About Cippewa Falls Museum of Industry and Technology

Overview
Mission
Audience
Mid 1980s
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1996
1997
1998
The Staff

About CFMIT

Museum Overview
The Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry and Technology was developed by a group of citizens who wished to recognize and record the important and innovative industries that have their roots in and around Chippewa Falls. Incorporated in 1990, the governing body is a private not-for-profit museum corporation organized without stock under Chapter 181 of the Wisconsin Statutes. CFMIT is organized exclusively for charitable, educational, religious or scientific purposes within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; CFMIT obtained 501(c)(3) status in 1991, with final determination received in 1995.

CFMIT is open to the public year-round, providing visitors with a look at the variety of industries that started here, from fur-trading and logging days, up to the most current nano-technologies.

The Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry and Technology (CFMIT) interprets the history of regional industry and its relationship to the broader life of the community and its people; provides learning experiences to increase understanding of the scientific and technological principles underlying those industries; and provides other related services and activities.

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Mission Statement
Our mission is to record, preserve, and interpret the industrial and technological heritage of the Chippewa Falls region.

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Audience
CFMIT serves both the local community and area visitors. We are committed to establishing and maintaining the highest standards for our programs and encouraging community involvement and participation. Although we welcome visitors from outside the area, our primary audience at present is made up of area residents. We expect an audience which varies widely in age and educational background.

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Museum History Timeline
Mid-1980s
The idea for a museum for industry and technology originated within Cray Research (now a division of SGI) in the mid-1980s when the retirement or deaths of founders and product transitions raised concerns that the original technology and history would be irretrievably lost. The first thought was for the company to develop its own museum.

Cray Research, Inc., in particular, began collecting computer hardware and documents that showed the work of founder Seymour Cray and the development of the supercomputer industry. This collection of items was on display at Cray Research, Inc.’s corporate offices here in Chippewa Falls for several years and continued to grow, thanks to many dedicated participants.

Other industries also had important stories to convey. Les Davis, in particular, indicated a desire for Cray Research to work with the community to develop a facility that would uniquely meet the needs of the Chippewa Falls area. Davis and others wanted to see Cray give something of lasting value back to the community. Within Cray Research, employees had collected artifacts that extended back to the roots of Cray’s supercomputer technology.

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1986
March of 1986, the idea of a community facility was first voiced by executives in Cray Research.

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1987
Cray Research donated money to the City of Chippewa Falls to demolish the Woolen Mill with the understanding that the site would be considered for a community museum. Cray Research began preserving its own past by interviewing key technical people in the company.

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1988
Cray formed an internal committee to assure that Cray’s own history was preserved and to lead the community toward the development of a museum. Janet Robidoux was assigned as a staff consultant to the project. Cray Research also engaged the services of museum consultants from the Chippewa Valley Museum, who were charged with researching community interest and establishing a community-wide advisory group.

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1989
In May, members of the Chippewa Falls community formed an advisory committee to act as an interim governing body for the project until such time as a museum was established. Major roles for the group were to describe the mission and assess the community needs for such a facility.

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1990
In May, the advisory committee incorporated the non-profit Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry and Technology. The initial Board of Directors included leaders from Cray, Leinenkugel’s Brewing Company, Mason Shoes and Spectrum Industries as well as educators and other community leaders. CFMIT began to accept memberships and operate as a “museum without walls.” The Program Committee applied for and received a grant of $2,200 from the Wisconsin Humanities Committee, which made possible the development of the traveling exhibit At Work In Chippewa Falls. Information from the exhibit was also used for a slide presentation about the project.

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1991
CFMIT created a bubbleology activity for Pure Water Days. After several years, it appeared that the CFMIT concept would go no further. In addition to reviewing the woolen mill site, the group considered possible collaborations with the Chippewa Valley Cultural Association (CVCA) and the Parks and Recreation Department’s operation in Irvine Park. Resources or circumstances were insufficient in each case. Changes within the supercomputing industry altered Cray’s ability to support development before other resources could be established.

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1996
Seymour Cray died at age 71, resulting from a car accident in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The death of this computer genius rightly recognized as the “Father of the Supercomputer Industry” by scientists all over the world left a huge void in the computing world.

Cray Research, Inc., the company founded by Seymour in 1972, was purchased by Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI).

Cray/SGI offered the collection of computers now known as the Seymour Cray Supercomputer Collection to the City of Chippewa Falls. Recognizing the historical and scientific significance of the collection, the City accepted the collection, and what had been a germ of an idea for a museum began to take greater shape.

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1997
At the Committee’s recommendation, the City named CFMIT as manager of the collection, providing access to a facility and financial support. In turn, CFMIT contracted with the Chippewa Valley Museum to provide site staff and initial exhibits. Work began at 21 East Grand Avenue on June 29, 1997.

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1998
CFMIT opened its doors in May 1998 with three exhibits, The Seymour Cray Supercomputer Collection, At Work in Chippewa Falls, and Nanosecond Knowledge an original interactive exhibit. Since them, CFMIT has expanded its own collection to include additional area industries, as well as providing educational opportunities for visitors of all ages.

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The Staff
Julie Johnson, Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry and Technology Curator/Site Manager, is responsible for day-to-day operations at CFMIT. (Site staff at CFMIT are provided by CVM under a management contract). She also has ten prior years of experience as a curator at CVM, where she took part in the NEH Self Study which was the model for this project and was a member of exhibit teams creating Paths of the People: The Ojibwe in the Chippewa Valley and Settlement and Survival: Building Towns in the Chippewa Valley, 1850-1925. She will serve as project director, attend the two-day Consultants Conference, take part in the Wisconsin museums tour, travel to the Lowell National Historical Park, and work with Susan McLeod, Evalyn Frasch, and CFMIT Director of Public Programs (recruitment in progress) to write the master plan for interpretation and exhibit concept plan.

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