Preserving The Sound Of America

The Library Of Congress Is Looking For Quintessentially American Recordings To Add To Its Collection

(CBS)  A lot of people will probably find it surprising that in a lofty institution like the Library of Congress, you can find the Guttenberg bible and you can also find a recording of "I Can't Get No Satisfaction."

The song that made the bad boys of rock and roll into icons is one of 225 unique sound recordings on the National Recording Registry. Created by congress in 2000 to help preserve significant moments in American history, the library adds 25 new quintessentially American sounds to the list each year.

"This is from 1987 and its Sousa's band playing 'Star And Stripes Forever,' the first recording of 'Stars And Stripes Forever'," says Gene DeAnna, the director of recorded sound division at the Library of Congress.

The collection includes an amazing array of sound, from Mami Smith's 1920 recording of "Crazy Blues" to the tragedy of Herbert Morrison's famous reporting on the Hindenberg.

There are also great sports moments, such as the famous rematch between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, which was heard by 70 million people in 1938.

"Max Schmeling was a wonderful man," DeAnna says. "It turns out he refused to join the Nazi party, he had a Jewish manager and he ended up befriending Joe Louis after the war and actually helping him financially."

Nominations for the list come from the public and must be at least 10 years old. DeAnna and a special committee then have the tough task of narrowing the choices down.

"We probably take hundreds of nominations, and we whittle it down for the librarians to a smaller group by genre," DeAnna says. "And 25 are then selected."

Making the decision about what to include can be difficult. The recordings must be historically significant, signal a major change and meet the library's strict standards.

Asked to give an example of something too hot to be included, DeAnna says, "The example that comes to mind, to me, is a Richard Pryor record."

He says, "I think out of context, the language and often edgy, racial overtones of the recording could be put against the library and it could hurt feelings."

Martin Luther King's 1963 "I Have A Dream" speech was one of the first recordings to make the list. One of the most recent is Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes" from 1955. It beat out Elvis Presleys' more famous remake because Perkins' version came first.

DeAnna hopes the registry brings attention to library's general catalog of three million other recordings and increases awareness for sound preservation.

"We're talking about the entire 20th century basically," DeAnna says, "And we have our oral record, our oral scrapbook of our country, that we need to preserve."

This years nominations officially closed on July 1. The Library of Congress will now go through the list and announce its final selections next spring.

[pmichaelb]

Please correct the transcript of the story: the Sousa recording is from 1897, not 1987.

[lwhiway]

Quote "This is from 1987 and its Sousa's band playing 'Star And Stripes Forever,' the first recording of 'Stars And Stripes Forever'," says Gene DeAnna, the director of recorded sound division at the Library of Congress. End Quote

Considering Sousa died in 1932, don't cha know.