[Sergeauckland]

When I was something like 10 years old, I was taken to The School Boys and Girls Exhibition, at either Earl's Court or Olympia.

There, I saw my first television camera, on the Ampex stand, and was fascinated to see what would happen when pointing the camera to the monitor it was feeding.
The result was the intro to Dr Who.

It had a real effect on me that I still remember it 60+ years later, and I suspect was a reason for wanting to make a career in the broadcast industry. If we want young people to be inspired, we need to allow hands-on experiences. Difficult these days with so much being done in software, the workings of which aren't visible.

As to the 'conflict' between originality and function, I agree that it depends on the purpose of the exhibit. In my repairs / restorations, the first thing I ensure is electrical safety, replacing old two-core mains wiring with properly earthed cabling, and adding isolating transformers in live chassis equipment. I'd rather not have to rely on 70 year old insulation and safety standards for safety. Ditto replacing old capacitors and resistors with new components, although if the caps are visible, such as many valve amplifiers, I'll try and restuff the original cans. If that's not acceptable as not original, then the equipment will have to be for static display only, not operational.

Having said that, I get cross if I see a lovely old radiogram have the guts removed and replaced with a modern Class D amp and bluetooth receiver.

S.