James Billington, Librarian of Congress, recently announced that 25 new entries have been chosen for the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. These selections join 375 others that were previously chosen for preservation. A recording must be at least 10 years old to be considered. This year’s selections include a variety of music, as well as, recordings of the spoken word. The music that is included in the collection is the best possible copy that the library can obtain.
Included in this year’s selections are two 1932 recordings, one by Bing Crosby and the other by Rudy Vallee, of “Brother Can You Spare a Dime.” The Everly Brothers’ “Cathy’s Clown” (1960), Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son (1969), and the original cast recording of “Sweeny Todd (1979) were also added. The non-musical additions included the presidential recordings of LBJ taped between 1963-1969, nearly 850 hours, and Lawrence Ritter interviewing baseball pioneers (1962-1966).
The public has access to all of the recordings at the library’s Recorded Sound Reference Center on Capitol Hill in Washington.