Computer History Museum

What Computer History Museum does

The Computer History Museum (CHM), founded in 1996 and headquartered in Mountain View, California, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Tax ID 77-0507525) that operates as the world's leading institution exploring the history of computing and its ongoing impact on society. It maintains the largest international collection of computing artifacts, encompassing hardware, software, documentation, ephemera, photographs, and moving images. CHM serves four primary customer segments: general public visitors, K-12 students and educators, academic researchers and historians, and tech industry professionals. The organization is structured around three operating initiatives - the Software History Center, the Exponential Center (entrepreneurship and innovation), and the Shustek Research Archives.

CHM's product surface spans physical exhibits (Revolution: 19 galleries with 1,100 objects; Make Software; Chatbots Decoded; Apple@50), digital infrastructure (the OpenCHM portal with API access launched January 2026), educational programs (TechQuest on Roblox, The Great Tech Story on Minecraft: Education Edition, Get Invested), speaker series (CHM Live, TechFest, Vintage Computer Festival), and preservation initiatives (Historical Source Code Series releasing landmark code under open-source licenses, the new AI Archive). Recognition programs include the Fellow Awards (since 1987) and the $100,000 Patrick J. McGovern Tech for Humanity Prize.

Revenue is generated through a diversified nonprofit model: admission tickets, annual memberships, tax-deductible donations (including the Power On campaign), federal and foundation grants (IMLS, NHPRC, Google.org), corporate sponsorships (SAP, Google, Texas Instruments), venue rentals at the 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. facility, and a retail store selling tech-inspired merchandise. The museum is governed by a Board of Trustees chaired by Len Shustek, with an Honorary Council including Bill Gates, Gordon Moore, Eric Schmidt, and Steve Wozniak. As of February 2025, Marc Etkind serves as President and CEO.

Name

Computer History Museum

Legal name

Computer History Museum

Website

https://computerhistory.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The Computer History Museum is a Mountain View-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that preserves the world's largest international collection of computing artifacts, serving the public, K-12 educators, researchers, and tech professionals through exhibits, digital portals, source code releases, and education programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Museum & Cultural Institution

NAICS

Museums (712110), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712), Libraries and Archives (51921)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Science & Technology Museums (THAJADAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA), Cultural Heritage Institutions (Archives, Historic Houses, Monuments Foundations) (THAJADAI), Specialty Physical Artifact Storage (Museum Collections, Historical Documents, Rare Materials) (TLALALAJ)

Keywords

• Computing history museum
• STEM education programs
• Digital preservation archives
• Software history center
• Museum venue rental

Headquarters

HQ city

Mountain View

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Admission Tickets: The museum generates revenue through ticket sales for museum admission, with hours Wednesday-Sunday 10am-5pm and various ticket tiers.
2. Membership Program: Annual membership programs offering various benefits to supporters including free admission, exclusive events, and donor recognition.
3. Donations and Fundraising: Tax-deductible donations from individuals and organizations, including the Power On campaign. The museum is a registered 501(c)(3) organization with Tax ID 77-0507525.
4. Venue Rental: The museum's facility at 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. is available for event hosting, providing rental revenue.
5. Retail Store: Online store selling unique tech-inspired gifts, clothing, books, and items inspired by the collection, with proceeds supporting CHM operations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Computer History Museum operates a physical museum in Mountain View, California that preserves and presents the largest international collection of computing artifacts through permanent and special exhibits, educational programs, and a digital portal (OpenCHM). It offers admission tickets, annual memberships, K-12 STEM educational programs, venue rentals, and a retail store. The museum also runs the Software History Center, which preserves and releases historic source code, and the Fellow Awards and McGovern Prize recognition programs.

