BIO Ed Sharpe
- Ed Sharpe
always has been passionate about technology, even as a young boy.
"When I was a kid, as my compatriots were out throwing dirt
clods at each other, I was building radios," says the
50-year-old archivist of the Southwest Museum of Engineering,
Communications and Computation.
- As a
child, Sharpe soaked up as much information as he could about
technology, spending hours with adults who were knowledgeable about
the field. Retirees, in particular, proved to be incredible
resources.
"They
were the best because they had time on their hands," Sharpe
says, "and you could go by after school and pester those poor
guys and they'd teach you anything you wanted to learn."
- Education
of the public on the history of technology is important.
"By
understanding where we came from, we have a better understanding of
how to go forward," Sharpe says.
- The
Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation, in
Glendale, occupies 2,000 square feet of the Coury House, include a
cross-sectional history on RCA products such as radios and electron
microscopes; a rural electrification display that shows how American
farms became electrified; an office-automation display with phone
switchboards and Dictaphone machines, military communications, radar
and countermeasures; and an early computer display that has some of
the first computers.
-
Originally a smaller-scale museum
was part, of Computer Exchange Inc., a Phoenix business
Sharpe once owned.
"Every
day artifacts that depict the history of engineering and science hit
the landfill," he says. "We need to preserve our
technological heritage."
-
The Museum is located at 5802 W. Palmaire Ave., Glendale. Admission
is free, and tours are provided from noon to 3 p.m. by appointment
Tuesday through Saturday.'
- Sharpe is a
member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
(NATAS), Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), Independent
Feature Project (IFP) (IFP/PHX), Investigative Reporters and Editors
(IRE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE),
Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), National Press
Photographers Association (NPPA), Southwest Museum of Engineering,
Communications and Computation (SMECC) member of the national Media
Communications Association-International Association (MCAI) and
other associations.
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