GENEALOGY - TAPESPONDING

Before the days of ‘instant news’, ‘in-your-face’ data and the Internet, things happened at a more leisurely pace. Methods of keeping in touch with loved ones, even those who lived only a relatively short distance away in the next town, would include either a telephone call (if you had one), or more likely a card or handwritten letter to be sent by post. It was a lovely surprise when you heard the letter be pushed through the letter-box by the postman, and then even more so when you recognized the handwriting on the envelope or opened the letter to read the content. In those days people would take time out and sit quietly and take in all the latest news - absorbing all the details… who was engaged to who, such-and-such now had a baby girl, our someone-or-other had recently started a new job. This information would immediately transport the reader into the sender’s world, and in an instant they were once again reminded that they had not been forgotten and that their friends or family were thinking about them. But of course, things would eventually move on from this seemingly ancient form of communication.

Reel of quarter-inch tape sent from the USA to our family over in Toxteth. The date on it is 'Christmas 1962'.

The onset of technology brought about new possibilities, and the advent of the home tape-recorder becoming available worldwide ultimately brought with it a new phrase to the English language - everybody began to tapespond.

Tapesponding was simply a method of using the new home tape machines to communicate with your friends and family, as well as to continue to use the written word. Reel-to-reel tape was becoming more widely available and cheaper, so it was perhaps natural that someone should develop the idea of recording messages on it and then sending the tapes themselves in an envelope through the post. As well as recording messages themselves using the standard microphones which were provided with the machines, the sender might also record their favourite songs from either the radio or from record, and compile their own ‘playlist’ to let their friends or family hear. Each manufacturer had adopted the industry standard of using quarter-inch recording tape; also building the machines so that they could record and play at different tape speeds (19, 9.5, 4.8 cm’s per second), therefore there was little chance that the tape would not be compatible with another machine until stereo 4-track machines started to be introduced later and started to complicate things. Another big advantage of this method was that the tapes themselves could be recorded over and re-used, so the recipient could record their own message and send it back!

Later on we all did exactly the same thing but using cassette tapes instead of recording tape on open reels. This made it easier as the cassettes were more easily played and were generally more robust than the quarter inch tape reels which went before them.

The audio link below contains a clip of Nora and Pat Caputo of New York State, USA. They were related to a friend of my aunt who lived locally in Liverpool, and she visited them while over in the US whilst Nora visited us at my grandma’s house when she came to holiday over here.

From left - my Grandad Jack Welsh, my brother Gary, Nora Caputo, myself, Nora's cousin Kitty - front room 25 Hughson Street, Liverpool 8.

In 1962 our family received a tape from them containing music and messages spoken by them both. The spine of the box reads ‘Christmas greetings from U.S.A. 1962’ written in pencil, and on the back ‘A Christmas Message from Nora + Pat In America’. Underneath this, written in blue biro ‘To Betty + Mr + Mrs Welch, Charles, Joan + Boys’.

In between songs contained on the tape, Nora and Pat simply spoke about everyday events from their daily lives in the U.S., and I can vaguely recall playing on the floor in the front room while our family gathered around my Dad’s tape machine as he played the tape back in Toxteth.

My Dad recorded a short message from each of our family on a similar tape to send back to America. It involved my Gran and Grandad speaking; my Mum, Dad and Aunt; and also myself and my brother Gary… just six and three years old respectively. How I wish that tape still existed and I had a copy of it… at one time it would have been relatively ordinary and mundane, but now it would be priceless to someone like myself.

In reality, I count myself lucky that I have even this one.

https://soundcloud.com/graham-seaman-1/1962-a-christmas-message-from/s-3bpr8

FAMILY SOUND ARCHIVE - Recording Your Family Memories in Audio (Pt.1)

When researching our family history it is natural that we start to collect the information which is most obviously important for us to get things moving - all the paper documentation we can find; birth and death certificates, marriage and baptism records etc. 

We visit our elderly relatives, and have them relate to us the same old stories we might well have heard so many times before. Of course, the difference on this occasion is that we actually want to listen to them, and make sure that we extract every last bit of detail out of the tales of their early lives. Time waits for no man (or woman) as they say, and very often we will reach the point where we realize that the history of our family is important to us all too late, and the best source of our family data may be lost to us forever. During the visit we will undoubtedly sit in rapture on their couch as we listen with intense interest to our relative, nibbling on custard creams while we scribble details into our notebooks and pore over the folder of old photographs we have brought with us to try and jog their memory.

As I said previously such visits are vitally important to our continued research. However, this is not the only type of family information we should be asking about. When I first started collecting my family history data together, I thought that the most important thing for me to do would be to obtain a photograph of as many of the people within my tree as I possibly could. After ten years research, I’m reaching the point now where I can truthfully say that I have almost reached that goal. However, I’ve also realized that there is another, more important archive, which we should not ignore. And that is the archive of sound.

MARY DUNN - LILY OF LAGUNA (click here to play)

The soundclip above is a short extract taken from an old cassette tape of a Christmas family party in the D’annunzio household in Childwall, Liverpool. It was recorded in 1981 and features Mrs Mary Dunn (pictured), my wife’s grandmother, doing what she loved to do best and singing ‘Lily of Laguna’ at the top of her voice with her family around her. I was one of those present with her on that December evening, playing my guitar and singing along with the choruses. It was a wonderful party and hearing this clip played even now, I can close my eyes and I’m back there again.

In this modern digital age, where nearly all of us has a phone fitted with both a still and a video camera, it is easy to forget that it was not always like this. There was an old thing called analogue - where we recorded sound onto cassette or reel to reel tape, or even directly onto acetate discs themselves.

It should be remembered that some of these items might still be around - tucked away in a shoebox and kept in Auntie Minnie’s wardrobe. You won’t know unless you ask the question… but one thing is certain, you should be asking it now, for neither your Auntie Min nor the tapes will be around forever…

In part two we'll take a look at what you can do with your discs and tapes once you've tracked them down....