At the 1893 Chicago World's Fair George Westinghouse handed six year old Douglas Perham a burned out light bulb and proclaimed, "Young man, get your hands on some of these things and save them. They will have valuable historical significance some day." That light bulb and over 20,000 other artifacts and documents comprise what is now one of the largest electronic history collections in the United States, known as the Perham Collection.

Douglas Perham was an engineer who worked with numerous great pioneers. Among them was Dr. Lee De Forest who developed the first electronic amplifier - the triode, or as he named it, the "Audion." The development of the Audion led the way to almost every electronic device we take for granted today, such as radio, television, computers and long distance communication.

The Perham Collection was on display at Foothill College for a number of years until the college could no longer host the museum. The Perham Foundation preserved and expanded the collections and archives for the next twelve years, seeking a new museum. HSJ has worked with the Perham Foundation for more than four years to secure these world-class collections and archives.

After the contract between the Perham Foundation and History San José was signed in February 2003, staff and volunteers from both organizations worked quickly to move the collections from their storage locations to the HSJ Collection Center. The entire move of 20,000 objects, archives, and photos took over a month to complete. The next three months were spent opening boxes and crates revealing treasures inside, some of which had not been seen for over 10 years.

The first glimpse of this collection was given to the public at an Oscar Party press release event.

Interns, volunteers, staff and a variety of consultants are now processing the Perham Collection. The entire collection must be inventoried, cleaned, cataloged, digitally recorded and housed in archival custom storage.

History San José is already receiving inquiries asking when and where the collection will be available. Staff is actively planning both virtual and physical access, but the first step to making this unique collection available to the public is to ensure it is physically stable and fully cataloged. Keep posted to learn more details.