Wondering About Lost History

I remember my grandparents up in their attic had this old machine which I always thought was cool because it had this big microphone which was wired into it. It played 78 records but it also recorded on them. It was basically a machine where you could make your own recordings on blank 78rpm records. It must have been from the 1940s or so I imagine. I remember it never worked, at least since I was a child. But it must have worked at one time. I wish they had kept it and the records. I remember it had these big vacuum tubes in the back too, probably impossible to get parts for such a machine nowadays, plus where would you get blank 78rpm vinyls to record on? The needle arm and the turntable looked like they were made out of lead or some other really strong metal material and always looked rusted. I remember hacking it up finally a few decades back because it was just taking up too much room. I feel bad about that now.

“But in that moment I understood what they say about nostalgia, that no matter if you’re thinking of something good or bad, it always leaves you a little emptier afterward.”

Even if I couldn’t get it to work it would be a cool piece of nostalgia and possibly a conversation piece. The back piece was missing so you could look inside and I remember seeing those two large tubes which were probably burnt out by that time. I think it also had a radio tuner on the front. I tried googling around to see if I could find the machine but nothing I saw looked like the one that I remember. Might have been some sort of Stomberg Carlson model. The saddest part to me are the recordings themselves. I wonder what was said on them. Sadly, those are now also long gone. It would’ve been cool to hear what was said, even if nothing earth shattering.

I got to thinking about this after seeing some videos from some vinyl collectors and it must have jarred my memory. Also I found out that the “lost” family 8mm tapes have been found, so I’m planning on going over them next week sometime. Hoping to find some gems of my younger self in them.