The Library of Congress has released the 25 recordings selected this year to be preserved for all time as part of the National Recording Registry. They range from the old and classical (violinist Jascha Heifetz’ recordings for Victor Records early in the last century) to more recent rock (The Who, singing “My Generation”) and from a high lonesome sound (The Stanley Brothers singing “Rank Stranger”) to the sound of a creature that might be extinct (recordings made in 1935 of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker). History is there: Marian Anderson’s recital at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 and Winston Churchill’s speech of 1946 which introduced the term “Iron Curtain.” A couple of special treats include Etta James singing her iconic song “At Last,” and Welsh poet Dylan Thomas reading his hilarious “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” which includes a reference to a late, lamented aunt “alas, no longer whinnying with us.”
Details about the National Recording Registry can be found here