Well, I've only listened to a couple of reels in the last couple of weeks, and most of them have not been as exciting as the first few. I decided that I needed to find a good one again. Since the first post where you can hear little Charly singing happy birthday to herself was so popular, I thought we'd all enjoy a little more.
The back of the box tells us that this took place at Grandma Clawson's home, which I can only imagine means the old house on South Temple and the accompaniment was played on that beautiful old Steinway Piano in the front room.
August 1966
This reel was packaged a little differently than the others. It was carefully wrapped in a plastic dust bag and then placed inside its box. Someone took a bit more care with this one; I would imagine a proud parent. Also inside of the box were two sheets of paper with a list of songs. I have scanned them to include here. I believe the front of page 2 is the list of songs heard here.
Front of page 1
Back of page 1
Front of page 2
Back of page 2
So, without further ado and back by popular demand... Charly Sings again.
Thank you all who have been reading and commenting. I am happy we can all hear these stories, so really the thank you goes to Brad for making these recordings in the first place. In one of the emails I got, Steve asked me for some idea of how far along I was. I thought this was a good bit to add, as not all that I have listened to I have found worth sharing. For example, last night, I listened to one that had part of a Willie Nelson song and then parts of various pieces of classical music. It was just a mishmash of random clips. In total there are about 45 reels, and so far I have listened to 5 reels, so just a little better than 10% of the way there. When I listen to these, I have been thorough, trying to be sure that I am not missing anything. Each tape contains 4 tracks and I check that there is nothing hidden anywhere. Of course I have been starting with those that have clues written on them, so the further I get, the greater the mystery will be!
So here is the third installment of the five tapes, this one has good stuff! Here is what is written on its box.
Aunt Lucy + Grandma Wright (Sadie) with Brad & Penny
Summer 1963 S.L.C. Ut.
This is an interview of Lucy McIntosh Wright. She is the daughter of Abraham Reister Wright Jr. and aunt of Grandpa Bill. This interview was given in the summer of 1963, less than a year before she died. She would have been 89 when this was recorded.
This is an interesting interview. Lucy was James Wardrop Wright's sister and was born in 1873. She was never married and never had any children. Her life was so different from what we are accustom to today. It is fascinating to hear her speak and at times tragic to hear her talk about some of her experiences throughout her life.
Photo of Aunt Lucy
In the beginning of the reel you can hear something that was obviously taped over to make this recording. I thought it was kind of funny, so I left it in. The end just drops off like the interview with Vida, so hopefully I'll find the remainder in another reel.
Here is a portrait of Vida with her two eldest girls. Grandma Emily is on the right.
Ruth, Vida and Emily
This reel is of an interview of Vida Fox Clawson, that Brad did on June 13, 1962. Vida is Grandma Emily's mother and Ruth May Fox's daughter. She was married to Chester Young, who was a grandson of Brigham Young. You will hear her speak a little about Ruth during this interview. Vida was born in December 30, 1885, so that would make her 76 at the time of this recording. The recording was done in Vida's home on South Temple.
?, Chester and Vida
? and Vida
From stories that I have heard, Vida was quite the vivacious woman. Here is a favorite photo of Vida and either a sister or friend - I'm not sure.
Vida ridding horseback
Unfortunately, the reel does not contain the entire interview and it runs out while they are speaking. Perhaps the remaining portion of the interview will be found on one of the other reels I have yet to go through, but for now, enjoy what we have of Brad's interview with Great-Grandma Vida.
Recently, I decided to take it upon myself to archive and digitize a large number of old reel-to-reel ¼” magnetic tapes that have been sitting in a filing cabinet at my parents' house for as long as I can remember. This is a technology that predates my time and I have never heard any of these played, but have alway wondered what could be on them.
I work with a few older guys who are into music and all things audio related. They are also engineers and know how most things work. I decided to ask them for some advice on where to get these tapes converted into a digital format. With that one of them announced that he was currently trying to get rid of two 4-track reel-to-reel tape recorders. "Do you want them? I'll give them to you! The only catch is, you have to take both of them." This could not have worked out better! Not only will this be exactly what I need to do this project, but the musician inside of me is already drooling with the thought of all the fun I can have with a reel-to-reel tape!! But that topic is for another day.
After a short tutorial on how to use this archaic technology, I found the most intriguing tape I could find. The first tape I from this archive that I heard was simply labeled, "Mother". Did that mean it was something that Grandma Emily had recorded?
This reel labeled "Mother" had another mystery that my friend at work solved for me. The reel was stored in a curious metal canister. Most of the reels were either loose or in cardboard boxes, whereas this and a few others were stored in metal housings. My coworker enlightened me, telling me that it was stored in an old 8 mm film canister, however it was ¼” audio tape. He did notice one other detail that I had overlooked. People who are used to seeing tape and that includes those over the past 50 years or so have seen tape with a mylar backing, much like cassette tapes. This tape had paper backing - meaning it was really old! There was no telling if this would even play or just completely disintegrate as it was pulled through the reels. Suddenly this became an archeological expedition that required kid gloves. With the reel-to-reel plugged into the computer and set to record, knowing I may only get one shot at this, I played the reel. To my relief and surprise, I found that it worked wonderfully, at least for a piece of tape that was 67 years old. The sound quality held up remarkably and what the sound contained was even more remarkable.
The tape contains a recorded phone call between Grandpa Bill and family and his mother, Great-Grandma Sarah Longstroth Wright. At the time of the recording Grandma and Grandpa are living in Manhasset, NY and are calling home to SLC for the whole family to talk with Grandma. Through some of the conversations, I figure this call must have taken place in September of 1947, not long after Charlotte's birthday, as you will hear. You will hear the voices of all the children, save Chris and Tim who were not born yet, Grandma and Grandpa, and Great-Grandma Sarah, which is wonderful as most of the family has never heard her voice, or a 38 year-old Grandpa Bill!
This tape is truly a time capsule that holds a brief listen into the lives in the Wright family in the late 1940s. It also captures just how far we have come technologically. The first 3:21 is Grandma Emily speaking with the phone operator just setting up the long-distance phone call. It also demonstrates the technical prowess and foresight of Grandpa Bill for setting up the system to record this phone call for posterity. We as a family are now blessed with this look back at their lives.
I have broken up this reel into two files for ease of listening. The first only contains the 3:21 time period that it took for the phone operator to make the long distance connection. The the primary interest here will be a look back at the antiquated technology that was required to perform a feat such as calling across the country. You will hear Grandma Emily speaking with a local telephone operator and then that operator speaking with other operators in Utah while making the connection.
Long-distance phone connection in 1947
The second file is the real treasure. This begins this instant the connection has been made and the real conversation begins. I will let you listen and enjoy!
Family phone conversation with "Mother"
I hope this blog will allow our whole family to enjoy these pieces of family history together. There are probably two or three dozen reels of tape here for me to go through, I don't know how long it will take me to get through all of them, but I hope you will check back from time to time and add comments that will fill in gaps to stories and make these treasures even more valuable.
