05/06/2026
Today in the studio, we’re restoring a remarkable collection of reel-to-reel audio letters recorded during the Vietnam War in 1970.
These tapes were exchanged between a USAF officer stationed overseas and his family back home in Leeton, MO. Each reel contains about 30 minutes of conversation: voices traveling across the world long before FaceTime, email, or even affordable long-distance phone calls.
On these recordings, you hear a wife and children sharing everyday life on the farm: updates about school, chores, weather, family happenings, and all the little moments missed while their husband and father was away at war. In return, he sends back pieces of his own life overseas, snapshots of service, distance, uncertainty, and love.
As we carefully clean, restore, and digitize these 56-year-old recordings, it becomes a deeply human experience. Many of the voices captured on these reels may no longer be with us, yet here they are again...laughing, storytelling, checking in, and simply being present with one another.
That’s the power of preservation.
At first glance, recordings like these may seem ordinary or mundane. But with time, the ordinary becomes priceless. These tapes preserve more than voices. They preserve personalities, relationships, emotions, and a moment in history exactly as it was lived.
Imagine being able to tell future generations:
“That’s your grandmother’s voice.”
“That’s how your family stayed connected during the war.”
“These were their hopes, worries, and everyday lives in 1970.”
There’s something incredibly moving about hearing the voices of people we love, exactly as they sounded decades ago.
So many families have recordings like these tucked away in closets, attics, basements, or garages...on reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes, records, 8mm film, VHS tapes, and more. Every year that passes makes these formats harder to play and more vulnerable to deterioration.
What’s the oldest recording you have tucked away somewhere and whose voice would mean the most to hear again?
