Yesterday, Librarian of Congress Dr. James Billington added 25 new sound recordings to the Library’s National Recording Registry. Under the terms of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian, with advice from the Library’s National Recording Preservation Board, is tasked with selecting 25 recordings every year that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and are at least 10 years old. The selections for the 2010 registry bring the total number of recordings to 325. This year’s selection includes an array of content, from a Tammy Wynette song to a De La Soul album, from recordings of the now-extinct Yahi language to songs of humpback whales recorded in 1970. Check out the 25 new selections here. Have your own thoughts about what should be named in next year’s selection? You can officially submit a nomination online! Or, feel free to “muse” about it in our comments below!
Also included in the new selection is a 1908 recording of an American favorite – Take Me Out to the Ballgame, recorded by Edward Meeker and the Edison Orchestra. Comic vocalist Edward Meeker sings on this Edison cylinder recording. Meeker delivers the song in his stentorian, but good-natured baritone, including both verses, which remind us that the song is about a baseball-loving woman. We blogged about our sheet music for Take Me Out to the Ballgame almost exactly one year ago, so I invite you to take a look back at the April 5, 2010 blog post and read a bit about what Senior Music Specialist Susan Clermont has to say about this American classic.
April 8, 2011 at 10:33 am
I think there are some other choices for culturally significant rap albums that should have been added before 3 Feet High and Rising (which is a good album). Straight Outta Compton, Illmatic, Ready to Die, Death Certificate and 36 Chambers come to mind. Each was groundbreaking and different in nature than anything else being made at the time.
I also think that Britney Spears “Hit Me Baby One More Time” is very significant and should be added. Like it or not, it changed the nature of pop music and especially the ubiquity of girls in their late teens making hit songs. I definitely think it had a bigger impact on the culture of the world than recordings of humpback whales.
April 8, 2011 at 5:09 pm
Carl – nice to hear from you again! Feel free to e-mail in nominations to recregistry@loc.gov. We’ll see what gets included in next year’s selection…
April 12, 2011 at 1:27 pm
I believe that N*SYNC’s “Bye, Bye, Bye” should be added as well. Even though it was a boy band, they were very impacting around the time of that albums release.