Library of Congress's Blog, page 78

This Year’s National Recording Registry

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Cyndi Lauper’s “She’s So Unusual” album is one of the 25 inductees into the 2018 class of the National Recording Registry. Image credit: Portrait Records/Epic/Sony. 

“Super Fly”! “September”! “Sweet Caroline”! “Soul Man”! And those are just the ones that start with “S”!

Ladies and gentlemen, this year’s selections for the National Recording Registry are now official, as per the announcement of the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden. The inductees span a century, from 1901 to 2001, focuses primarily on the 1960s (eight of the 25 selections), and preserves everything from the “Attractive Hebrews” of the Standard Phonograph Company’s Yiddish Cylinders, to the no-nonsense marshal of Dodge City, Matt Dillon, of “Gunsmoke.”

The moments are poignant as Robert F. Kennedy’s speech after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., as sweet as Neil Diamond’s stadium standard, and as hip as Curtis Mayfield’s ode to ’70s cool, “Super Fly.”

“I’ve learned that when I first sang ‘Soul Man,’ it was the first time that those words had ever been used together in the English language,” said Sam Moore, who, along with Dave Prater, formed the Sam & Dave duo, “to which I can only say ‘wow’!”

Here’s the best eight minutes of your day:

{mediaObjectId:'84272A376BE600AEE0538C93F11600AE',playerSize:'mediumStandard'}

And here’s the best ninety seconds:

{mediaObjectId:'84272A33FEB30058E0538C93F1160058',playerSize:'mediumStandard'}

The new additions pushes the Registry to 525 titles. The songs are preserved in the Library’s Packard Campus. This state-of-the art facility is where the nation’s library acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest (7 million and counting) collection of films, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings.

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Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint” was released on Sept. 11, 2001 — the same day as the terrorist attacks on the U.S. — and is the most recent inductee into the Registry. Image credit: Island/Def Jam/UMG.

National Recording Registry: Countdown to This Year’s Inductees

This is a guest post by Amanda Jenkins, a librarian in residence in the Library’s Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. It was first published on the Now See Hear! blog last week. We’re republishing a slightly edited version, as we’re counting down until the newest 25 additions to the Library’s National Recording Registry are announced tomorrow, March 20.

The National Recording Registry  is well-known for its selections of music of all genres, but many historic radio and spoken word recordings also have been inducted. The Registry ensures that “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” recordings are preserved for future generations, and that includes speeches, field recordings, comedy albums, early attempts at recording sound, oral histories, literary readings and…whales.

In this post, we’re celebrating some of the fascinating non-musical titles in the Registry.

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A NASA portrait of Neil Armstrong from the Library’s Prints & Photographs Division.

Apollo 11 Astronaut Neil Armstrong Broadcast from the Moon (July 21, 1969) – inducted in 2004.

Neil Armstrong’s 1969 moonwalk, in which he was joined by fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lasted two hours and 13 minutes. They collected soil samples, took photos and hoisted an American flag. Throughout their excursion, the astronauts maintained a steady radio conversation between themselves and Mission Control in Houston, Texas. From that conversation comes some of the most famous words in human history— “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Read an essay by Cary O’Dell of the National Recording Preservation Board (and regular Now See Hear! blogger) about the broadcast.

A transcript of the transmission, with audio and video clips, can be found on NASA’s website.

“2000 Years with Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks” (1961) – inducted in 2008

The secret to living 2000 years? “Never touch fried foods!” In their party routine first performed for friends, Mel Brooks played a 2000-year-old man, while Carl Reiner interviewed him. After much convincing, the two writers for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows,” recorded their ad-libbed dialogue for a 1961 album. Interview subjects ranged from marriage (“I was married over 200 times!”) to children (“I have over 1500 children and not one of them ever comes to visit!”) and to transportation (“What was the means of transportation? Fear!”).

Listen to a Studio 360 feature on this comedy recording.

Phonautograms, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville (ca. 1853-1861) – inducted in 2010

In late 1853 or early 1854, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville captured the first recorded sounds by etching onto blackened glass plates the movements of a boar’s-bristle stylus, vibrating in sympathy with a guitar and a human voice. Later, Scott made recordings on paper wrapped around a drum. The resulting “phonautograms” proved crucial to the development of recorded sound. Scott was interested solely in the visible tracings of sound waves in order to study acoustics and did not record with the intention of playing back or listening to his recordings. Nevertheless, in 2008, researchers from the First Sounds group, using contemporary audio technology (developed with the support of several institutions, including the Library of Congress and the National Recording Preservation Board) were able to play back Scott’s recordings for the very first time.

