Found It!

Between these two lists, I figured my problem out.  My TZ87 tape drive
works perfectly under Linux.  I found a product called vmsbackup that
allows unix users to extract plain-text files from a VMS backup tape. 
If anyone else is interested in such a piece of arcana, it can be
downloaded from http://vms.process.com/ftp/vms-freeware/FREE-VMS/.  I
had to hack the code (can't use any other word than that, as I'm not a C
coder at *all*) to eliminate certain files from being attempted.  Once I
did all that, every came off the tape nice and clean.

Next topic will be...  *smile*

Thanks to everyone who has had input here - I really do appreciate the
help!

Becca