The primary mission of Living Computers is to connect people with computers – especially systems of historical importance. The rest of our work flows from that premise. Our engineers revitalize computers in our collection and maintain them so that visitors can not only view these machines but also experience them as they were originally used.
Museums often describe the process of preparing an artifact for display or preservation as "restoration." We instead employ the term "renovation" to capture the full scope of what we do. Each renovation project is unique, but all involve careful research to ensure authenticity and safeguard against avoidable risk as the machines are brought back into service.
Keep an eye out for renovation and maintenance! On most days, our visitors can watch engineers in action as they carefully study, repair, and revive the computers in their care.