The National Recording Registry is a list of

sound recording Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, Mechanical system, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of ...

s that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and inform or reflect life in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, which created the

National Recording Preservation Board The United States National Recording Preservation Board selects recorded sounds for preservation in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. The National Recording Registry was initiated to maintain and preserve "sound recordings tha ...

, whose members are appointed by the

Librarian of Congress The librarian of Congress is the head of the Library of Congress, appointed by the president of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, for a term of ten years. The librarian of Congress also appoints and overs ...

. The recordings preserved in the United States National Recording Registry form a registry of recordings selected yearly by the National Recording Preservation Board for preservation in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. The National Recording Preservation Act of 2000 established a national program to guard America's

heritage. The Act created the National Recording Registry, the National Recording Preservation Board, and a fundraising foundation. The purpose of the Registry is to maintain and preserve sound recordings and collections of sound recordings that are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. In 2002, the National Recording Preservation Board selected recordings nominated each year to be preserved. On January 27, 2003, the first 50 recordings were announced by James Billington, the

. The first four yearly lists had 50 selections each. Since 2006, 25 recordings have been selected annually. , 675 recordings have been preserved in the Registry. Each calendar year, public nominations are accepted for inclusion in that year's list of selections, which are announced the following spring. Registry title works, original or copies, are housed at the Library of Congress'
Packard Campus for Audio Video Conservation
Each yearly list typically includes a few recordings that have also been selected for inclusion in the holdings of the

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

' audiovisual collection. Political recordings on the National Recording Registry tend to overlap with the audiovisual collection of the National Archives.

Selection criteria

The criteria for selection are: * Recordings selected for the National Recording Registry are "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant", and inform or reflect culture in the United States. * Recordings will not be considered for inclusion in the National Recording Registry if no copy of the recording exists. * No recording is eligible for inclusion in the National Recording Registry until ten years after the recording's creation.

Inductees

The list shows overlapping items and whether the National Archives has an original or a copy of the recording.

Notes

Statistics

, the oldest recording on the list is Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville's Phonautograms, which date back to the 1850s. The most recent is the original Broadway cast recording of ''

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

'' from 2015. Selections vary widely in duration. The early Edison recordings, the instrumental " Rumble" by

Link Wray Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. His 1958 Instrumental rock, instrumental single "Rumble (instrumental), Rumble", reached the ...

, " Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets, and the ''Super Mario Bros.'' theme by Koji Kondo each clock in at under three minutes. The Edison "Talking Doll" cylinder is only 17 seconds long, "The

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

Sound" by

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

lasts 6 seconds and some of Scott de Martinville's Phonautographs are just as brief. Meanwhile,

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt, and London, and as a long-servi ...

's recording of

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's complete '' Ring Cycle'' is approximately 15 hours in duration,

Alexander Scourby Alexander Scourby (; November 13, 1913 – February 22, 1985) was an American film actor, film, television actor, television, and voice actor and narrator known for his deep and resonant voice and Northeastern elite accent, Mid-Atlantic acce ...

's recitation of the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...

is over 80 hours, and

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

's recordings are nearly 850 hours in length. Two significant

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

episodes are included: " The Giant Pool of Money" from '' This American Life'' (focusing on the

subprime mortgage crisis The American subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010, contributing to the 2008 financial crisis. It led to a severe economic recession, with millions becoming unemployed and many busines ...

causing the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

) and the

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and comedie ...

interview from '' WTF with Marc Maron'' (before his death from suicide in 2014). The ''Super Mario Bros.'' theme was the first piece of

video game music Video game music (VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to t ...

to be selected for the Registry.The Sounds of America: The Super Mario Bros. theme song, 1A
/ref>

Multiple entries

References

External links

National Recording Preservation Board

Full National Recording Registry

NPR ''All Things Considered''
nbsp;– series spotlighting selections from the Registry
Selection spotlights
on

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

1A ''The Sounds of America''
– series spotlighting selections from the Registry {{Authority control United States history-related lists Library of Congress Music-related lists Reference material lists 2000 establishments in the United States