Re: [ARSCLIST] Nation Recordings Registry

[steven austin <stevena@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"d.. Recordings will not be considered for inclusion into the National
Recording Registry if no copy of the recording exists."

That's fair, I guess.

Pardon my ignorance on this. I'm not familiar with the Registry at all.

This (d) must refer to recordings that were made and are documented in
some recognized way, but are no longer available. But, if so, the
written documentation of the missing recordings should be adequate for
inclusion. Unless the Registry is intended to be an inventory of sorts
and not a reference of all recordings made. Is it reasonable to exclude
recordings known to have existed, but were destroyed or misplaced? Will
approved entries be removed from the list when some archive is
destroyed?

Are there historical recordings no longer in physical form which are
included under (a) that would reasonably have been excluded under (d)?
I'm thinking here of the Emperor Hirohito's address to the Japanese
people after WWII, which was recorded direct-to-disc for broadcast, but
(as I understand it) has disappeared.

Will approved National Recording Registry entries themselves be subject
to exclusion from some future index when the actual recordings have been
misplaced or lost due to accident?

Steven Austin



-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steven Smolian
Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 11:46 AM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Nation Recordings Registry

There seems some unhappiness with this year's selections based on the
need to preserve them.

Perhaps there should be such a list, but this isn't the one.  Here, from
the NRR webpage, are their criteria:

The following criteria for the selection of recordings into the National
Recording Registry are intended to be read broadly, so that as many
recordings as possible will be eligible. Nominations will be referred to
the National Recording Preservation Board and, ultimately, the Librarian
of Congress, for selection.

  a.. Recordings selected for the National Recording Registry are those
that are culturally, historically or aesthetically important, and/or
inform or reflect life in the United States.


  b.. For the purposes of recording selection, "sound recordings" are
defined as works that result from the fixation of a series of musical,
spoken, or other sounds, but not including the sound component of a
moving image work, unless it is available as an autonomous sound
recording or is the only extant component of the work.


  c.. Recordings may be a single item or group of related items;
published or unpublished; and may contain music, non-music, spoken word,
or broadcast sound.


  d.. Recordings will not be considered for inclusion into the National
Recording Registry if no copy of the recording exists.


  e.. No recording should be denied inclusion into the National
Recording Registry because that recording has already been preserved.


  f.. No recording is eligible for inclusion into the National Recording
Registry until ten years after the recording's creation.

  The following criteria for the selection of recordings into the
National Recording Registry are intended to be read broadly, so that as
many recordings as possible will be eligible. Nominations will be
referred to the National Recording Preservation Board and, ultimately,
the Librarian of Congress, for selection.

    a.. Recordings selected for the National Recording Registry are
those that are culturally, historically or aesthetically important,
and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.


    b.. For the purposes of recording selection, "sound recordings" are
defined as works that result from the fixation of a series of musical,
spoken, or other sounds, but not including the sound component of a
moving image work, unless it is available as an autonomous sound
recording or is the only extant component of the work.


    c.. Recordings may be a single item or group of related items;
published or unpublished; and may contain music, non-music, spoken word,
or broadcast sound.


    d.. Recordings will not be considered for inclusion into the
National Recording Registry if no copy of the recording exists.


    e.. No recording should be denied inclusion into the National
Recording Registry because that recording has already been preserved.


    f.. No recording is eligible for inclusion into the National
Recording Registry until ten years after the recording's creation.