The Vintage Computer Federation has started a fundraiser for our IBM 1130 computer. We are looking to repair and restore this machine to operating condition. To accomplish this, we will need two things: Funds to repair and an expert to repair it.
UPDATE
March 21, 2024
After a long delay, our IBM 1130 is on its way to be repaired in Florida. Thanks to System Source for transporting it. We look forward to giving you updates on the progress of the repair of this machine!
November 14, 2022,
We have reached our goal of $6000! Thank you so much to everyone that donated! We will leave the fundraiser open until the end date of November 30. Anything over our goal will be used for any unexpected expenses as well as getting the peripherals connected to it working such as the card reader and card puncher.
Thank you everyone who has contributed so far!
Donate by clicking this fundraising link IBM 1130 Repair Fundraiser. We have found an expert in the repair of this computer: Carl Claunch. He is well known in the vintage computer community as a renown and accomplished expert in restoring IBM 1130 computers. After several weeks, we have not achieved our goal of $6000 and our deadline of October 31 to take advantage of our scheduled transportation.
Our IBM 1130 has been on display for several years at The Vintage Computer Museum in Wall, NJ at InfoAge Science and History Museums (formerly Camp Evans).
The IBM 1130 is an early example of what became commonly known as minicomputers (smaller than room-size); one computer for one person. It is also unique in the sense that there are only a small number in existence, and few are functional.
We take pride in the fact that many, in fact most, artifacts displayed in our museum are functional and provide an interactive experience for our museum visitors. We now have an opportunity to add the IBM 1130 to the list of functional artifacts!
A long-time friend of VCF who lives in Florida, Carl Claunch, has experience in successfully restoring these computers to a functional state. Mr. Claunch is not able to travel to us to perform the work, so we need to transport the computer to and from his residence. As you can imagine, this presents various challenges, but we believe this is a very worthwhile effort. To ignore this opportunity to engage with this expert would be a regrettable, permanent loss for our museum.
To move forward with this project, *we need your support*. We need to raise approximately $6,000 to cover shipping and other expenses involved in the repair. Funds donated will be used for expenses related to this repair project and operating costs of the IBM 1130 computer. Funds received that are in excess of the needs of this project will be directed to the restoration and preservation of other artifacts in our collection.
We need to acknowledge that, in a project like this, there is no guarantee of success. We cannot predict issues that may occur during transportation. Additionally, insurmountable problems may be revealed during the repair process that would cause the computer to remain non-functional, and there could be other issues that we can only imagine. Therefore, as hopeful as we are for success, there are no guarantees, and we cannot make any promises. For this reason, we must clearly state that your donation is NOT refundable.
In recognition of your support, you have the option to include your name on a donor plaque (or another suitable memorial, to be determined) which will be proudly displayed along with the computer in our museum.
Please follow this link
https://vcfed.org/membership/contribute/transact/?reset=1&id=2 to reach the donation page on our website. We ask that you please act soon and consider donating to this important historic project. We have a delivery window of October 31 so we greatly appreciate your support.
We hope that you will participate in this endeavor. Please share this with like-minded individuals and organizations who may also be interested in helping to preserve computing history.
