Panasonic Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder
date: label: Date
content: circa 1967
notes: label: Caption
content: This Panasonic Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder model RQ-705 was manufactured between 1964 and 1966 by the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. in Japan and exported to the United States.
label: Caption
content: Reel-to-reel audio tape recording used two magnetic tape reels, one to hold the virgin, unrecorded tape and one to receive the recorded tape. The supply reel, also known as the feed reel, was placed in a hub, the end of the tape was manually pulled out of the reel and threaded through mechanical guides and the tape head assembly and attached to the second take-up reel, which was initially empty. This new system of recording on tape revolutionized sound recording and reproduction. Inexpensive reel-to-reel tape recorders were widely used at home for voice recordings in the 1960s. The cassette tape was introduced in 1963 and eventually replaced reel-to-reel recorders for consumer use.
label: Caption
content: Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner, a noted African American linguist, probably bought this recorder for entertainment at home. He last conducted fieldwork in the 1950s, so it is unlikely that he used this recorder for his research.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection
creditLine: label: Cite As
content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Anacostia Community Museum
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2003.0032.0393
objectType: label: Type
content: tape recorder
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: metal, plastic, wire, and foam.
label: Dimensions
content: 6 7/16 × 13 7/8 × 14 1/2 in. (16.4 × 35.3 × 36.8 cm)