Digitising Grandfathers voice letters

 

The tapes

It is always interesting when you come across obsolete technologies that were amongst your grandparents belongings that you never even knew existed. Being the age where everything is basically digital the older technology has been rendered obsolete even if they are something like 50 or 60 years old. Then there is how they were stored as that could have impacts on their playability in the future. I would hate to think what would happen if I had lost the ability to get things like the voice letters digitised.

 

 Recently I came across some talking tapes that were similar to cassette tapes, but were more along the line of the 8mm film I also had. There were around 5 tapes that belonged to my grandfather and I don’t know what was on them. They did seem to be in really good condition too. I didn’t have anything to play them on, nor even knew what year they would have been made. I was wondering if there was anything recorded on these tapes. Was there scandal or something just ordinary like what everyone used to do with cassette tapes and record the radio.

 

The function of these tapes seemed to be pretty much as the name suggests. You talk into the tape recorder of some sort, and then send them on like a letter in the post. Though I guess they could also be used for notes when writing letters. They had been stored in my grandfather’s house for a number of years as the house he had been living in was built between the late 1970s and 1980s. Before then their movements could have placed them anywhere, but they were in good condition.

 

Wanting to know what was on them intensified once my grandfather passed away, and I wandered into a camera shop to ask about some Kodachrome film I had as well. At the same time I asked about the talking tapes and the sales person couldn’t help me as it was something he had never seen before. I asked if he would know if the National Film and Sound Archives might know. He did reply if they replied back.

 

I emailed the National Film and Sound Archives other wise known as the NFSA. They responded within 24 hours with a list of people they use as they said they couldn’t specifically recommend one. I emailed several on the list and went with the one who responded, although for reasons the email ended up in the spam folder, but that is something I always check.

 

The company was a local one based in Canberra and the business owner was the one responding to my email. He asked for pictures of the tapes and if I knew anything else. The tapes themselves were in pretty good condition especially when one had the date stickered on the side saying 1972. The audio specialists even had an IMDB page of their accomplishments in the film industry, so I knew they would look after my tapes when I sent them on. I will put a link to their website in this blog.

 

I express posted the tapes to Canberra and wasn’t expecting them to even have a look at them for at least a month. I assumed that they would be extremely busy with other jobs. Within a week they had the tapes digitised with a report on what was on them. They even included a USB of the audio. Several had music from the radio and made it sound like the computer game Fallout. One had my grandfather reading the news and one had him actually using the tape like a talking letter. I would say it was worth it just to get it done or else the tapes would have degraded over time. I was told three of the tapes were acetate based tapes that went out of date around the late 1960s and 1970s. They did include an excel spreadsheet on what they did recover from the tapes, so that was pretty good. I believe they did an excellent job and communicated with me what they could do.

 

Links

 

Infidel Studios

https://www.infidelstudios.com.au/

 

IMDB page for Duncan Lowe

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9206443/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_4_nm_4_q_Duncan%2520lowe

Grandfather's Mystery 8mm film

 

Recently when we were cleaning up my grandfather's house when he had fallen ill and could not live on his own anymore, I came across a box of film reels at the bottom of the wardrobe. At the time I just assumed they were films his late brother, Don had made as he always seemed to be travelling overseas. I was going to leave them in the wardrobe, and move on.

While I was cleaning up, I did not hesitate in grabbing some of the slides that were around as I knew I had something that would scan them, but no idea what to do with the film. To explain the slides, they are basically film negatives before the film negatives that are commonly seen for cameras before anything digital. I will write another blog about those soon. Before heading home to Australia, I mentioned the film and speculated if they were my grandfathers. On closer look the labels mentioned locations like Portugal and a wedding with a journey from France to Iran. The wedding film I knew the story behind as there were also slides for this particular journey. I then knew for a fact they were my grandfather's films as he made a journey in 1962 from Paris to Turkey, Iran, India and onto Nepal by landrover. Not only were there slides for this, but also his travel diary from that period in time that ended in him gaining employment on a project on the Ord River in Western Australia.

The film didnt come home with me, but arrived weeks later with another family member who came over from New Zealand on holiday. I knew there were businesses that could convert the films to digital and by pure accident I ended up watching a Youtube video about a film scanner. I ordered that specific film scanner from Amazon and it actually arrived several days later.

I soon learnt that scanning the film onto a SD card was time consuming and I had to keep an eye on the process as there were breakages. The film was fragile in places and would break, but the worst was really annoying as the reel I was using was not big enough to hold full film and the first lot fell off the smaller reel. That took several hours trying to wind it back onto the big reel, so I could set the film to rewind. How I got around the breakages was to tie string to the film so it would stay together. Not what I am supposed to do, but it worked. For the length of time it took to scan the film, would give me around several minutes of film. I never edited them in any way as I was just after the pure recording. Something else I should point out is there was no sound. I did find that I had a spare large reel amongst the film, so I did not have to worry about more film falling off the smaller reel

I think I have scanned nearly all the films that I have in my possession and they were actually all of my grandfathers so I am glad that I have salvaged them from vanishing forever. Some of the films include trips between Australia and New Zealand especially during his time at North Kirra surf life saving club on the Gold Coast, His journey from New Zealand to England with stops along the way that included Singapore, Morocco, Egypt and England. This was all by ship before air travel so it is really something else. I am actually really happy to see what life was like back in the 1960s and 1970s, especially of different locations. You never know I might even find more film to record as I now have something to get it done on.

The Suitcase

 

Quite some time ago I wrote a blog about a mystery box full of family history items that I received from my grandparents. At the time I was impressed and astonished by what I had received. Along a similar topic and from the same location, I ended up with something similar to the mystery box, but just as interesting. I received a 24 kilogram suitcase full of family history records from New Zealand when mum returned from New Zealand.

