MOOT: The Museum of Outdated Technology

Elvis is still in the building at the Museum of Outdated Technology. Oxie Scrubb (Atlas Obscura User)

At any given thrift store you’re bound to find 8-tracks, VHS players, old camcorders and their ilk gathering dust until someone purchases them for retro novelty. But in the back of one Rockville charity shop, these mundane items aren’t for sale—they’re museum pieces.

The back walls of the Wagging Tails Thrift Store are consumed by the Museum of Outdated Technology (“MOOT”). Though the “artifacts” are mostly indistinguishable from the other obsolete technologies for sale in the shop, these dusty old electronics are being saved for posterity. Though vinyl and slide projectors are the kind of thing you would find stashed and forgotten in your parents’ basement, here at the museum they are preserved with care.

As silly as it may seem, there will come a day when your old DVDs will be genuinely rare objects. If you don’t care to save them yourself, consider donating them to the Museum of Outdated Technology to impress the retro kids of the future.

Know Before You Go

Close to Rockville and Shady Grove Metro stops. Ride On Bus 59 (going toward Montgomery Village) can be taken from Rockville Metro Station to reach the museum.