(soft wind blowing) MAN: Shall we go to the vault?

DWAYNE TOMAH: Yeah, absolutely.

NAVCC EMPLOYEE: These are all Passamaquoddy cylinders recorded in 1890.

TOMAH: Oh, my God.

Wow.

DAN GOLDING: I'’’m here to document Dwayne Tomah'’’s recovery of Passamaquoddy language recordings from 19th-century wax cylinders.

MELISSA WIDZINSKI: So let'’’s give this a listen.

(man singing Passamaquoddy song on recording) GOLDING: But the team at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center has also found something deeply personal to me.

BRYAN HOFFA: You know, we were talking about your great-grandfather's cylinders that are here in the library?

DAN GOLDING: Yeah.

Well, we pulled some of them out of the vault, and we're gonna play them for you.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

So, come on in.

- Great.

Yeah.

(all chuckling) DAN GOLDING: Right on.

Nate, come in here.

This is, uh, my son, Nate.

He's been helping out on the production.

WIDZINSKI: Hi, Nate.

DAN GOLDING: It's really cool for him to hear what's going on.

So, this is another cylinder that looks to be in very good shape.

Physically, there's no cracks or chips.

DAN GOLDING: It's so amazing just to see that thing.

WIDZINSKI: Definitely.

Um, we have a little bit of hazing here on the right-hand side, but that shouldn'’’t be a problem for playback at all.

GOLDING (voiceover): These are among 9,000 turn-of-the-century Native language recordings that include over 100 different tribes.

These remarkable objects, created by anthropologists who thought Native cultures were dying, are now being used by our communities to reclaim and revitalize our languages.

Moment of truth.

Moment of truth.

The suspense is killing me.

- (chuckles) (wax cylinder playing) (man singing in Quechan playing) ♪ ♪ (singing continues) ♪ ♪ DAN GOLDING: This particular song, which is, is a Quechan deer song, which is called Kwa'k, my great-grandfather was the last one to sing these songs.

- Oh, my gosh.

- And, uh, so there's nobody left in the community that sings them.

I mean, that's pretty powerful for me to hear it, you know?

- Yeah.

- And think there may be, you know, a possibility to try to bring these songs back, you know?

- Yeah, that would be so cool.

- Yeah.

What do you think, Big Nate?

NATHANIEL GOLDING: Yeah, it's very cool and interesting, you know?

'Cause it's my great-great-grandfather.

- Yeah.

It's... - So I, I feel this connection to it.

(recording playing) DAN GOLDING (voiceover): I'm glad that my son Nathaniel is here to experience this all with me.

He's a very important part of my life.

And for him to hear his great-great-grandfather, it's pretty moving, you know?

Maybe he's the one who picks up this song.

NATHANIEL GOLDING: Listening to the cylinders, it was very emotional.

I hope these traditions are passed down to the younger generation, so the tradition could live on.

(recording playing) It gives me hope for our community to become stronger, you know-- (breath catches) it just, it just gives me hope in my heart.

The idea of these songs, uh, coming back to our people is really, um... (clicks tongue) I-I don't know, it's powerful to think that, uh, there's a chance that these songs can be sung again.

Man, I mean, this is quite the surprise, you know?

I wasn't expecting this, you know, and, and, uh, I've been trying to hear these things for, for years now.

And now, I did.

WIDZINSKI: Mm-hmm.

You know, so, it's pretty cool.

HOFFA: You're welcome.

- Well, it's so great to be able to share them.

DAN GOLDING: Awesome.

Thank you, guys.

- Yeah.

- Can't believe this.

You're gonna start me on a whole new journey.

WIDZINSKI (chuckling): Oh.

TOMAH: Yeah.

Oh, yes.