 

There was quite a mix of records that was in the suitcase. If the kitchen sink could have fitted, then it might have come along too. At the time my grandfather had moved into a nursing home as he could no longer look after himself. Some of the records I had come across when we were cleaning up the house as no one knew when anyone would actually be there again. It wasn’t exactly an easy task. There were plenty of interesting records and there were many things that I never knew about as well.

 

Amongst the records I ended up with a large collection of slides that included overseas holidays and the house my grandfather built from the late 1970s and 1980s with additions over the years being included, photos, old bank passbooks that are no longer used and before decimal currency, several talking tapes that are like 8mm film, but are audio. Letters between my grandfather and his brother while he was in the USA, which would be pretty cool when I read them. An old 1945 newspaper that I have not opened up as it is fragile, a certificate from World War One about the loss of a family member on the Western Front. A certificate to say my grandfather had crossed the equator naming the vessel he was on at the time, and an old visa for Nepal that was part of an epic journey that began in France with friends.

 

Months later I am still going through the records as I have ended up digitising the 8mm film even though they are really fragile and prone to breaking. I have scanned most of the slides that include the house in various stages of being built, from when he was part of the North Kirra surf club in the early 1970s I think it was, various journeys that included to Iran, France and parts of the USA. Some of the photos I have of my grandfather, I placed into a photo album and was actually surprised I found some from his 21^st birthday. I have ended up with a little bit of a timeline. The good news about the slides are that they have dates and even marks pointing to the correct way up. Some even have where they are from, which is lucky.

 

I am taking my time organising the rest, but they will be sorted out eventually. The slides, photo negatives and 8mm film were something I thought I should focus on first. There is still something of my great grandfather’s that I still have to get developed, but unsure if it is film or photo reel from 1959. You never know what your grandparents are holding onto and could be of great personal value to yourself and others especially with the changing technology.

Sidney Wilfred McKenzie and Jayforce

 

Recently when I had a look at some family members, I came across one that I had not done any research on and came across a little bit of interesting information. Sidney was the son of Iris McKenzie who would later marry Horace Gabolinscy. Horace would be her second marriage, but I digress. I had always wondered if I would come across family who would end up in the Japanese Occupation force after World War 2 and their surrender. Turns out I found one.

 

I don’t have very much about his life in Japan during the period of occupation, but I will provide a run down of what New Zealand would be doing over there. I came across Sidney on the Auckland Cenotaph website with a little bit of information including his civilian occupation and enlistment details. I would probably have to order his service record for more information about his movements. When I originally seen the name Jayforce, I had thought it was something like Z force that operated behind enemy lines in South East Asia. Sidney was listed as being in Jayforce between 1945 and 1948, service number 628299. Occupation, Glass Beveller.[1] The occupation involves cutting and installing flat glass and mirrors, so it might have been a useful skill in Japan.

 

The occupation of Japan was mostly American with a small amount of British Commonwealth Occupation  Force, or BCOF. The New Zealanders were stationed in an area called  Yamaguchi located on Honshu Island, and would have had to pass through the Hiroshima area to reach their location. They would have seen the aftermath of the bomb firsthand that had been dropped on the city towards the end of World War 2. The people who served in Jayforce did not receive the same recognition as those who had served in active service including no welcome home, and the RSA commenting they were in Japan on holiday. There are more issues relating to the experiences and political nature of Jayforce, but I will keep it simple, but it did change the perspective of those who were stationed in Japan towards the Japanese.[2] New Zealand’s role was to search for military equipment, and the first lot of soldiers drafted into this service had come from Italy arriving in March, 1946. Volunteers from New Zealand, which would have likely included Sidney arrived mid-1946. In all around 12,000 people served in Jayforce. Both Australia and New Zealand would withdraw from Japan by around 1949.[3]

 

 

Sources and further reading

 

Auckland Cenotaph, ‘,Sidney Wilfred Mckenzie service record, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/165379?n=Sidney+Wilfred+McKenzie&from=%2Fwar-memorial%2Fonline-cenotaph%2Fsearch&ordinal=0, accessed 25/04/2023.

 

 

Auckland Cenotaph, ‘Jayforce 75 years on’, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/features/jayforce, accessed 25/04/2023.

 

New Zealand History, ‘Jayforce arrives in Japan’, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/jayforce-arrives-in-japan, accessed 25/04/2023.

 

TeAra, ‘Jayforce soldiers with Japanese children’, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/36231/jayforce-soldiers-with-japanese-children-mishima-island-japan, accessed 25/04/2023.

 

New Zealand National Archives, ‘Movement of Jayforce to Japan, December 1945 – March 1946’, https://collections.archives.govt.nz/en/web/arena/search#/entity/aims-archive/R22531227/movement-of-jayforce-to-japan%2C-december-1945---march-1946?q=jayforce&source=aims-archive, accessed 25/04/2023.

Note: Record contains 181 pages you can read directly from website and includes orders and other information about movement of troops and equipment.

---

[1]Auckland Cenotaph, ‘,Sidney Wilfred Mckenzie service record, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/165379?n=Sidney+Wilfred+McKenzie&from=%2Fwar-memorial%2Fonline-cenotaph%2Fsearch&ordinal=0, accessed 25/04/2023.

 

[2]Auckland Cenotaph, ‘Jayforce 75 years on’, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/features/jayforce, accessed 25/04/2023.

 

[3] New Zealand History, ‘Jayforce arrives in Japan’, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/jayforce-arrives-in-japan, accessed 25/04/2023.