The Beta videocassette tapes are field recordings made in 1987-1988 primarily for the Minnesota Musical Traditions Series, including digital masters from the Norwegian-American, Ojibwa, and Mexican LPs. National Heritage Fellowship Award winner Christy Hengel, a German-American concertina maker from New Ulm, Minnesota, is featured on one tape. Nusbaum has characterized the recording quality as “a bit grainy.” The Beta videocassette tapes are presently unviewable as no player has yet been located that will produce a useable signal from them. The VHS tapes in the collection document a variety of performers and events.