Westport Tech & Nostalgia Museum History & Today

OVERVIEW

The Human Side of History

Most tech museums are built to show you how a machine works. They display cold, industrial mainframes and engineering prototypes behind thick glass.

The Westport Tech & Nostalgia Museum is built on a entirely different philosophy: we tell the story of why these objects changed our lives. Located in Westport, Connecticut, our independently curated archive houses over 650 unique, commercially available exhibits spanning 160 years of innovation and pop culture. It is a living, breathing timeline of the devices that sat on our desks, lived in our pockets, and shaped our collective memories.

But more than just a collection of silicon and plastic, this museum is the culmination of a century-long family legacy—curated entirely by a young operator who has spent his life learning that history isn’t found in textbooks; it’s preserved by hand.

Westport Tech & Nostalgia Museum on August 7th, 2026.

Engineering Nostalgia: Our Curatorial Philosophy

The Westport Tech & Nostalgia Museum wasn’t built by accident—it was deliberately engineered from day one around four core operational principles to create the ultimate interactive history experience:

• Commercial-Release Focus: We prioritize the products that actually made it into people’s homes, dorms, and offices, driving authentic, deep-seated nostalgia rather than just showcasing obscure lab prototypes.

• Cross-Category Depth: Our archive spans the entire consumer technology ecosystem—from computing and video games to telecom, audio, and home entertainment—ensuring every visitor finds a personal connection.

• A 160-Year Timeline: By preserving hardware across nearly two centuries of innovation, our collection bridges generational gaps, giving kids, parents, and grandparents a shared space to reminisce and learn together.

• The "Firsts" Acquisition Filter: We rigorously curate our flagship collection around verified, world-changing technical milestones—the pioneer products that defined entire industries.

By building our archive around these disciplined pillars, we can confidently make one bold promise: If any American over the age of five steps into our museum, they will recognize a piece of their own life glowing back at them.

THE HISTORY

The Babina Bloodline: Four Generations of Pioneers

The obsession with preservation and technology didn't start by accident. Curator Jay Babina (John Babina IV), a dedicated college junior, carries a lineage hardwired for technological innovation and entrepreneurial grit:

The Wartime Innovator: In 1943, during the height of World War II, Jay’s great-grandfather, John Babina Sr., was a physicist and radar engineer at General Electric’s Bridgeport Works. He engineered a critical solution to radar feedback reduction, earning a GE patent so vital to national defense that it was placed under strict government secrecy orders by the Commissioner of Patents for being "detrimental to the personal safety of the United States." (See his original Patent Secrecy Order and Security Badge here!).

John Babina Sr. receiving his $400 award for his patent in mid-1943. 

The Voices of Connecticut: In 1973, Jay’s grandparents, John Babina Jr. and Carol Ann Babina, became the masterminds behind the creation of WMNR Fine Arts Radio in Monroe, Connecticut. Starting as a humble, community-backed project at Masuk High School, WMNR has been on the air continuously for over 50 years. Carol famously raised a staggering $19 million for the station using the pure power of her on-air presence. In 2024, their foundational impact was permanently recognized with an induction into the Connecticut Broadcasting Hall of Fame (See the WMNR exhibit here!).

John and Carol getting inducted into the CT Broadcasting Hall of Fame on October 2024.

The Digital Architect: In the early 1980s, Jay’s father, John Babina III, took up the mantle as a computer programmer. He coded custom Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) on his Commodore 64—a machine that still sits functional on our museum floor next to its original program disks (See the C64 here!). He went on to build a document-sharing application for the Amiga community, launched Beanienation.com (Beanienation.com exhibit here!) (a top-ten global internet auction site during the late-90s craze), and founded GoClick.com, an early pay-per-click search engine (GoClick.com exhibit here!).

John Babina III during the grand opening of his toy store, Polly Wolly Doodle, in July 2010. 

Today, Jay connects this entire inheritance of engineering and self-starting hustle to his own life with the Westport Tech & Nostalgia Museum and his LLC, 88mph Enterprises. 

                    

Jay Babina on May 31st, 2011 and May 5th, 2023

Origins: The Glove Compartment Spark

Every great institution has a humble beginning. For the Westport Tech Museum, that moment arrived in November 2018.

