Collections
At SAMSAT, we are working to curate a remarkable array of world-class artifacts and historic collections. Learn more about these efforts below.
Datapoint
Tesla
Edison
Cyber Security
Audio
Telecommunications
IT / Computers
SAMSAT holds the collection of the former Museum of Computer Culture. Visit their pages.
Datapoint
Collection
Datapoint Corporation, originally founded as Computer Terminal Corporation (CTC), was a 12,000-employee company in San Antonio. The Datapoint 2200 is recognized by Region 5 of IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, as the world's first desktop personal computer.
SAMSAT maintains the historical archive for Computer Terminal Corporation / Datapoint Corporation, including computers, storage devices, manuals, and collaterals.
This collection offers a rare look into the early days of computing, documenting Datapoint’s innovations in data processing, networking, and intelligent terminal technology that helped position San Antonio as an early player in digital history.
TESLA
Collection
Nikola Tesla was a pioneering inventor best known for his contributions to alternating current electricity and wireless energy transmission.
SAMSAT’s Tesla Collection includes working Tesla coils that show how electricity can move wirelessly through the air to power lights and other devices.
EDISON
Collection
Thomas Edison was a prolific American inventor whose work in electric power, lighting, and communication helped shape the modern industrial age.
SAMSAT’s Edison Collection includes rare artifacts such as a light bulb made of horse hair and a 1900s dynamo used for energy distribution. These items offer a glimpse into the early technologies that powered cities and transformed daily life.
Cyber Security
Collection
The Cyber Collection explores the ongoing challenge of protecting information in a connected world. Artifacts include a mock cyber security operations center, encrypted phones, and early cryptographic tools. Together they trace the story of how safeguarding data has evolved from ancient codes to modern digital defense.
telecommunications Collection
From Morse code to mobile phones, telecommunications transformed how people connect, conduct business, and respond to emergencies, creating today’s global networks.
SAMSAT’s collection features artifacts like a 19th-century Morse telegraph, early radios, Air Force One switchboards, and prototypes that led to the cell phone camera, tracing the journey of communication from its earliest signals to the digital age.
Audio
Collection
SAMSAT’s Audio Collection features rare artifacts such as an Art Deco telephone jukebox, early radios, and a theremin, one of the first instruments played without touch. These pieces showcase the creativity behind sound technology, from broadcasting news and music to pioneering new ways of making and experiencing sound.
Information Technology
Collection
The story of computing begins with simple tools of calculation and expands into machines that transformed the modern world. This collection includes slide rules, adding machines, analog and relay computers, early calculators, and circuit components that paved the way for digital technology.
These artifacts highlight the shift from mechanical precision to electronic speed and show how early innovations laid the foundation for the information age.
