From: Eagle River Historical Society <eagleriverhistoricalsociety@gmail.com> Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2022 08:41:59 -0500 Message-ID: <CAJyy84yMKt7B-AnQXja=Ad4J5rw2cJt5Qt=yhJsttcwFJ5zKmw@mail.gmail.com> Subject: Re: Fw: Update on Obsolete Media Laboratory
This is a much needed program. We all have stacks of inaccessible media,
given the rapid changes in storage methods and the equipment that produced
them. It's ironic that in these highly technological days our most
reliable form of information retrieval seems to be - paper.
On Sun, Mar 13, 2022 at 3:17 PM JANET IRENE SEYMOUR <
janet.seymour@wisconsinhistory.org> wrote:
> *Subject:* Update on Obsolete Media Laboratory
>
> In January the Sterling Eureka and Laketown Historical Society began a
> new project -- the Obsolete Media Laboratory.
>
> We advertised our project in the local newspaper and on our Facebook
> page.
> We have gotten donations of 3 different types of reel-to-reel tape
> recorders (single track dual track), an old PC to read diskettes, three
> projectors, 16mm, 8mm and Super 8mm, and several other devices including
> a VHS to DVD recorder, a large format ADF scanner/printer and have made
> our first purchase- a used batch photo scanner spending $85.
>
> We recruited a newly retired person with experience in electronics who
> will convert phonorecords to cds or digital files. He did the first two
> records, 1964 and 1965 local high school band and choir to cds.
>
> An old tape recorder donated came with a tape on it that was the owner
> sending an audio letter home from Saigon Vietnam in the 1960s. Our
> volunteer, a Vietnam veteran, was fascinated and found out the donor had
> several of these tapes used as letters home from Vietnam and will
> convert the rest of them as well as a tape from the parents to the donor
> that had never been listened to as it was dual track and not playable on
> the donor's machine.
>
> This is pretty exciting as we get the equipment working and actually
> begin finding old media to convert.
>
> We have another volunteer lined up to convert the 1875-2000 Laketown
> township records to digital with our foot-pedal-operated camera/scanner
> beginning in March. We are also scanning slides and negatives with our
> negative scanner. Those two pieces of equipment were purchased with
> matching funds from the WHS mini grants for shared resources and have
> been loaned to several other historical societies.
>
> The lab has brought in new volunteers who have technical backgrounds
> who are invaluable to our society!
>
> Personally, as an obsolete person myself, it is enjoyable to work with
> equipment that was state-of-the-art in the days when I was too!
>
> Russ Hanson
> Obsolete Media Laboratory
> SELHS
>
>