The first exhibit was a display of circuit and memory hardware, featuring vacuum tubes, circuits, semiconductors, and core memory of the major computers up to that time. Manchester Mark I, Atlas, Illiac, Whirlwind, DEC PDPs, Westinghouse, Motorola, IBM, and Honeywell were some of the names featured in the exhibit.

The Maynard exhibit was the incubation period of the computer museum where collecting began and plans formulated for an official museum. Visitors were DEC-related groups and visiting computer scientists, DEC employees, businessmen, and the local community.

The Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) Museum Project began in 1975 in a converted coat closet in the lobby of DEC's Main (Mill) Building 12, in Maynard, Massachusetts.