Product overview

The Computer History Museum operates as a nonprofit cultural institution offering exhibits, educational programs, and digital access platforms focused on preserving and presenting computing history. The museum's core offerings include permanent exhibits (Revolution, Make Software, Chatbots Decoded), the OpenCHM digital portal providing API-accessible catalog of digitized artifacts, the Software History Center with Historical Source Code Series releasing landmark software source codes, speaker programs (CHM Live, TechFest), education initiatives (TechQuest on Roblox, Get Invested), and recognition programs (Fellow Awards, McGovern Tech for Humanity Prize). The museum is also building a new AI Archive initiative to become the world's leading repository for artificial intelligence history.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing Signature permanent exhibition at the museum with 19 galleries and 1,100 objects showcasing the history of computing, available to general public visitors both online and in person.
• Chatbots Decoded: Exploring AI Interactive exhibit exploring what chatbots are, their origins, and their significance, featuring conversations with chatbot-powered robots and expert insights about AI.
• Make Software: Change the World! Exhibition exploring the history, impact, and technology behind seven game-changing applications: MP3, Photoshop, MRI, Car Crash Simulation, Wikipedia, Texting, and World of Warcraft.
• OpenCHM Digital Portal Free online virtual catalog providing public access to the museum's entire digitized collection of computing artifacts, featuring advanced search, save, highlight functionalities, and a developer portal for API access.
• Software History Center Research and preservation initiative focused on software history, hosting conferences and maintaining the Historical Source Code Series that releases landmark software source codes to the public.
• Historical Source Code Series Series releasing historic software source codes including Eudora, Xerox Alto, CP/M, MS-DOS, Apple Lisa, MacPaint, Photoshop, and others under open source or non-commercial licenses for preservation and educational purposes.
• TechFest Annual technology festival featuring hands-on demonstrations, talks, and celebrations of computing history, including events like Apple@50 TechFest.
• CHM Live Speaker Series Thought leadership speaker series convening tech experts for conversations about technology complexities and opportunities, available on the CHM YouTube channel.
• TechQuest on Roblox Interactive educational game for grades 3-8 exploring real-world tech applications in conservation and automation through drone and VR experiences, available on Roblox.
• Fellow Awards Program Annual awards recognizing lifetime achievements in computing, inducting pioneers into the Hall of Fellows; considered the highest honor in computing.
• Patrick J. McGovern Tech for Humanity Prize $100,000 awards recognizing global changemakers dedicated to tech for good, honoring Patrick J. McGovern's legacy; inaugural Luminary award went to Sal Khan of Khan Academy.
• Apple@50 Exhibit Special exhibit celebrating Apple's 50th anniversary featuring rare prototype exhibits including Apple I, Apple IIc, Lisa, Macintosh, Newton, iPod and iPhone, running until September 7, 2026.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1 million cochlear implant recipients benefited from preserved Stanford speech processor technology
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• BackblazecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBackblaze's original Storage Pod 1.0 chassis was accepted into CHM's permanent collection, recognized for helping catalyze the industry's shift from bespoke hardware systems to commoditized server architectures.
• QualcommcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerQualcomm transferred ownership of Eudora source code, trademarks, copyrights, and domain names to CHM after a five-year negotiation, allowing CHM to publish the code under BSD license.
• Texas InstrumentsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTexas Instruments donated over 1,000 Fairchild Semiconductor engineering notebooks dating from the late 1950s and early 1960s, documenting the development of the planar process for integrated circuits.
• KQEDminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with KQED Plus for Revolutionaries television series featuring conversations with tech luminaries including Elon Musk, Eric Schmidt, and Marissa Mayer.
• MundaneumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with the Belgian museum dedicated to Paul Otlet's work for content exchange and joint exhibitions celebrating web pioneers.
• Stanford UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStanford donated rare prototype of cochlear implant speech processor developed in the late 1970s/early 1980s, received in May 2024.
• GoogleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGoogle generosity enabled the 'Going Places: A History of Google Maps with Street View' exhibit showcasing surrogate travel technology history.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Internet Archive: Nonprofit digital library preserving born-digital content including software, websites, and media. Adjacent in mission around digital preservation; CHM's OpenCHM overlaps conceptually with Internet Archive's software collection.
• Charles Babbage Institute: University of Minnesota archive focused on history of computing and information technology. Adjacent peer as a research archive for computing history, serving overlapping academic researcher segments.

Direct peers

• MIT Museum: MIT's museum focused on science, technology, art, and innovation, including computing history. Direct peer in academic-affiliated tech heritage curation with strong education programming overlap.
• Living Computers: Museum + Labs: Seattle-based museum (founded by Paul Allen) focused on interactive computing history with restored working vintage computers. Direct peer in computing heritage with overlapping exhibition philosophy.
• The Tech Museum of Innovation: San Jose-based science and technology museum with hands-on exhibits. Like CHM, it focuses on technology innovation and STEM education in the Bay Area and serves overlapping audiences of families, schools, and tech-industry visitors.
• The National Museum of Computing: UK-based museum at Bletchley Park housing working historic computers including Colossus and other computing milestones. Direct peer in computing heritage preservation with comparable collection and education mission.
• Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum: The world's largest computer museum, located in Paderborn, Germany. Direct peer as a dedicated computing-history institution with similar curatorial focus on hardware, software, and digital culture.

Regional players

• Deutsches Museum: One of the world's largest science and technology museums in Munich, with significant computing and information technology exhibits. Regional peer primarily serving European audiences but comparable in scale and mission.

Broad incumbents

• Science Museum (London): Major UK science museum with significant computing and information-age galleries. Broad incumbent covering science and technology more generally, but with deep computing-history content.
• Smithsonian Institution: U.S. national museum complex with multiple constituent museums including the National Museum of American History which holds computing artifacts. Broader incumbent; CHM is often benchmarked as "Silicon Valley's answer to the Smithsonian."

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ComputerHistory
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/ComputerHistory
• Facebookfacebook.com/computerhistory
• Instagraminstagram.com/computerhistory
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/computer-history-museum

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Computer History Museum