Living Computer Museum

The Living Computer Museum (formal name Living Computers: Museum + Labs) was an institution in Seattle, Washington whose goal was to help people understand computing technology, particularly the historic computers which led to today's computers, by experiencing that actual, original, technology first-hand. Towards that goal, they proudly reckoned to have "the world's largest collection of fully-restored - and useable - supercomputers, mainframes, minicomputers and microcomputers" (several of them one-of-a-kind survivors).

It was originally started by Paul Allen (one of the founders of Microsoft) in 1997, and opened to the public in 2012 (with its machines accessible both in person, at their facility, as well as remotely, over the Internet). It quickly grew into one of the two premier computer museums in the USA. After the death of Mr. Allen, and the start of the COVID pandemic, it unfortunately suspended operations. In June, 2024, it was announced that it would be shut down, and Mr. Allen's collection (which had been on permanent loan to the LCM) sold off. Much of the LCM's collection has been taken over by a newly-formed institution, the Interim Computer Museum.

See also

• Computer History Museum

External links

• Living Computers: museum + labs - archived
  • About LCM+L: Our History
  • Vintage Computers - shows many of the machines in their collection
• Start - LCM's DocuWiki (archived)
• Project Reports & Thoughts of LCM+L Engineering Team - archived
• Seattle’s Living Computers Museum logs off for good as Paul Allen estate will auction vintage items
  • They gave machines to Living Computers for preservation, but museum’s closure is a bitter end
• Paul Allen History of Technology - "Paul G. Allen’s innovative collection traces the history of human ingenuity"
  • Paul Allen Computer Collection - "Inside the historic computer collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen"
  • History of Computing from the Paul G. Allen Collection - detailed listing of all the lots