Apr 10, 2021
Ann Lewin-Benham, Director of Capital Children's
Museum
Ann Lewin-Benham was executive director of the Capital Children's
Museum in Washington, D.C. The museum was home to the first
public-access computer center in the nation’s capital, and indeed,
one of the first in the United States. In 1981, Atari and Apple
each donated dozens of computers to the museum. The exact number is
unclear, but 30 is the number I've seen most often for Atari's
contribution.
The computer lab was called The Future Center. There, the museum
offered computer literacy classes for people of all ages, from
Compu-Tots for preschoolers, to programming classes for adults,
there was even a computer literacy session for members of Congress.
It also used the lab for birthday parties. (Last year, I
interviewed a woman who had her 8th birthday party at the museum.)
The museum used more of its computers in its exhibit on
communication. It established a software development laboratory,
called Superboots, in which developers created custom softare for
the museum, and one product that was released commercially: the
graphics program PAINT!
In a 1982 article titled A Day At The Capital Children's Museum,
Melanie Graves described the scene:
"My twelve-year-old friend Sarah and I went to the museum to
explore the computers. There are several dozen computers scattered
throughout the building which are used for exhibits, classroom
teaching and the development of educational software...
A machine that calls itself "Wisecracker" is the noisest of the
computers that beckon visitors to the Communication exhibit.
"My-name- is-Wise-crack-er," it says in a monotone,
"Come-type-to-me." This message repeats endlessly until someone
types at the keyboard or turns off the computer. "Hello, how are
you?" Sarah typed, and pressed the return key.
"Hel-lo-how-are-you," the machine’s voice responded. Sarah typed
for awhile longer and then proclaimed, "It sure is dumb, but its
voice is kind of cute."
The computer next to Wisecracker has a data base program that asked
Sarah her name, where she came from, and other questions. It
informed her that she was the thirty-seventh person from Virginia
to type in data that day... "Fifty-five percent of the people who
came here were girls," she told me. Next to the data base, a
computer is set up with a music program. Sarah pressed some random
keys, causing notes to sound. At the same time, the letter names of
the notes appeared on the keys of a piano that was displayed on the
screen.
There is also a Teletext terminal that tells inquirers about
weather predictions, and news releases, the latest acquisitions at
the public library, local cultural events and whatever else has
been entered into the data base for that day...
After playing with Teletext, Sarah and I went to the Future Center,
a room equipped with twenty Atari 800s. On weekdays, the classroom
is available to school groups ranging from prekindergarten to high
school. On weekends, families arrive for courses in programming.
Classes have also been created for working people, senior citizens,
community groups, congressional spouses and other special interest
groups. This summer more than sixty students from the Washington,
D.C. public schools attended one of two free month-long computer
camps at the museum."
This interview took place on April 2, 2021.
Ann's web site
Museum in Atari ConnectionVolume 1 Number 4
A Day At The Capital Children's Museum