Within their lifetimes: a 20th Century of Change - part two of two

 From Tauranga City Library’s archives

A monthly blog about interesting items in our collection

Last month we showed you the first part of "Within their lifetimes: a 20th Century of Change". That collection was largely the "Jinty Rorke interviews" and introduced us to old Tauranga hands as they were 20-25 years ago. The project was a collaboration and this second collection, AV 21-003, is made up mostly of the interviews donated by journalist and author Max Avery. 

The interviews are in video format, recorded initially on small Video 8 cassettes but often later copied onto VHS tape and later still from VHS to the new and exciting DVD format. Oftentimes it is these surrogates that have been donated, rather than the original video 8.  It seems appropriate to capture "a 20th century of change" right when the analogue world of magnetic tape, knobs, dials and complicated VCR machines was about to give way to new digital technologies. 

Appropriate, but also problematic. 

DVDs when they first came out were promised to last 100 years, and you can imagine their appeal as a result. Not only was it unnecessary to rewind tapes but they were slim and compact, and shiny. Did I mention shiny?  We now know that eight (8) years, is a more reliable indicator for how long you can trust a DVD. For the few interviews that existed only as a DVD, this posed a challenge. An interview by Jinty with Kate Jones Madill in 2003 sadly, was not recoverable. Another was only recovered by the Library's Heritage and Research Team through a process of stitching together two corrupted DVDs, but corrupted in different places, into one working digital file. Fortunately, most interviews did have their original Video 8 cassette, though quite a few existed as VHS tapes only. 

VHS tapes are often only as "clean" as the VCR players they frequented throughout their working lives. And I know our family VCR player entertained more than one marmite sandwich during its tour of duty.  Turning such tapes into digital files required the Heritage and Research team sending them away to New Zealand Micrographics Services (NZMS) who use well-maintained machines and high-end equipment to make the conversion. Sometimes this involved baking the tapes to clean them from dust and bacteria that might otherwise damage their own players and interfere with the quality of the capture. 

Panasonic AG-7150 Broadcast Player

The ADVC-500 professional video converter, specialized for use with broadcast equipment

Student oven NOT used in any way shape or form

Once captured the picture is scaled, noise reduction applied, and the very large files created are processed through the Heritage and Research team’s digital preservation process. Then a much lighter, quick-loading version is funnelled into Pae Korokī.   Often these versions have had background music muted for copyright reasons. 

AV 21-003: the Max Avery interview, consists of the following.

• Hilton D. Ronald (Chook) Rayment (1914-2000) interviewed by Max Avery, (1997)
• Owen James Morgan (1919-2003) interviewed by Max Avery (1997)
• W.E. Schrader (1921-2009) interviewed by Glenn Pettit (1999)
• Captain D.W.G. Keesing interviewed by Glenn Pettit (1999)
• Pilot Officer Ken Crankshaw (1921-2009) interviewed by Glen Pettit (1999
• Sir Gaven and Lady Isabel Donne interviewed by Glen Pettit (2000)
• Captain D.W.S. Keesing interviewed by Glen Pettit (2000), and here.
• Flight Lieutenant John Worthington and Flying Officer Frederick Friar interviewed by Glenn Pettit (2000)
• John Worthington (1918-2010) interviewed by Max Avery (2001)
• Ronald James Reid, (1918-2014) RNZAF Pilot interviewed by Max Avery (2003)
• John C. Cotter (1912-2008) interviewed by Max Avery in 2004
• Maurice (Snow) Garde-Browne (1924- ) interviewed by Max Avery in 2005
• David S. Cohu (1924-2018) interviewed by Max Avery (2006)
• William E. Lawrence (1912-2010) interviewed by Max Avery (2006)

Finally, tucked away amongst the paperwork was an article by Max Avery on the Tauranga-Mount Maunganui ferry service, which has been reproduced with additional photographs here. 

You can locate AV 21-003 on the library's heritage platform, Pae Korokī, under "Audio Visual", or by clicking here. 

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For more information about other items in our collection, visit Pae Korokī or email the Heritage & Research Team: Research@tauranga.govt.nz

Written by Harley Couper, Heritage Specialist at Tauranga City Library.