Much of that history is reflected in a new exhibit, “Revolution: The First 2,000 Years of Computing,” which includes items like the first disk drive, I.B.M.’s hulking Ramac from 1956, Apple’s early personal computers like the Apple II, robots, the first arcade video games, a stack of Google’s earliest computer servers and even a table-size computer sold by Neiman Marcus in 1969 to store recipes for busy housewives.

The museum curators generally stick to a 10-year rule, meaning they wait a decade to determine what items were pivotal enough to warrant a place in the history of computing. “It’s always very difficult when you’re in the moment to know what’s going to be important and significant,” Mr. Shustek said. While the museum already owns items like the iPad, and monitors social media spaces like Twitter and Facebook, it is waiting for the dust to settle before it tells the definitive story of technology in the first decade of the 21st century.

The revamped home here is financed by donations from technology heavyweights like Bill Gates, Hewlett-Packard and the computer chip maker Intel. But curators at what is billed as the largest computer history exhibition in the world have tried to be patient with those less tech savvy. In March, the museum will become even more accessible by uploading its collection online, providing digital access to images, videos and information on tens of thousands of items.