[GreenKeys] Now here's a lesson for all of us...

[David Ross]

Greenkeys folks -


AI2Q Alex wrote:
> 
> Yup. I wish I still had my FRXD-3-EL non-typing reperf.
> 
> A few years ago I donated it to the Science Museum of Long Island, and the
> museum director tossed it in the dumpster!
> 

  When you give something away, it is worth zero dollars to the person
you give it to and it is likely that they will treat it as if it has
exactly that value...
  If you want your stuff to be preserved then your best bet is to sell
it -  try find a person who has enough regard for your gear to actually
give you money in exchange for it.

  Even if the person or organization to which you donate the item is
completely reputable & aboveboard, sometimes their situation (read
'money' or 'storage space' or 'interests' or 'charter') changes over
time, and whatever treasured items you donated in the past are tossed in
the dumpster or sold off to pay the rent or put into some cold & leaky
long-term storage facility.

  Witness Don's example of AT&T Bell Labs/Lucent, and also the Perham
Foundation's loss of it's fine museum & storage facility on the Foothill
College Campus.
  I do not know much about the state of the Lucent collection, but from
what I've heard the Perham Foundation's holdings are either in long-term
storage in 40' containers scattered around the San Francisco Bay Area or
in a small display at Fry's Electronics in Sunnyvale -  see:
http://www.perham.org/exhibits.html

all the best
Dave Ross    N7EPI    ross@hypertools.com