Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Sponsor
Related Collections
Scope and Contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Archive of Recorded Sound
Title: Ampex Collection Addenda
Identifier/Call Number: ARS.0109
Identifier/Call Number: 831
Physical Description:
1 box(es)
1 folder ; 16 open reel tapes (three 5" reels ; eight 7" reels ;
four 10.5" reels ; one 12" reel)
Date: 1944-1998
Physical Location: Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound
Stanford University Libraries Stanford, California 94305-3076
Abstract: Various smaller collections related to
the Ampex Corporation, the development of magnetic recording on tape, and stereophonic
sound.
Access
Open for research; material must be requested at least two business days in advance of
intended use. Contact the Archive for assistance.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with repository. Publication and reproduction rights reside with the
creators or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the
Head Librarian of the Archive of Recorded Sound.
Preferred Citation
Ampex Collection Addenda, ARS-0109. Courtesy of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound,
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Sponsor
This finding aid was produced with generous financial support from the National Historical
Publications and Records Commission.
Related Collections
Stanford University Special Collections holds the Ampex Corporation Records, M1230. The
Archive of Recorded Sound holds the Richard Hess Mullin-Palmer Tape Restoration Project
Collection, ARS.0035.
Scope and Contents
This is a group of small collections, assembled from various donors, related to the history
of the Ampex Corporation and its role in the development of sound recording on tape and
stereophonic sound. Stanford's Special Collections holds the Ampex Corporation Records, and
some artifacts described here are part of that collection, despite being housed at the
Archive of Recorded Sound. The Ampex Corporation, founded in 1944 by Russian émigré
Alexander M. Poniatoff, began as military contractor making components for radar, but became
a pioneer in the magnetic tape recording industry through rather unusual circumstances. In
1945, a soldier named John T. "Jack" Mullin was assigned by the U.S. Army Signal Corp to
recover examples of Nazi technology from the field. In a radio station near Frankfurt,
Mullin confirmed that the Germans had developed a system of sound recording and reproduction
using paper and plastic tape. He returned to the United States with fifty reels of audio
tape and two AEG Magnetophon brand reel-to-reel machines on which to play them. Following a
successful demonstration at an Institute of Radio Engineers conference, Mullin, along with
business partner Bill Palmer, approached entertainer Bing Crosby with a proposal for using
audio tape in the production of his radio program Philco Radio Time. Crosby thus became the
most significant early investor in Ampex's tape recording line. Mullin even worked on the
Philco program himself, doing the editing using both the German tape he brought back and
with other American brands then in development. The Ampex Collection Addenda includes two
pages of a Philco Radio Time script, possibly with Mullin's notes on the back. The
collection also includes an original Magnetophon Tonschreiber tape case with reels and
parts. There are also various tapes which came from Jack Mullin via Ampex employee Jim
Wheeler, some of which almost certainly came from this case, and miscellaneous tapes from
the estate of C.D. (Charles Dewitt) Du Bois, an executive at Ampex beginning in the late
1950s. Finally, there are recordings made in 1998 at a gathering commemorating the fiftieth
anniversary of the Ampex 200, the first tape recorder made by the company.
This is a group of small collections, assembled from various donors, related to the history
of the Ampex Corporation and its role in the development of sound recording on tape and
stereophonic sound. Stanford's Special Collections holds the Ampex Corporation Records, and
some artifacts described here are part of that collection, despite being housed at the
Archive of Recorded Sound. The Ampex Corporation, founded in 1944 by Russian émigré
Alexander M. Poniatoff, began as a military contractor making components for radar, but
became a pioneer in the magnetic tape recording industry through rather unusual
circumstances. In 1945, a soldier named John T. "Jack" Mullin was assigned by the U.S. Army
Signal Corp to recover examples of Nazi technology from the field. In a radio station near
Frankfurt, Mullin confirmed that the Germans had developed a system of sound recording and
reproduction using paper and plastic tape. He returned to the United States with fifty reels
of audio tape and two AEG Magnetophon brand reel-to-reel machines on which to play them.
Following a successful demonstration at an Institute of Radio Engineers conference, Mullin,
along with business partner Bill Palmer, approached entertainer Bing Crosby with a proposal
for using audio tape in the production of his radio program Philco Radio Time. Crosby thus
became the most significant early investor in Ampex's tape recording line. Mullin even
worked on the Philco program himself, doing the editing using both the German tape he
brought back and with other American brands then in development.
The Ampex Collection Addenda includes two pages of a Philco Radio Time script, possibly
with Mullin's notes on the back. The collection also includes an original Magnetophon
Tonschreiber tape case with reels and parts. There are also various tapes which came from
Jack Mullin via Ampex employee Jim Wheeler, some of which almost certainly came from this
case, and miscellaneous tapes from the estate of C.D. (Charles Dewitt) Du Bois, an executive
at Ampex beginning in the late 1950s. Finally, there are recordings made in 1998 at a
gathering commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Ampex 200, the first tape recorder
made by the company.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Sound -- Recording and reproducing
Mullin, John T. (Jack)
Ampex Corporation
Palmer, William A.