When I entered Tufts University in 1970 as a mechanical engineering student, I quickly realized that understanding engineering required more than mathematics and physics. Equations explain how a machine works, but they do not always convey why it was designed that way, how it was built, or how one innovation led to the next.

Long before I studied engineering in college, I learned by taking machines apart in our family garage, rebuilding engines, welding steel, and constructing projects with my own hands. Those experiences taught lessons that could never be fully captured in a textbook. They fostered curiosity, patience, problem-solving, and an appreciation for the ingenuity of earlier generations.

Over the years I became concerned that many remarkable examples of our technological heritage were disappearing. Historic engines, scientific instruments, photographic equipment, machine tools, patent models, and industrial artifacts were being discarded, separated from their histories, or preserved without interpretation. Yet every one of these objects tells a story—not only about mechanical design, but about the people whose ideas transformed society.

The Virtual Technology Museum Foundation was established to preserve those stories.

Our purpose is not simply to collect historic technology, but to use it as a means of education. Through research, publications, digital exhibitions, public demonstrations, school outreach, and partnerships with educators, we seek to make history tangible and meaningful for learners of all ages.

Whether introducing a four-year-old child to a working Stirling engine, discussing thermodynamics with a high school STEM class, or exploring nineteenth-century engineering with a university student, we believe that authentic historical technology can inspire curiosity, deepen understanding, and encourage innovation.

Preserving the past is only the beginning.

Our true mission is to inspire the future.

— Paul J. Cramer
Founder
Virtual Technology Museum Foundation, Inc.