The Least Qualified Person on Earth Just Inherited a Computing Time Capsule

[Gutdoc]

Hello from Mississippi. I’m helping clean out my father’s office and have stumbled onto what appears to be a 1980s–1990s computing time capsule. Dad worked with business and industrial computer systems, and there are boxes of hardware, software, manuals, training materials, floppies, IBM items, AutoCAD, Windows, networking gear, and other things I don’t fully recognize. I’m here to learn what I have, what is historically interesting, and what collectors might consider worth preserving. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

 

[MikeI]

hopefully you can find someone knowledgeable locally to help you. Barring that post photos, lots of photos. Make a list of what’s there, as best as you can describe them.

 

[wumpus_byte]

Welcome! Agreed, hopefully someone nearby can help. Of course... asking this audience, someone here is bound to be interested in most items from the 80s and 90s; not all, but most...

 

[Gutdoc]

Where does this belong? I don’t want to clutter up the announcement section.
Using AI, this is what Ive been able to find

1. Intel 486DX2 Socket 3 motherboard package with original 72-pin VisionTek 4 MB SIMMs (2 modules, still sealed in anti-static packaging)
2. Boca Research SuperX Accelerator VGA card (factory sealed/unopened)
3. IBM XT power supply (appears new in original packaging)
4. Microsoft Office 4.0 for Windows (original floppy disk set)
5. AutoCAD Release 12 (original software package with disks and manuals)
6. WordPerfect for Windows 5.1 (original package with manuals)
7. Microsoft Windows NT Evaluation Kit
8. Lotus 1-2-3 training materials and software
9. IBM System/390 manuals, VHS tapes, and training materials (some sealed)
10. Champion International computer and systems-related materials
11. Large box of floppy disks, mostly labeled backups and business files
12. 3M floppy disk pack (factory sealed/unopened)

Most items have been stored indoors for decades. Several appear unused or unopened. Unfortunately, a significant amount of material was discarded before I realized there might be historical or collector interest, so I’m trying to identify and preserve anything important before more gets thrown away. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[wumpus_byte]

Interesting! Please clarify your goal for the items (sell/donate/other) as "collectors might consider worth preserving" doesn't spell that out. Thanks!

 

[Gutdoc]

My goal right now is simply to figure out what I have before any more gets discarded. I’ll probably sell many of the items eventually, but if something has historical value and doesn’t make sense to sell, I’d much rather see it go to someone who will appreciate or preserve it than have it end up in a dumpster.


Full disclosure: I’ve never owned a PC, and I’ve never owned a laptop. I know essentially nothing about vintage computer hardware or software, and not much about modern computers either.


When we started cleaning out my father’s office, our only questions were, “Does it still work?” and “Would anyone actually use it today?” If the answer seemed to be no, old printers, CRT monitors, and literally hundreds—probably over a thousand—floppy disks were discarded because we assumed they had no value.


We now realize that assumption was probably wrong. I’d much rather see anything with historical or collector value end up with someone who appreciates it than accidentally throw away more pieces of computing history. That’s why I’m here asking for your help.

 

[acgs]

My goal right now is simply to figure out what I have before any more gets discarded. I’ll probably sell many of the items eventually, but if something has historical value and doesn’t make sense to sell, I’d much rather see it go to someone who will appreciate or preserve it than have it end up in a dumpster.

So the main goal here is more at preservation than at profit. The members of this forum feel that is a good mindset to have. We tend to share that viewpoint. While you will get offers to buy things, people will be more responsive if they don't think you are trying to make a fortune selling off everything to the highest bidder.

All of the items you've listed so far look to me to be things people here may want to acquire. But present circumstances make paying collector prices difficult for some members. (Recently, financial pressures are forcing some of us to get rid of portions of our collections, or even all of it.)

When we started cleaning out my father’s office, our only questions were, “Does it still work?” and “Would anyone actually use it today?” If the answer seemed to be no, old printers, CRT monitors, and literally hundreds—probably over a thousand—floppy disks were discarded because we assumed they had no value.

How tragic. The CRT monitors alone is especially sad if they worked well, since these no longer have manufacturers. Also, regardless of what is on them, floppy disks can at the very least be erased and reused. They also are not really available brand new today.

We now realize that assumption was probably wrong. I’d much rather see anything with historical or collector value end up with someone who appreciates it than accidentally throw away more pieces of computing history. That’s why I’m here asking for your help.

Certainly anything that is still in the original packaging is worth keeping and will find a home. Other things will likely be able to find a home eventually. The real questions are how long are you willing to hold onto items until someone can/decides to take them and how much effort are you willing to put into making people aware of what you have?

While an itemized list is a good start, people will want to see photos of what they're interested in before the make a purchase. In fact, putting photos up instead of making a list will probably move the process along faster, since members will be able to recognize things better than you can. Also, note that from time to time scammers become members of the forum solely to try and entice people with fantastic bargains on items that actually don't exist. So please be understanding if members seem reluctant or suspicious regarding the items you list.

But above all else, please keep going through stuff!

 

[HaHa I]

If you plan to sell anything keep in mind the number of buyers for vintage stuff is rather small, so some things will sit for a long long time. I would try to find someone local to help out. Having someone local who knows the ins and outs of vintage computers, the market and history value would be a lot of help. There are a lot of odd ball things that have value that most would not think, CRT as acgs said is one thing that most of the world would think are junk and a lot of the time they are but there a some CRTs that you can sell for a good bit if you don't mind waiting. There is also a company that will buy floppy disks, wile I not used them they are called floppydisk.com/recycle.

the socket 3 motherboard board and XT PSU stand out to me as things that would be good to sell.