The Bloop Museum Showcases the History of Modern Electronics

A Brief History of Modern Electronics at The Bloop Museum

A visit to the Bloop Museum is, in a way, like taking a trip back in time into the history of computing.

Tours here start with exhibits showing how computing technology has changed, with examples of early hard drives (which were quite massive for what we would now consider to be laughably small storage- photo later in the article), RAM (which was hand-woven, shown above), and more.

This continues on to the rise of the era of personal computing, with examples of early computer systems from the likes of Commodore, Macintosh, and more, all with fun narrated explanations of how they came to be, infighting amongst companies, who licensed or outright stole tech from whom, and the like.

After this robust introduction, which ends up at modern computing we all know and are familiar with today, guests to the Bloop Museum are able to explore more themed rooms around the history of electronics like an 80s themed basement with the technology of the day, a video playback collection (think old VCRs, blueray, laser disc players, and more), an exhibit focusing on the progression of computer audio, a Japanese technology room (featuring a lot of tech that rarely made it out of Japan), examples of early computing technology from other countries like England and Russia, and so much more.

On our tour, many of the pieces each had a story to tell, much like the early computing stories from above, which came together for a deep dive into the history of all forms of modern electronics that we really appreciated. Even though I felt like I was knowledgeable on this a fair bit before arriving, I walked away realizing that I was only scratching the surface.

There is a lot of computing history out there I had no idea about!

So if you are interested in the history of modern electronics, primarily personal computers and tangential industries, a trip to the Bloop Museum should be on your radar. But, before setting you off on a visit, we do admit that there are a few tips we should share to help you get the most out of your experience.

Quick Tips for Visiting the Bloop Museum

Before visiting the Bloop Museum, there are a few things you should know as this one is a bit unconventional as far as museums go.

First, it is best to consider this museum a work in progress. They have a massive inventory of electronics, and an equally large space at their Penn Hills facility to display them all in. But this museum is quite new, and the buildout is coming in waves as donations from visitors and supporters come in.

As such, this one is not the most polished museum, and when on a tour you may get to hear about future expansion plans. For example, in addition to the 80s room display, we got to see a 90s bedroom display that was currently being built, plus plans for an archive room, game room, and more that we hope will be open for visitors in future months and/or years. The collection is truly something, and the current displays are only scratching the surface of what this museum will become as time goes on.

Second, at the time of publishing this article, The Bloop Museum maintained frequent Wednesday open houses for visitors, and other tours are available for tours by appointment only. So unless they have posted open house hours available, do not visit this one without prior reservation as it is not staffed all the time like other museums.

Finally, if you are on a tour and want the full experience, plan for 2-3 hours here. Although the museum itself is not terribly large, at least with the buildout status of my visit, the stories and history associated with each piece are the real treat (and a bit necessary- there isn't much signage to speak of yet), and the more time you have to spend, the more stories you can hear!

Overall, we're really excited to see where the Bloop Museum goes as it builds out its museum and calls the Pittsburgh region its new home. We'll be back again in a year or two to see how this one has progressed!

The Bloop Museum is located at 12245 Frankstown Rd in Penn Hills Township, PA.