The New England Wireless and Steam Museum is an electrical

Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...

 and mechanical engineering

Mechanical engineering

Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...

 museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 at 1300 Frenchtown Road in East Greenwich, Rhode Island

East Greenwich, Rhode Island

East Greenwich is a town in and the county seat of Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 13,146 at the 2010 census. East Greenwich is the wealthiest municipality within the state of Rhode Island....

 with a working steam engine

Steam engine

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

s and an early wireless

Wireless

Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...

 station and technology archives.

The museum was founded in 1964 under the leadership of Robert Merriam. According to the museum's website, the New England Wireless and Steam Museum contains five buildings:

• One museum building contains the wireless collection.
• The Massie Wireless Station
  Massie Wireless Station
  The Massie Wireless Station was built in Point Judith, Rhode Island in 1907 and is the oldest surviving working wireless station in the world. It is now part of the New England Wireless and Steam Museum....
  
  , (PJ), was "built in 1907. It is the oldest surviving working wireless station in the world. It was moved to this site from Point Judith
  Point Judith
  Point Judith is a village and a small cape, on the coast of Narragansett, Rhode Island, on the western side of Narragansett Bay where it opens out onto Rhode Island Sound....
  
  , RI in 1982 to avoid demolition."
• Another museum building contains "the stationary steam engine
  Steam engine
  A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
  
   collection. This collection includes the only surviving George H. Corliss engine running under steam today."
• The Mayes building houses the Mechanical Engineering
  Mechanical engineering
  Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
  
   library of historic engineering textbooks and the collection of steam engine models.
• A meeting house
  Meeting house
  A meeting house describes a building where a public meeting takes place. This includes secular buildings which function like a town or city hall, and buildings used for religious meetings, particularly of some non-conformist Christian denominations....
  
   built in 1822 is used as the assembly hall for the museum. In 1972 the nearby Frenchtown Baptist Church in East Greenwich was going to demolish the building, so it was moved to this site to save the building. The meeting house is part of the Tillinghast Road Historic District
  Tillinghast Road Historic District
  Tillinghast Road Historic District is a historic site on Tillinghast Rd. in East Greenwich, Rhode Island added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.The district contains parts of the New England Wireless and Steam Museum....
  
  and is available to rent for weddings and other events.

The museum is open by appointment with volunteers generally on site on Thursdays. Volunteers are welcome.