Listen to the phonautograms on the First Sounds website.

Cylinder Recordings of Ishi (1911–14) – inducted in 2010

Recorded on 148 wax cylinders between September 1911 and April 1914, these recordings represent the largest audio collection of the extinct Yahi language. Ishi, the last surviving member of the Northern California Yahi tribe and the last speaker of its language, sings traditional Yahi songs and tells stories, including the story of “Wood Duck” recorded on 51 cylinders. The complete recordings, totaling 5 hours and 41 minutes, were made by anthropologists Alfred Kroeber and T.T. Waterman during Ishi’s five-year residency at the University of California Museum of Anthropology in San Francisco (now the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, UC Berkeley). The cylinders are held at the Hearst Museum in Berkeley.

Read an essay by Cary O’Dell for a more detailed account of these recordings.

“All Things Considered,” first broadcast (May 3, 1971) – inducted in 2016

The National Public Radio flagship news program “All Things Considered” launched on May 3, 1971, one month after the network itself began broadcasting.  With an emphasis on “interpretation, investigative reporting on public affairs, the world of ideas and the arts,” in the words of programming head Bill Siemering, “All Things Considered” aimed to give voice to diverse segments of American society in a relaxed, conversational mode.  The first broadcast, however, featuring recorded excerpts from a huge antiwar protest in the nation’s capital that took place the same day, was “raw, visceral, and took listeners to the heart of America’s agonies over the war in Vietnam,” remembered Susan Stamberg, an NPR staffer at the time, who became a co-host of the show the following year.  While the inaugural program was broadcast to approximately 90 stations across the nation, reaching only a few hundred thousand listeners, “All Things Considered” has since become, according to NPR, “the most listened-to afternoon drive-time news radio program in the country.”

“The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest,” Reverend C. L. Franklin (1953) – inducted in 2010

Long before his daughter Aretha attained stardom in the 1960s, Rev. C.L. Franklin (1915-1984) was a recording star in his own right, with dozens of his riveting sermons reaching an audience well beyond his New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. African-American entrepreneur Joe Von Battle, whose record shop was only a few blocks from Franklin’s church, recorded Franklin’s sermon “The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest” and released it on three 78-rpm discs on his JVB label in 1953. In the sermon, Franklin draws his text from the Book of Deuteronomy and expounds on the parallels between “God and the eagle.” He builds to a thunderously emotional climax before his very enthusiastic and vocal congregation. Franklin’s many vocal devices inspired not only other preachers, but also gospel and rhythm-and-blues artists who appropriated many of his techniques. Franklin was a national figure in the African-American community from the 1950s on and a close friend and ally of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Songs of the Humpback Whale” (1970) – inducted in 2010

The use of underwater microphones, called hydrophones, showed that not only can whales communicate, but they do so with beauty and complexity. Frank Watlington and Roger Payne, among others, made these unique recordings. The haunting sounds on “Songs of the Humpback Whale,” along with Payne’s liner notes for CRM Records, helped turn the tide of U.S. public opinion against whaling. In addition to the album’s aesthetic and political significance, it can also be considered historically valuable: whales change their songs over time so these recordings document a cetacean performance practice of a time gone by.

“Murmurs of the Earth,” disc prepared for the Voyager spacecraft (1977) – inducted in 2007

This disc was prepared to introduce our planet aurally to any alien intelligence that might encounter the Voyager spacecraft many millions of years in the future. The disc contains encoded photographs, spoken messages, music and sounds as well as greetings delivered in 55 languages. The sound essay includes life sounds (EEGs and EKGs of the human brain and heart), birds, elephants, whales, volcanoes, rain and a baby. The 90 minutes of music features selections ranging from ragas to Navajo Indian chants, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, a Peruvian Woman’s Wedding song, and Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”

Learn more about the “Golden Record” and listen to excerpts on NASA’s website.

Due to copyrights, many Registry titles are not available for listening online. Early musical recordings are available in the National Jukebox, including a few Registry titles; interviews conducted in the 1980s by recording industry giant Joe Smith for his 1988 book, Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music, feature dozens of the musicians behind Registry titles; and many musical titles are discussed in an NPR series as well as a Studio 360 series on the Registry. Many of the non-music Registry titles can be listened to in the Recorded Sound Research Center.

