By Michelle Kennedy
News-Chronicle
Have a bunch of records in your basement collecting dust and mildew? Or are you one of the few who have refused to go digital and still play your golden oldies on your prehistoric turntable?
Well, for those who still believe that vinyl reigns supreme, you might be pleased to know that there is potential beyond even eBay for a thorough collection.
The road from record collector to historian may seem like a long one, but it was actually a short jump for one Green Bay man.
Chris Wood has collected record albums since he was in the sixth grade. "I think my first album was of the Lovin' Spoonful," he said. "But then I went on a mission to collect a complete set of the original Beatles' albums."
Through the years, Wood's collection expanded to include historical albums of speeches given by presidents and other known public figures throughout the 20th century.
A recording of Martin Luther King giving his "I have a dream" speech in Detroit, several weeks the March on Washington, was a surprise even to the collector.
"I had no idea he had given that speech before the march," Wood said. "And it was so interesting to hear it in a different context."
His collection also includes the sounds and conversations of the moon landings, the original Mercury astronauts, Robert F. Kennedy, Sen. Joe McCarthy, President Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill, and a little-known recording of President Warren G. Harding.
But his most prized collection centers around President John F. Kennedy. His Kennedy collection is formidable and includes the president's speeches and interviews as well as the exhaustive media coverage of the days following Kennedy's assassination.
Of course, Wood's first goal was to listen to his albums, until after a visit to the The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, which currently has more than 20,000 newspapers, photographs, books, magazines, video and audio tapes in its collection.
"Our job is to recount history," museum archivist Gary Mack said. "Not to force conspiracy theories."
The museum's collection includes the Parkland Hospital records from the treatment of President Kennedy, as well as Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby, and the approximately 650 original negatives of the Dallas Times Herald newspaper's photographs from the weekend of the assassination.
After viewing the collections, Wood noticed that the extensive collection included very little in the way of record albums.
"So I left a note at the museum and photocopies of some of the more unusual album covers that I have and left them at the front desk for Gary Mack," he said. "He called me and told me he hadn't realized that such an extensive amount of albums of this sort existed. So, I offered to donate them."
So the Chris Wood collection of 19 albums will soon stand alongside collections of Tom Dillard, the chief photographer for the Dallas Morning News, and Julia Knecht, the personal assistant to Maj. Gen. Edwin Walker, a controversial Army general who retired in 1961 at President Kennedy's request. Walker was allegedly shot at by Lee Harvey Oswald two years later.
"The collection won't stand alone," Mack said. "But it will be pulled out as needed, and of course, he will be credited with the donation." Wood said that no matter how they use the collection, he is just proud to have it mean something.
"There is just so much history in these albums," he said. "It's like being transported to a different time - you can visualize yourself in the moment."
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