Broderbund founder donates collection including Myst, Prince of Persia to Museum of Play

Broderbund Software founder Doug Carlston donated business records, software and a collection of games that includes Myst, Prince of Persia and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? to The Strong National Museum of Play.

According to a press release from the Rochester, N.Y. museum, the International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG) will care for the donated items. The Broderbund Software, Inc. Collection will include almost 1,500 pieces of software. Original art, awards, board game versions of video games and promotional materials will be available to researchers. The collection spans from Broderbund's first game, Galactic Empire, which was released in 1980, to its acquisition by The Learning Company in 1998.

"In 20 years my siblings and I built Broderbund from an idea in the living room to a 1,500-person company with a market value in the billions of dollars," Carlston said. "During that time, we gave little thought to building a legacy, but we still saved every product and every memo. I am grateful now to have discovered the work of The Strong, which has the staffing and capacity to curate this collection of materials and others like it. Now scholars and interested parties can see first-hand the evolution of the company and the software industry in the 1980s and 1990s."

Last October, the ICHEG received a collection of nearly 7,000 Japanese video games that span 22 systems. To learn more about The Strong, be sure to read Polygon's feature on preserving the history of video games. You can also read Polygon's coverage of Jon-Paul Dyson's GDC 2013 talk, where the ICHEG director spoke about the challenges of preservation "when everything is born digital."