The tapes for this interview have two tracks: a voice track containing the discussion, and a time track containing time announcements at intervals of approximately five seconds. The abstract lists, in order of discussion, the topics covered on each tape and indicates the time-marking at which point the beginning of the particular discussion appears.
Thus, the researcher, by using a tape recorder's fast-forward button, may find expeditiously and listen to discrete segments without listening to all of the taped discussion. For instance, the user who wishes to listen to the topic on “ROUTINE ON FARM” should locate the place on the second trace of tape one, side one, where the voice announces the 05:40 time-marking (the voice says at this point, “five minutes, forty seconds”), and at this point switch to the first track to hear the discussion. The discussion on “ROUTINE ON FARM” continues until approximately 06:10, at which point discussion of the next topic (“TAKES JOB ON CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, LAKE MICHIGAN STEAMER”) begins.
Notice that in most cases, sentences beneath each headline explain more about the contents of the topic. For example, the sentence underneath. “ROUTINE ON FARM” gives further details on what appears on the tape between 05:40 and 06:10.
The abstract is designed to provide only a brief outline of the content of the tapes and cannot serve as a substitute for listening to them. However, the abstract will help the researcher to locate easily distinct topics and discussion among the many minutes of commentary.
