Hilliard's Early Television Museum

According to museum employee, Larry, this is one of Hilliard’s best-kept secrets, though they do have a full page write up in the current edition of "Discover Hilliard."  https://earlytelevision.org/museum.html (I'm pretty sure they've also been mentioned in Ohio magazine).

When I visited there were only two other male guests that seemed a bit older than me, and I heard them chatting and reminiscing about the various sets. I pointed out an antenna adjuster of which my family had an identical model.

I told them I remembered the clicking noise it made as it rotated the antenna. Pretty primitive by today’s standards I guess.

I enjoyed quietly browsing all the art deco Bakelight models appreciating the craftsmanship that went into making each cabinet, back in the day when televisions were still a piece of furniture and more than just a piece of technology. I will always have fond memories of the console TV my family had that contained a radio and a turntable on opposite sides on top. Not sure how often we used either, but it was nice to have it all in one unit.

Of course there are many similar models in the TV museum as radios and record players were common features of some sets.

This TV is definitely one of my favorites, and apparently the cabinet was custom-designed, so it’s one-of-a-kind. I would happily trade in our 50”+ set and Ikea entertainment center for this one.

I also like this one as it was the only color (cabinet) floor model in the museum. I was telling Larry I would love to own one like it, and he said that model isn’t actually very expensive (perhaps because they’re quite plentiful; not sure).

There were some really cute TV paraphernalia items that were displayed in and amongst the televisions like this film strip viewer:

 And this miniature TV knick-knack:

I didn’t take the time to examine all the educational materials and advertisements or push any of the buttons to hear the history of the various eras of television, but plan to come back some time and perhaps spend a little longer. All I know is it felt very therapeutic wandering among part of the past when things were simpler and my worries were less. If you live in the greater Columbus area and you’ve never been to the Early Television Museum I would highly recommend it for an affordable afternoon out ($5 for adults; $2 children).