Long before the CD, the cassette or the 8-track, there was the Dictaphone.  By today’s standards, it was large and had poor audio quality, but in its day, it was the office tool to have if you were running with the big boys. In the beginning, its only competition was the vinyl record, which won for better audio quality and distribution, but for onsite recording and playback, the Dictaphone was the tool to use until magnetic tape became the standard.

This Dictaphone belonged to Joseph Brown, head of traffic for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and is now part of the collection at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum.

Dictaphone