Archive for 2011 (40 posts)

The Registry — and Beyond

by

The closing days of the year are always exciting here at the Library of Congress, because the Librarian of Congress names the 25 films that are this year’s selections to the National Film Registry, which designates films that are to be preserved for posterity due to their cultural, aesthetic and historical value.

But keep in mind, it’s part of a larger preservation story that takes place every day at the Library’s Packard Campus in Culpeper, Va., a state-of-the-art facility where the nation’s library acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection (6 million items, and counting) of films, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings.

This year’s picks, the culmination of a process advised by the National Film Preservation Board with extensive public input, include “Forrest Gump” (1994), “Bambi” (1942), “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991), “Stand and Deliver” (1988), “The Lost Weekend” (1945) “Porgy and Bess” (1959) and “Norma Rae” (1979). There are many other less well-known films on this year’s list, but all are fascinating in one way or another – for example the home movies of Fayard and Harold Nicholas, famed dancers in the 1930s and 1940s.  While documenting their stage life, they captured rare footage now unable to be found anywhere else – scenes from the interior of the Cotton Club, for example.

Also on this year’s list is the 1921 full-length silent Charlie Chaplin classic, “The Kid,” featuring a child star named Jackie Coogan later known to television audiences as Uncle Fester in TV’s “The Addams Family.”

There were 2,228 films nominated to the registry this year; if you want to nominate some, you are welcome to voice your opinions at the website of the National Film Preservation Board.

And heads up! This is important!

On Thursday, Dec. 29 at 10 p.m. on PBS stations’ show “Independent Lens” (check local listings) an excellent documentary about the National Film Preservation Board and the registry will be aired.  Titled “These Amazing Shadows,” the film by Paul Mariano and Kurt Norton tells how the NFPB is saving these wonderful artworks from extinction.

If you love movies, you won’t want to miss “These Amazing Shadows.”

A Big Day for “Small-d”

by

Here at the Library of Congress, we take in more than 10,000 items a working day – books, films, music, photographs.  Many are the basic stuff of everyday research; some are rare items, especially beautiful, unusual or unique; and some are major treasures of the world, to be held and preserved for the knowledge and […]

A Stradivari Good Copy

by

To say that a violin made by master luthier Antonio Stradivari (1644 – Dec. 18, 1737) is priceless is an understatement. His are some of the finest stringed instruments ever made, often selling for several million dollars – that is, when they are lucky enough to be found and put on the market. Of the […]

A New Copyright Blog — and a Challenge

by

The following is a guest post by Maria A. Pallante, Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office. See the new U.S. Copyright Office blog at //blogs.loc.gov/copyrightdigitization/ Help Wanted: Have you ever attempted to build an electronic index and searchable database of a complex and diverse collection of 70 million imaged historical records? […]

Authors! Authors!

by

Well, we promised you two days’ worth of writers for the 2011 Library of Congress National Book Festival – and here they come: an unprecedented 112 authors, poets and illustrators will speak and meet with their readers at the free public event on Saturday, Sept. 24 and Sunday, Sept. 25 on the National Mall! What’s […]

Hey There

by

If you love Broadway, we have a treat for you.  The Music Division of the Library of Congress has received a collection from the estate of Broadway giant John Raitt, who originated the role of Billy Bigelow in the Rodgers and Hammerstein show “Carousel” and also starred in “The Pajama Game,” “Oklahoma!” and other top […]

A Paycheck, and a Gut-Check

by

For poets, verse is their work. But for poet Philip Levine, work is the stuff of poetry. Levine — named the 18th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2011-2012 today by the Librarian of Congress — has been known for decades as the bard of the “working stiffs,” the people who actively toil for their […]

Gateway to Knowledge Guest Post #23

by

This is the 23rd in a series of guest posts by Abigail Van Gelder, who with her husband, Josh, is journeying across the country on the Library’s “Gateway to Knowledge” traveling exhibition: Now that we are back to our normal schedule of visiting two communities a week, I think it’s time to talk about the […]

A Wall-to-Wall Weekend of Wow

by

The lineup for the 2011 National Book Festival – going to two days this year for the first time – continues to grow, with information on scores of authors, video clips of authors and book-lovers, and a “countdown clock” among the features of the festival website now live. Always a family-friendly event, this year’s festival […]