A full list of the recordings in the Registry with descriptions and links to essays, podcasts, and ways to listen is available here. Have suggestions for further additions to the Registry? Take a look at the list of titles already in the Registry, and nominate a recording here.

National Recording Registry: Countdown to this year’s inductees

This is a guest post by Amanda Jenkins, a librarian in residence in the Library’s Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. It was first published on the Now See Hear! blog last week. We’re republishing a slightly edited version, as we’re counting down until the newest 25 additions to the Library’s National Recording Registry are announced tomorrow, March 20.

 

The National Recording Registry  is well-known for its selections of music of all genres, but many historic radio and spoken word recordings also have been inducted. The Registry ensures that “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” recordings are preserved for future generations, and that includes speeches, field recordings, comedy albums, early attempts at recording sound, oral histories, literary readings and…whales.

In this post, we’re celebrating some of the fascinating non-musical titles in the Registry.

[image error]

A NASA portrait of Neil Armstrong from the Library’s Prints & Photographs Division.

Apollo 11 Astronaut Neil Armstrong Broadcast from the Moon (July 21, 1969) – inducted in 2004.

Neil Armstrong’s 1969 moonwalk, in which he was joined by fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lasted two hours and 13 minutes. They collected soil samples, took photos and hoisted an American flag. Throughout their excursion, the astronauts maintained a steady radio conversation between themselves and Mission Control in Houston, Texas. From that conversation comes some of the most famous words in human history— “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Read an essay by Cary O’Dell of the National Recording Preservation Board (and regular Now See Hear! blogger) about the broadcast.

A transcript of the transmission, with audio and video clips, can be found on NASA’s website.

“2000 Years with Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks” (1961) – inducted in 2008

The secret to living 2000 years? “Never touch fried foods!” In their party routine first performed for friends, Mel Brooks played a 2000-year-old man, while Carl Reiner interviewed him. After much convincing, the two writers for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows,” recorded their ad-libbed dialogue for a 1961 album. Interview subjects ranged from marriage (“I was married over 200 times!”) to children (“I have over 1500 children and not one of them ever comes to visit!”) and to transportation (“What was the means of transportation? Fear!”).

Listen to a Studio 360 feature on this comedy recording.

Phonautograms, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville (ca. 1853-1861) – inducted in 2010

In late 1853 or early 1854, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville captured the first recorded sounds by etching onto blackened glass plates the movements of a boar’s-bristle stylus, vibrating in sympathy with a guitar and a human voice. Later, Scott made recordings on paper wrapped around a drum. The resulting “phonautograms” proved crucial to the development of recorded sound. Scott was interested solely in the visible tracings of sound waves in order to study acoustics and did not record with the intention of playing back or listening to his recordings. Nevertheless, in 2008, researchers from the First Sounds group, using contemporary audio technology (developed with the support of several institutions, including the Library of Congress and the National Recording Preservation Board) were able to play back Scott’s recordings for the very first time.

Listen to the phonautograms on the First Sounds website.

Cylinder Recordings of Ishi (1911–14) – inducted in 2010

Recorded on 148 wax cylinders between September 1911 and April 1914, these recordings represent the largest audio collection of the extinct Yahi language. Ishi, the last surviving member of the Northern California Yahi tribe and the last speaker of its language, sings traditional Yahi songs and tells stories, including the story of “Wood Duck” recorded on 51 cylinders. The complete recordings, totaling 5 hours and 41 minutes, were made by anthropologists Alfred Kroeber and T.T. Waterman during Ishi’s five-year residency at the University of California Museum of Anthropology in San Francisco (now the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, UC Berkeley). The cylinders are held at the Hearst Museum in Berkeley.

Read an essay by Cary O’Dell for a more detailed account of these recordings.

“All Things Considered,” first broadcast (May 3, 1971) – inducted in 2016

The National Public Radio flagship news program “All Things Considered” launched on May 3, 1971, one month after the network itself began broadcasting.  With an emphasis on “interpretation, investigative reporting on public affairs, the world of ideas and the arts,” in the words of programming head Bill Siemering, “All Things Considered” aimed to give voice to diverse segments of American society in a relaxed, conversational mode.  The first broadcast, however, featuring recorded excerpts from a huge antiwar protest in the nation’s capital that took place the same day, was “raw, visceral, and took listeners to the heart of America’s agonies over the war in Vietnam,” remembered Susan Stamberg, an NPR staffer at the time, who became a co-host of the show the following year.  While the inaugural program was broadcast to approximately 90 stations across the nation, reaching only a few hundred thousand listeners, “All Things Considered” has since become, according to NPR, “the most listened-to afternoon drive-time news radio program in the country.”

