The UWM History Department’s Retrocomputing Lab is in Holton 402. The lab itself and this website are both created and maintained by me, Thomas Haigh. It holds a growing collection of fully functional personal computer hardware, software, and supporting material with strong coverage of the 1980s and 1990s. Members of the UWM community can visit by appointment or come to one of the open house sessions that I announce via the Lab’s email list. To subscribe to this list or schedule a visit to the lab please email me at thomas.haigh@gmail.com.
The idea was not to create a comprehensive collection in one particular area or a museum stuffed with rare and obscure items, but a working lab collection of ordinary machines from different eras. The lab is currently equipped with around 20 fully functional computer systems, four printers, and a range of accessories. Much of the material is from my own earlier life, some was donated by UWM faculty and staff, some comes from UWM Surplus, and some I purchased on eBay and other sources. These are selected to represent the evolution of personal and home computing. Collectively they would allow pretty much any PC, Macintosh or Apple II program to be experienced on something reasonably similar to its original hardware. We cover some other platforms of the 1980s such as British home computers, CP/M, and the Atari ST.
- Learn more about the Retrolab’s holdings
- Learn more about the Retrolab and teaching
- Learn more about the Retrolab and research
As far as I know, this is the only such resource operated within a history department anywhere in the US, though there is an Historic Computing Lab in the library of the University of Victoria. There are several facilities with distinct but related missions affiliated with media studies and English departments, including Lori Emerson’s Media Archaeology Lab at the University of Colorado and Dene Grigar’s Electronic Literature Lab at Washington State University.
I’ve been contacted by several students who are interested in using its contents to play old videogames or volunteering to work on projects to restore additional computer systems. As word gets round there will likely be more students and local community members who would like to get involved. I’d like to support these activities as much as possible in the time available, and am particularly interested in hearing from people with the skills and interests needed to help in restoring old computer hardware.
Acknowledgements: I am deeply grateful to the UWM history department for finding space for the lab and making a small amount of student work time from Tehila Cohen, Martha Ansha, and Chris Bravata available to assist with getting it set up. Donations from UWM Surplus and individuals including Nigel Rothfels, Marcus Filippello, Amanda Seligman, Margo Anderson, Jasmine Alinder, Alex Dueppen, Wyatt Kalmer, Richard Johnsonbaugh, Robert Polivka, Dick Marcus and John Lofgren have provided many of the systems and accessories in the lab’s collection.