To celebrate 20 years of the Museum of Pop Culture, we're highlighting 20 of the most notable moments from MoPOP's history. For our nonprofit museum's first milestone, we take a look at the artifact that started it all.

In 1991, MoPOP acquired Jimi Hendrix’s mixing console, a custom piece made in 1969 by the Datamix Corporation for Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios. Designed for 24 mixing channels, but upgraded to 30 at Hendrix's request, the board allowed for complex, multi-track recording. Hendrix used it to record jam sessions and songs such as "Astro Man," "Straight Ahead," "Dolly Dagger" and "Night Bird Flying." Beyond Hendrix, the board was used to record Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie and others in the 1970s.

The MoPOP Permanent Collection now contains over 100,000 artifacts, but it all started with this.

Travel alongside the legendary Jimi Hendrix at the height of his fame in our 'Wild Blue Angel: Hendrix Abroad, 1966-1970' exhibition.

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