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.
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 sophomore, 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 at 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.
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
Rebranding as the Westport Tech & Nostalgia Museum, the archive crossed a massive milestone in March 2026, welcoming over 18,000 global digital visitors and securing its 100th landmark technology "First."
Post-National Recognition & The Westport 100 Launch
Today, that milestone lives on as our flagship collection: The Westport 100, an unassailable matrix of 112 historically foundational devices spanning a century of human genius. What started with an iPod hidden away in a glove compartment has become a world-class sanctuary for the machines—and the human stories—that built our modern world.
