Search Starts for New Home for “IBM Endicott Collection”

People who fought to keep the historic "IBM Collection" in Endicott are working to find a new home for the exhibit that highlights innovations developed by the company's workers in the 20th century.

The items that had been on display at the Endicott History and Heritage Center for nearly a decade have been returned to IBM.

The Old Village of Union Historical Society, which operates the museum on Washington Avenue, is planning to rent out the first-floor space where the IBM Collection had been located.

Efforts by area residents, historians and elected officials to prevent the exhibit from being moved out of Broome County failed.

IBM sent a moving crew to the Endicott museum on Monday to start packing up the items. Company officials said they'll remain packaged while they are stored in Poughkeepsie.

An IBM representative said the company would be willing to work with area residents to move the exhibit back to Broome County if an appropriate new home can be found.

Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo was among those who had opposed the plan to move the items out of the history center. She expressed disappointment that the efforts to keep the IBM Collection in place were not successful.

Lupardo told WNBF News she's hopeful a new place will be located so the exhibit can once again be seen by those interested in what happened over the decades at IBM Endicott.

Lupardo plans to work with Broome County historian Roger Luther and others to develop a site in the Binghamton area that would be appropriate for the historic machines, pictures and other items.

For now, IBM is planning to store the collection in Poughkeepsie until a new location can be found to spotlight the company's Endicott heritage.

Finding a future site could be somewhat challenging because the place would have to have sufficient space to properly display and preserve the unique collection of historic IBM items.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.