About

The Museum of Obsolete Drafting Technology is a non-profit venture formed to keep the curator distracted, and to preserve the forgotten tools of the trade.

We've always had a weakness for gadgets and gizmos, machines and devices, and many of the tools and instruments invented to make drawings more accurate and more efficient have evolved and developed over several centuries to a high level of quality and sophistication--and were then generally phased out with short-lived cheap plastic tools after WWII. The satin- and velvet-lined morocco cases and 2-tiered mahogany boxes that remain today are testimony to the care and respect given these vintage tools by their owners.

We learned mechanical drawing in the 1970s, long before computer-aided drafting was even dreamt of for the typical architectural office. We've laid down many miles of line work and created huge mounds of pink eraser dust.

In the 1990s we leapt over the seemingly formidable chasm to learn AutoCAD, and while we miss the finesse of a neatly composed hand drawing, we do not miss hand lettering, countless revisions, or the repetition of drawing the same plan over and over at different scales.

We still operate a small architectural studio in San Francisco and from time to time pull out some instruments from the collection and put them to practical use. We are always happy to hear from others with similar interests.