While wandering the back roads of Virginia last week, I stumbled upon this museum: http://bugbookcomputermuseum.com/ The web site is actually misleading--the museum is there, and it is open to the public free of charge on a regular schedule. It is located in downtown Floyd, VA, which is somewhat off the beaten track, to put it mildly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd,_Virginia Floyd is not near Tysons Corner! But it was open, and I had a most enjoyable tour. The collection is focused on the pre-IBM PC microcomputer days. Its crown jewel is a "Mark-8," designed by Jonathan Titus of nearby Blacksburg--a legendary early microcomputer kit. There are other similar items on display as well. I guess this qualifies as a "busman's holiday."
That is David Larsen's museum. Jon Titus and David co-founded Blacksburg Group (after Titus did the Mark-8). "Bugbooks" were their famous line of microcomputer technical handbooks. For anyone who might be interested, our MARCH ("Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists") museum (co-located at the InfoAge Science Center, in Wall, N.J.) is also open to the public. InfoAge itself is open Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 1pm-5pm; the MARCH exhibits are generally open Sundays (and other times if you make an appointment with me.) Some of the highlights of our collection include a Bendix G-15, UNIVAC 1219-B, IBM 1130, DEC PDP-8, numerous PDP-11 and VAXen, Cray YMP-EL ... and that's just in the "big iron" exhibit. We also have just about every significant model of early microcomputer (along with most of the important homebrew-era systems). The best thing about our museum is the hands-on imperative. We strive to get as many systems as possible into working condition, so that we can demonstrate them to you up and running. DEC PDP-11/44, MITS Altair 8800, Apple Lisa, or even just a run-of-the-mill Commodore 64: we "MARCHins" believe such things should be restored and operated.