also having 8 BBC Micros and Raspberry Pis alongside them for completion of various programming tasks, including Robots, disco lights, and creating pixel characters.
In October 2018, the centre received lottery funding for a project onLEO computers, in partnership with the LEO Computers Society.[22][23] The project, Swiss Rolls, Tea and the Electronic Office: A History of LEO, the First Business Computer, aims to bring together, preserve, archive and digitise a range of LEO Computers artefacts, documents and personal memories to share the largely unknown story of LEO with a new audience. The project includes plans to develop a virtual reality replica of the LEO I.[24]
The centre was awarded an Object of The Year award from 'Museums in Cambridgeshire' in November 2019 for theirSinclairZX Spectrum prototype, donated earlier that year from a company that had worked on it during its development.[25]
In July 2024, the centre was recognised as a top attraction with a 2024 Tripadvisor Traveller’s Choice award.[26]
In September 2024 the centre collaborated withOrca Scan andDatalogic to launch a temporary exhibition to mark the 50th anniversary of the first retail barcode being scanned. The History of Barcodes exhibition highlighted the significant role that barcodes have played in computing history by linking a physical product to its digital identity.[27]
TheEsmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, run by theMuseums Association, awarded the Centre for Computing History a £93,200 grant for a two year project, 'Broken Tech: Broken Earth', which began in November 2024.[28] This initiative aims to engage the local community in exploring the environmental and social impacts of the tech boom.
With their extensive collection of over 13,000 video games,[29] the centre also has a leading video game preservation initiative,[30] and information for every object in the museum collection is accessible via the online catalogue. As part of preservation, they digitally archive source code for games such as theMagic Knight series byDavid Jones (programmer),[31] and preserve and host scans of original sketches and other development materials from game companies such asGuerrilla Games. Their work emphasises the importance of preserving all aspects of the experience of a game, from marketing materials to the copy protection experience, packaging, and hardware.[32] The centre's collection also hosts uncommon hardware and operating systems with this in mind. They are also working with current video game developers and publishers, acting as a repository for their ongoing work so that it is actively preserved.[33]
[...] Fitzpatrick says negotiations are now underway on a 10,000 sq ft site on Coldham's Road [...]
Dr Hermann Hauser has been named as patron of the new Centre for Computing History in Cambridge UK. [...] agreed to take on the important role 30 years after the company he co-founded – Acorn Computers – unveiled the BBC Micro [...]
