Video from 1995

Until very recently, I had a box with twelve 3/4" U-matic videotapes that dated from the 1980s and 1990s from my university days in the early 80s and volunteering at the Rogers 22 community TV station in the mid-90s.

The tapes were in a box collecting dust. Every few years, I'd look into getting them downloaded but it was always difficult to find someone with the right equipment, at an affordable price, and where it wasn't too complicated.

Until now. Someone on Reddit asked about downloading VHS tapes in Ottawa, and someone else replied with several options. I sent emails to a couple of the choices and it turns out that Ottawa Video Transfer has a U-matic machine, and they were willing to do it at a reasonable price. They sent a courier for the pickup and return and put the resulting mp4s on a thumb drive.

The box of tapes is now gone and I have started the process of trimming the clips, adding in things like titles, name captions and close captions and uploading them to Youtube.

The first is from September 1995 with Corinne Baumgarten reporting on the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair. Camera work by David Taylor. Interviews with John Barton, Chris Edwards, Roberta Huebner, rob mclennan, Lorraine Montgomery and Theresa Morrow.