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Tag: preservation

  • Linda Ronstadt, U2 Music to be Preserved by the Library of Congress

    The U.S. Library of Congress today announced that it has chosen 25 sound recordings to be placed in the library’s National Recording Registry. The recordings will now be preserved as “cultural, artistic, and/or historical treasures” of the U.S.

    The selections were made according to the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, which tasks the National Recording Preservation Board with selecting 25 recordings each year that are deemed to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The board is made up of experts and “leaders” of the music, recorded sound, and preservation industries.

    Each year’s selections must be at least 10 years old. Each of the selections’ best existing version will be identified and stored in the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation.

    Including this year’s selections, the Library’s collection now stands at 400 recordings. In addition, the library also holds a collection of more than 3.5 million sound recordings.

    This year’s nominees were selected from nominations submitted online and through the National Recording Preservation Board. The Library of Congress is already accepting nominations for next year’s selections.

    Prominent among the selections is the 1974 Linda Ronstadt album Heart Like a Wheel. The album includes such hits as “You’re No Good” and “Faithless Love.”

    Other recording selected for this year’s induction include the 1987 U2 album The Joshua Tree, the song “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime,” Roland Hayes’ version of the song “Were You There.” the Louvin Brothers song “When I Stop Dreaming,” the Everly Brothers song “Cathy’s Clown,” the 1962 Vaughn Meader comedy album The First Family, the Creedence Clearwater Revival song “Fortunate Son,” the original cast recording of the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd, the Jeff Buckley song “Hallelujah,”the Issac Hayes soundtrack for the movie Shaft, and the entire collection of Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential conversation recordings.

    “These recordings represent an important part of America’s culture and history,” said James Billington, Librarian of Congress. “As technology continually changes and formats become obsolete, we must ensure that our nation’s aural legacy is protected. The National Recording Registry is at the core of this effort.”

    Image via Carl Lender

  • Nature Conservancy Uses Google Maps To Improve Adopt-An-Acre Program

    It’s a funny thing about land: they’re not making any more of it. In that case, it’s probably a good idea to conserve as much of it as we can since it’s a limited resource. The Nature Conservancy, as if you couldn’t already infer from that name, takes the conservation of natural habitats very seriously and, as of today, have made it easier for people to participate in the Adopt-an-Acre program through the use of Google’s mapping technologies.

    By way of a Google Earth Outreach Developer Grant, the nonprofit organization has updated their mapping tools to include two featured areas in Texas and Virginia from which people can select acres to adopt. In case you’re unfamiliar with either of these natural treasures, Google provided a concise introduction on their blog:

    The Nash Prairie Preserve in Texas is a beautiful and vital tall prairie grassland. These prairies used to cover wide expanses in the Bottomlands region of coastal Texas, but these areas have been reduced due to metropolitan encroachment. More than 120 bird species and 300 plant species thrive in this disappearing ecosystem, which you can help protect.

    The Warm Springs Mountain Preserve in Virginia is the other area within a 77,000 wildlife corridor where you can adopt a specific acre. If you have a connection to the Allegheny Mountains in Virginia, or if you are passionate about preserving species like the interior dwelling songbird, you can choose from a variety of landscapes, pristine rivers and mountain forests to conserve.

    By following the above links to either (or both, if you’re a real go-getter), people can browse the swaths of land in need of protection and personally select which patch they would like to adopt. The maps on the Nature Conservancy’s website contain interactive info-bubbles that explain the particular importance of specific areas within the preserve. See the examples below.

    So now you have the tools – sally forth and save some of that wildlife.

  • Martin Luther King Jr. Digital Archive Goes Live

    A massive collection of documents associated with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has gone live today, a fitting tribute on the great leader’s national holiday.

    The King Center Imaging Project, a collaboration of The King Center and JPMorgan Chase started back in April of 2011 with one goal: to bring the writings and associated documents of King into the digital era.

    Through the JPMorgan Chase’s Technology for Social Good program, a team of highly skilled individuals has been organized to help digitize more than 1 million documents. The team consists of imaging and archival experts, as well as students from Morehouse and Spelman Colleges, the King family’s alma maters and US Veterans from the US Veterans Curation Program.

    The preservation team consisted of over 400 Chase staff members, students and volunteers who combed diligently through the documents which have been stored at the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Workers handled the documents in a laboratory setting, working in shifts of 25 people “each attending to each document,” according to USA Today.

    And all of that meticulous work payed off in the form of a beautiful, easy to navigate archive full of all kinds of materials crucial to a full understanding of the iconic civil rights leader.

    The documents are varied – from a telegram he sent to John F. Kennedy to a typewritten sermon he delivered in 1966 called “New Wine in Old Bottles.” Right next to his blue book exam for a Bible study course you can find a Christmas card he received from his wife.

    And some documents with huge historical significance are also part of the collection. You can browse and even print a handwritten rough draft of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, along with a draft of his famous “I Have A Dream” speech complete with editing marks:

    The archive “is helping to preserve and extend my father’s important message to sustain the momentum of non-violent social change around the world,” said King Center president Martin Luther King III. How have you celebrated MLK Day? Let us know in the comments.