The history of Tektronix has caught up with its present.

The VintageTek museum, which opened five years ago in a strip mall in Southwest Portland, moved last month onto the main Tektronix campus near Beaverton. The museum brings with it thousands of pieces of historic Tektronix equipment into spacious new quarters in Building 13 on the northeast corner of the campus.

"We've got some really nice space. Tek wrote us a five-year deal, essentially free," said Ed Sinclair, VintageTek's president. He said the new, 5,000-square-foot space is considerably bigger than what the museum left behind, making room for more equipment to be displayed.

"We have oscilloscopes from the founding, 1947, all the way to 1990," Sinclair said.

Tektronix said having the museum on campus gives it an opportunity to use the facility in educational programs and to highlight the company's heritage to visiting customers and to employees.

"The dedication of the volunteers, not only to catalog the deep heritage of Tektronix, but to continue to teach the passion of engineering to the up-and-coming generation of young engineers, is deeply appreciated," Tektronix human resources vice president Aliza Scott said in a written statement.

Launched in Southeast Portland in the aftermath of World War II, Tektronix became godfather to Oregon's technology industry. It made, and continues to make, oscilloscopes, which engineers use to test and measure the performance of electronic devices.

Tektronix instruments played key supporting roles in the space race, the dawn of computing and many other high-tech fields. The company ventured into all manner of other businesses, from computer monitors to color printers to office furniture. Tek spun off many of those ancillary divisions, seeding generations of technology businesses in the Portland area.

Peaking in the 1980s with more than 20,000 employees, Tektronix endured years of decline before selling in 2007 to a conglomerate called Danaher Corp., which in turn spun off Tek into a new company called Fortive last year. Tektronix now operates as a Fortive subsidiary.

VintageTek is run by volunteers, primarily Tektronix alumni, and has no formal connection to the company despite its new home. Tektronix showed little interest in its legacy in the first years after its sale, but has sought to renew that connection recently.

Museum organizers are still working to establish formal operating hours for visitors. It's currently open by appointment only, but Sinclair said organizers expect to be open regularly at least one day a week starting sometime in February.

In addition to its collection of historic Tektronix instruments, the museum has digitized thousands of photographs salvaged from Tek's archives. Sinclair said the museum expects some additional donations now that it has a long-term home, and has already collected several pieces of equipment from current employees since moving to its new offices.

"We're getting a lot of things from people at Tektronix," Sinclair said. "They don't feel like they need to go through management - they just say: Would you like this?"

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699