stupid question: how does one read the usenix tapes

[Timothy R. Giebelhaus]

I assumed that I would be able to read the usenix tapes by
simply doing "tar xv".  I get a file call source_archive
and I have no idea what to do with the file.  The file
gets loaded all too quickly so I suspect I am loading the
tape with the wrong method.  Could someone help me out and
tell me how to get the info off the tape?

Besides, when I get the source_archive file, I don't know
what to do with it.  ar says it does not know it and it
does not look like a shell script.  What does one do with
the source_archive file?
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