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Category: Film

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

Lobbying for the Silver Screen

Posted by: Erin Allen

The following is a guest post by Brian Taves, senior cataloging specialist in the Library’s Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. A new gift to the Library’s Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division reminds us that movies are more than just the image on the screen and the sounds that accompany them. They …

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

The Registry — and Beyond

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

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 …

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

Hold Your Nose While You Read This

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

What can you say about an artist who directed and co-designed the sets for an opera about a guy whose nose detaches from his face and – well – runs off? Leora Maltz-Leca, a Library of Congress fellow of the Swann Foundation, which supports the arts of cartooning and caricature, will answer that question on …

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

Organ-izing Some Tuneful Shows in Culpeper

Posted by: Matt Raymond

The following is a guest post by Mike Mashon, head of the Moving Image Section in the Motion Picture, Broadcast and Recorded Sound Division: When I was a kid, I associated organ music with three things: church, baseball games, and roller skating rinks. As a teenager I became interested in silent films, and most of …

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

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 …