Twelve-year-old Jay Babina was sitting in the back seat of his family's car on the way to religious school when he opened the glove compartment and found his father's forgotten 2002 Apple iPod Classic (2nd Generation). Struck by the device's historical weight and elegant design, Jay spent the evening researching its origin. That single interaction sparked a relentless, multi-year obsession.

Initially, the museum was completely mobile. Jay carried a small handful of salvaged electronics found in his parent's basement inside a collapsible green rubber container, showing his classmates at school the evolution of the devices they took for granted.

On January 11, 2020, at age 14, the container was officially retired. Jay moved the artifacts onto his desk shelves, carefully placing a hand-folded index card under each model detailing its release year and technical specifications. That night, the vision became real: the museum was officially born.

The COVID Pivot: Building the Archive

When the COVID-19 pandemic locked the world down in early 2020, Jay didn't stop building. He turned the isolation into an operational sprint, funding new acquisitions through household chores and aggressive, dawn-patrol sourcing at local flea markets and tag sales. By early 2021, the collection had surged past 100 items.

Westport Tech Museum on May 17th, 2020. 

But a simple pile of old tech wasn't the goal. Realizing that a random assortment of gadgets was educationally stagnant, Jay made a critical editorial pivot in the summer of 2021. He narrowed the museum’s core focus exclusively to technological "firsts," record-setting units, and iconic milestone pieces of pop culture. This elevated the attic space from a private hobby into a highly structured, institutional-grade archive.

To keep the museum completely self-funded and independent, Jay leaned directly into his entrepreneurial roots. He co-founded 88mph Enterprises LLC to fuel the acquisition engine, creating a sustainable enterprise that continues to fund international hardware sourcing to this day.

Westport Tech Museum on September 22nd, 2021

From a Small Attic to National Acclaim

By May 2023, the museum housed nearly 400 exhibits, catching the attention of local Westport journalist Dan Woog. The story caught fire immediately, spiraling into a front-page feature for the Connecticut Post, an on-air interview with Lisa Wexler on WICC, and a dedicated television broadcast segment on News 12 Connecticut.

Westport Tech Museum on March 18th, 2023

The ultimate milestone arrived in the summer of 2024. Following a regional feature on NPR affiliate WSHU, the story of Jay's attic archive was selected for the national NPR.org homepage. Featured alongside global news headlines, the story drove a massive wave of visitor traffic and elite donor inquiries from all across the United States.

Westport Tech Museum on June 15th, 2024. 

Post-National Recognition & Today

Following our unexpected feature on NPR.org, Westport Tech Museum rebranded as the Westport Tech & Nostalgia Museum to reflect it's new mission for curating and protecting not just technology, but also broader pop-culture and nostalgia. 

In March 2026, the museum, who had been collecting commercially-released technological "Firsts" since 2021, acquired its 100th tech "first"! To celebrate this milestone, the museum launched it's Flagship collection, "The Westport 100: A Century of Tech Firsts (1911-2012)" to show visitors the progression of the commercially-released technology that changed the world! As of July 2026, the "Westport 100" houses over 115 tech "Firsts" and is still consistently growing. 

In addition to the "Westport 100", the Westport Tech & Nostalgia Museum also launched another collection: our "Launch Day Sets". This collection houses the launch day hardware matched with the actual launch day software available for purchase on the first day release. For example, we have the Toshiba SD-2006 (the first DVD player released in the United States), and display it with an original 1997 launch copy of "Twister" on DVD (the first movie released on DVD in the United States). 

In April 2026, Westport Tech & Nostalgia Museum and its young founder and curator, Jay Babina, appeared on Dan Woog's "06880" blog for a third time. In July 2026, Jay appeared on Dan's video podcast, "Where Westport Meets the World", to discuss the history of Westport Tech & Nostalgia Museum, his favorite exhibits, and the future of the museum. 

On June 2nd, 2026,  at a Westport Library event celebrating his new book, Apple: The First 50 Years, CBS Sunday Morning correspondent and longtime tech journalist David Pogue met Jay backstage and was introduced to the museum's collection. Mid-presentation, Pogue paused to call Jay out in front of the audience of around 200, holding a fully functional 1993 Apple Newton MessagePad — one of the earliest personal digital assistants ever sold — to show the crowd a piece of Apple history that still works.

Museum founder Jay Babina held up his working Newton proudly at David Pogue's Westport Library presentation on June 2nd, 2026.