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Category: Audiovisual

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

All That Jazz … and Humor, Opera, Dance Music …

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

Today the Library of Congress, in conjunction with Sony Music Entertainment, launched a website – “the National Jukebox” – that streams 10,000 sound recordings from the historic Victor Records collection.  It’s a fun and fascinating ramble for anyone who loves American music and wants to dig down into the roots of jazz, opera, a vast …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Your Life Flashes Before Your … Ears?

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

This year’s selections for the National Recording Registry were announced today —   the ninth annual addition to a list now totaling 325 recordings deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant and worthy of preservation for all time. According to the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian of Congress – with input from the Library’s …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

“I Am Joaquin” Shall Endure

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

Today the Librarian of Congress named the 25 films that will comprise the National Film Registry’s entries for the year 2010.  These are films that have cultural, historical or aesthetic significance that warrants their preservation for posterity.  All in all, there are 550 films in the registry. Although there is great variety in this year’s …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

See You In The Funny Papers

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

There are many avenues of research at the Library of Congress. Some are a laugh riot! Take, for example, the vast collections of cartoons and caricature in the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division. For more than a century, the Library has collected pictorial humor  – collections that range from a lifetime’s worth of cartoons by …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Sound and Memory

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

The Librarian of Congress today named 25 new entries to the National Recording Registry, a designation given to recordings that are culturally, historically or aesthetically significant and at least 10 years old.  This year’s entries bring the total to 300 and include recordings made famous by a range of artists from Tupac Shakur, Little Richard …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Come Laugh With Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

Beloved comedian Bob Hope’s legacy has gotten new legs with the opening of the Library of Congress exhibition “Hope for America: Performers, Politics & Pop Culture.” An online preview is available here. “Hope for America” explores the special relationship between comedians and politicians and the way it changed in the century that encompassed Hope’s life and …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Library’s Flickr Site Celebrates the Taggable Twos

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

(Guest post by Michelle Springer, Library of Congress Office of Strategic Initiatives) Jan. 16 is the two-year anniversary of the launch of the Library’s account on Flickr, the photosharing website. We started with approximately 3,100 photos in our account; today 30 additional archives, libraries, and museums from the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain, the …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

The Soundtrack of Our (Cartoon) Lives

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

A cartoon can be engaging and funny and tell a story without any audible sound at all; even newspaper cartoons of the 20th century featured characters such as Ferd’nand and The Little King, (external links) who went through their paces, frame-by-frame, with little or no dialogue to move the story along. But sometimes, more is more, as …