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Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut Featured on Artcom Museums Website

"The Artcom Museums Tour is an on-line resource to over 1,700 of the most interesting and famous U.S. museums. Here you can go to the Getty Center in Los Angeles or the Red River Railroad Museum in Texas . Each site has descriptions of the museum, current exhibits, hours, cost, directions, etc. The variety here is quite unique, with such diverse subject areas as military history and flowers."  (Mayor, July 31, 2005 )

Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut Plans Grand Opening Weekend Festivities

September 20, 2007 – The Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut will be holding Grand Opening festivities on October 26 and 27 at its new location at 115 Pierson Lane in Windsor. The museum is re-opening after last being open to the public in 2000 in East Hartford.

“After more than seven years we have finally found a permanent home and are ready to re-open to the public,” says Museum Director John Ellsworth. “Over the last two years, with financial help from the Town of Windsor, the State of Connecticut, and numerous volunteers, we’ve been able to create a fitting display space in our new location. This initial display area will house a sampling display that traces the development of electronic communications from the early 1800s up until the dawning of the computer age in the 1970s. In the next few years we aim to expand our display spaces to the rest of the building but this over 5,000 square foot space is just perfect for us to start to share our collection with the public again.”

The Grand Opening festivities will start on the night of Friday, October 26 with a Grand Opening Gala from 7p-10p. There will be food and beverages as well as a performance by the Radio Workshop Players who will recreate an old time radio drama, complete with sound effects. Adding to fun, the various foods will be tied into the museum’s decade-themed display areas.

On Saturday, the museum will have an official ribbon cutting ceremony at 11am, with comment from local dignitaries and a recognition ceremony for those who have given so many volunteer hours to get the museum open.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming visitors again to our museum,” says Ellsworth. “It’s been a long time coming, but I’m sure that once people walk through the door, we’ll keep them coming back with our new activities and events.”

The Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut, located at 115 Pierson Lane in Windsor, is dedicated to the preservation of old time communications equipment and to educating the public. The museum displays radios, televisions, motion picture and telephone equipment, as well as vintage advertising and memorabilia. Audio, video and paper libraries, along with an extensive collection of schematics, are also available for research. For more information, visit their website at www.vrcmct.org.

ANONYMOUS DONOR HELPS VINTAGE RADIO AND COMMUNICATIONS MUSEUM RETIRE SIGNIFICANT DEBT

Windsor, Connecticut, July 17, 2007 – Members of The Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut are celebrating the generosity of an individual who has graciously donated $40,000 to the museum to help it repay debt.  The donation comes as the museum plans to reopen this summer for the first time in over seven years.

“We are just stunned by this act of support,” says museum director John Ellsworth. “This donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, has a long-standing interest in the history of communications and wants to support our museum’s mission to teach others about that history by retiring our debt. This donation will be used to repay the Town of Windsor for back taxes and for a loan that was given to us to help us secure a permanent building for our museum. These funds will let us concentrate on getting our doors reopened in August and becoming a tourist destination for the New England region.”

The museum was last opened in East Hartford in 2000, but moved to Windsor after the State of Connecticut took its old location by eminent domain to widen I-84. Since that time the museum has acquired a 20,000 square foot building at 115 Pierson Lane in Windsor and volunteers have been hard at work restoring the building for public use. The Town of Windsor extended the museum at $35,000 loan that helped them pay insurance and other expenses while the group worked to ready its new location. A $100,000 state grant paid for major building upgrades at Pierson Lane allowing the museum to plan for an August opening and a Grand Opening taking place in September.

“I know many of us in town are looking forward to the museum finally opening,” says Windsor Town Manager Peter Souza. “It’s been a long road for the museum since moving out of East Hartford, but this donation repays the taxpayers of Windsor and sets the museum on the right footing for future success once they open. I know they’ll be a great asset to our state and will give people yet another reason to visit Connecticut’s oldest town.”

“It always amazes me how our museum has always been able to survive difficult times. The simple fact that we have not been open to the public for more than seven years, but have continued to have dedicated volunteers and funds to keep our heads above water is just astonishing,” says Ellsworth. “All of our dedicated volunteers, Board of Directors members, and supporters want to sincerely thank this donor for his significant contribution.”

The Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut, located at 115 Pierson Lane in Windsor, is dedicated to the preservation of old time communications equipment and to educating the public. The museum displays radios, televisions, motion picture and telephone equipment, as well as vintage advertising and memorabilia. Audio, video and paper libraries, along with an extensive collection of schematics, are also available for research. The museum will re-open in its new location in Summer 2007. For more information, visit their website at www.vrcmct.org.

WGBY MAKES DONATION TO VINTAGE RADIO AND COMMUNICATIONS MUSEUM OF CONNECTICUT

Windsor, Connecticut, June 18, 2007 – WGBY-TV of Springfield has made a donation of communications and display equipment to the Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut. The equipment is being replaced as part of a digital upgrade at the station and will be put on display at the museum, which hopes to open to the public this summer.

“One of the most interesting donations made by WGBY is a vintage telephone booth that was once used as a stage prop, but will now be utilized by our museum to show visitors how people made calls on the road in the days before cell phones,” says museum director John Ellsworth. “We are also looking forward to a possible donation of analog audio equipment that will be utilized in our recording studio. In addition to being made available to museum visitors, the studio equipment will be used to record recreated old-time radio dramas acted out by the Radio Workshop Players, a Connecticut-based theatrical group.”

“As WGBY upgrades its equipment to better server our viewers, we were happy to find a new home for our old equipment at the museum,” says Russell Peotter, General Manager of WGBY. “Instead of going to a landfill, these pieces will be used to enrich people’s lives by teaching them about the history of electronic communications and will further WGBY’s mission of connecting the people of our region with ideas, events and each other to enrich their lives and improve their communities.”

About the Museum
The Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut is located at 115 Pierson Lane in Windsor. It is dedicated to the preservation of old time communications equipment and to educating the public. The museum displays radios, televisions, motion picture and telephone equipment, as well as vintage advertising and memorabilia. Audio, video and paper libraries, along with an extensive collection of schematics, are also available for research. The museum will re-open in its new location in June 2007. For more information, visit their website at www.nationalcommunicationsmuseum.org.

About WGBY
For 35 years, WGBY, a community-supported public broadcasting organization located in Springfield, Massachusetts, has connected the people of western New England with ideas, events and each other to fulfill their aspirations, enrich their lives and improve their communities. From the non-broadcast Education Services used in classrooms throughout the region and by region to our unparalleled portfolio of locally produced programs, WGBY is uniquely committed to the community.