Civil rights activist and Representative John Conyers used this reel-to-reel tape recorder during his early years in Congress. Though the technology passed out of use, the machine remained in Conyers’s office for his 52 years in the House, from 1965 to 2017. Conyers represented a Detroit district, and a portable tape recorder such as this would have logged many miles. In addition to trekking to and from his Detroit district, Conyers and fellow Representative Charles Diggs organized a 1965 fact-finding mission of fifteen Congressmen. They investigated local efforts to block African Americans from registering to vote following protests in Selma, Alabama.
