Minnesota's Pavek museum houses century-old technology that can still be used

In St. Louis Park, Minnesota, there's a place where you can find radio and television technology that's nearly a century old — and it still works.

The Pavek Museum opened in 1988 and has more than 700 radio, television, recording devices and video games. They are technological relics that have stood the test of time. 

"These are amazing artifacts. This is technology when it was built to last," said curator Felipe Eguiarte.

To understand how this all came to be, visitors need to understand who Joe Pavek was. During World War II, he taught soldiers how to repair radios. But when the lessons were over, the radios were thrown away. 

"That broke Joe's heart, so he dedicated the rest of his life to collect, maintain, repair and have a tiny museum in the basement of his hardware store," said Eguiarte. 

Eventually, his family no longer wanted the museum, so Earl Bakken, the founder of Medtronic, stepped up and helped bring Pavek's collection to St. Louis Park. 

What's really cool is that a lot of the stuff you find in the museum still works. That includes a giant Zenith radio from 1939. 

Pavek president Nina Larson Weber says people are constantly wowed that these old, stately-looking radios can still pick up a local station. A Zenith from the 1930's was like the flat screen television of its time, and it comes with a remote control. 

"There's a transmitter in here and a receiver in here, and all I have to do is turn the radio dial," said Weber. 

Pavek's volunteers, many of them engineers, keep this technology running. That includes one of only two Magnetophons in the entire world. They are considered to be the first high-fidelity recording devices invented.  

"Jack Mullin was in the army during World War II. He came across two of these machines and couldn't believe it because this technology did not exist in the United States at the time," said Weber. 

So, Mullin shipped them back home from Germany. His new machines caught the attention of "The Bing Crosby Show." 

"They hired Jack Mullin on the spot to be his audio engineer, and they recorded the 1947-1948 seasons on Jack's Magnetophons," said Weber. 

From the machines to the people, the Pavek is home to the Minnesota Broadcaster's Hall of Fame. There are 216 Hall of Famers enshrined in the museum, including WCCO radio legend Steve Cannon, who portrayed a cast of characters on his drive-time show.

Whether a visitor stays for a few minutes, or a couple hours, the hope is that they leave with an appreciation for just how far we've come. 

"As the world become more digital, I think we miss how physical some of these things are," said Eguiarte. "Go out there and invent something amazing that makes everyone's lives better."

In addition to Earl Bakken, Paul Hedberg of the Minnesota Broadcasters Association helped form the nonprofit to preserve the Pavek's collection. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday.