Starting a Big Project

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. 






More to come!