Audio recordings of Shields family members
have been found on two different media: cassette tapes and a
home-recorded vinyl 78 RPM record.
The vinyl recording was made in 1948 by Frank, Jimmy Kirwan
& others. It was recorded in or near Waterbury, CT and
contains a skit on side 1 and a "discussion" on the flip side.
The recording was made on a Wilcox-Gay
recordio machine; it was recorded at 78 RPM and is about
4 ½ minutes in length.
The cassette recordings were made between 1969 and
1989 by various family members including Chief, Gen, Tommy Kirwan,
Dot, Joe, Frank, Ronnie and Betty. The original impetus for the
recordings was to record holiday messages for Christmas 1969 and
then send them around to other family members, who were encouraged
to add their own message before passing it on.
You can use the table below to either play the recordings or to
download them to your local computer.
Quick Instructions:
The audio recordings were divided into a number of segments. Each
segment is shown in the table below on a separate line. Each line
contains information about the segment: Title of the segment, date
of recording, duration, Location where it was recorded and the
identities of those whose voices can be heard on the recording. The
last field contains both a short description of the recording and
the audio controls.
The audio controls should allow you to play the recording, pause it
and to control the volume. You can also use the slider to jump
around the recording if you need (for instance, to go back a few
seconds). You can also download the track in most browsers by
right-clicking the audio control bar and selecting "Save File as
..." or "Download Audio As ..." or something similar (the message
will vary depending on OS and Browser).
I recommend that you play only one audio at a time ... it'll get
confusing otherwise!
For some recordings, a transcript is available.
Those recordings which have a transcript have a link to the document
from the title of the segment. Click on the title to see the
PDF in a separate tab.
Email Jay (or call)
if you have any problems or questions!
This is a skit put on by Frank, Jimmy Kirwan and
Jack ???. The recording is scratchy, and the voices
are done with fake accents, so it can be hard to
understand.
The recording was made on a vinyl-coated steel 78
RPM record;
These are the "actors" using their normal voices
making the second side recording. Unfortunately,
there are several skips in the recording towards the
end.
Chief, Joe, Tommy Kirwan, Regina Shields, Jean St.
Jacques, Betty, Joe Shields, Frank, Gen, Marilyn
A party at 244 87th St. in Brooklyn. Joe addresses
the tape to Dot. Chief plays the concertina, while
Joe and various others sing.
Joe reads Epistle
Cassette
1/18/1970
2:45
244 87th St, Brooklyn NY
Joe
Joe does a practice reading of a Pauline Epistle
to the Romans.
The date given is approximate: Joe's practice
reading is for the second Sunday after the Epiphany,
which for 1970 would be 1/18. Presumably, this was
recorded earlier. Since Gen references this track
when speaking to Dot, it may have been recorded as
early as November of 1969.
Gen's voice message to Dot. She describes the
contents of the tape along with the difficulties of
scheduling eye surgery for Chief given that weddings
are planned for Kathy Daly and Kee in December and
January.
