In February of 1958, two men began months of dialog discussing a collection of artifacts from the Pacific Islands, which had been donated to the Field Museum of Chicago, Illinois. The elder gentlemen was Captain A.W.F. Fuller, who had spent his life assembling the collection. The other was the Field Museum's Roland Force. To document these discussions as meticulously as Fuller kept the collection, Force recorded these conversations on a Walkie-Recorall machine onto a format known as sonobands. Months later, these sonobands would be transcribed in print by Force's wife, Maryanne Force. Over forty years later, a need arose to retrieve the sounds from these sonobands. Working with The Cutting Corporation of Bethesda, Maryland, the Field Museum was able to transfer these dialogs to less esoteric formats for future generations. Unlocking these treasures proved to be a daunting task, but one that ultimately provided a fuller perspective to those interested in the Pacific Islands.

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Technology is bringing to life an enthusiast's collections of Pacific artifacts.

In a throwback version of the Nixon tapes, the enthusiast, Capt. Alfred Walter Francis Fuller, revealed 47 years ago on a now-obsolete tape system the origins and meanings of the items he collected.

Fuller, then 76, explained in exhaustive detail to Field Museum curator Roland Force why he collected pieces produced before Western influences arrived in the Pacific. The 6,500-item collection, including many pieces on display at the Field's Halls of the Pacific, comes from every corner of Polynesia, Melanesia and Australia...

Read Entire Article "Field retrieves long-lost voice of an expert" (PDF)

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