“The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest,” Reverend C. L. Franklin (1953) – inducted in 2010

Long before his daughter Aretha attained stardom in the 1960s, Rev. C.L. Franklin (1915-1984) was a recording star in his own right, with dozens of his riveting sermons reaching an audience well beyond his New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. African-American entrepreneur Joe Von Battle, whose record shop was only a few blocks from Franklin’s church, recorded Franklin’s sermon “The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest” and released it on three 78-rpm discs on his JVB label in 1953. In the sermon, Franklin draws his text from the Book of Deuteronomy and expounds on the parallels between “God and the eagle.” He builds to a thunderously emotional climax before his very enthusiastic and vocal congregation. Franklin’s many vocal devices inspired not only other preachers, but also gospel and rhythm-and-blues artists who appropriated many of his techniques. Franklin was a national figure in the African-American community from the 1950s on and a close friend and ally of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Songs of the Humpback Whale” (1970) – inducted in 2010

The use of underwater microphones, called hydrophones, showed that not only can whales communicate, but they do so with beauty and complexity. Frank Watlington and Roger Payne, among others, made these unique recordings. The haunting sounds on “Songs of the Humpback Whale,” along with Payne’s liner notes for CRM Records, helped turn the tide of U.S. public opinion against whaling. In addition to the album’s aesthetic and political significance, it can also be considered historically valuable: whales change their songs over time so these recordings document a cetacean performance practice of a time gone by.

“Murmurs of the Earth,” disc prepared for the Voyager spacecraft (1977) – inducted in 2007

This disc was prepared to introduce our planet aurally to any alien intelligence that might encounter the Voyager spacecraft many millions of years in the future. The disc contains encoded photographs, spoken messages, music and sounds as well as greetings delivered in 55 languages. The sound essay includes life sounds (EEGs and EKGs of the human brain and heart), birds, elephants, whales, volcanoes, rain and a baby. The 90 minutes of music features selections ranging from ragas to Navajo Indian chants, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, a Peruvian Woman’s Wedding song, and Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”

Learn more about the “Golden Record” and listen to excerpts on NASA’s website.

Due to copyrights, many Registry titles are not available for listening online. Early musical recordings are available in the National Jukebox, including a few Registry titles; interviews conducted in the 1980s by recording industry giant Joe Smith for his 1988 book, Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music, feature dozens of the musicians behind Registry titles; and many musical titles are discussed in an NPR series as well as a Studio 360 series on the Registry. Many of the non-music Registry titles can be listened to in the Recorded Sound Research Center.

A full list of the recordings in the Registry with descriptions and links to essays, podcasts, and ways to listen is available here. Have suggestions for further additions to the Registry? Take a look at the list of titles already in the Registry, and nominate a recording here.

National Recording Registry Countdown: Who Makes the Selections?

The National Recording Registry’s list of the 25 inductees for 2019 drops on Wednesday (March 20), so let’s answer the annual question, “Who gets to vote on this, anyhow?”

Short answer: You and anyone else can make nominations; the 22 members of the National Recording Preservation Board culls the nominees to the top few; and, ultimately, the Librarian of Congress, in consultation with Library curators, makes the final choices.

Slightly longer answer: The Registry began in 2000 with the passage of the National Recording Preservation Act.  This created the Preservation Board. Under the direction of the Librarian of Congress, the Preservation Board is to “implement a comprehensive national sound recording preservation program,” that is to be populated by songs, speeches, radio broadcasts and so on that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” It’s the companion idea to the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, which established the National Film Registry.

The Registry isn’t intended to be a collection of monster hits, nor is it to be an assemblage of obscure history — like, say, some never-heard-before solo track Miles Davis laid down in the studio one time when nobody was looking. It’s not even supposed to be the “best.”  Instead, the recording is to be “significant” in American life.

“Significant” is a debatable standard, of course, and that’s why anyone can make a nomination. There are only two requirements: There has to be an actual recording (no “lost” records); and it has to be at least 10 years old. Thousands of people make nominations every year — musicians, historians, casual listeners, industry experts, recording engineers. The Preservation Board, which takes those nominations and adds its own, is a wide-ranging group. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has a seat, as do the American Federation of Musicians, the American Folklore Society, the Country Music Association, the Audio Engineering Society, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and so on. There are five at-large members.

The resulting Registry now has more than 500 recordings, a lineup with which you may, or may not, agree. (That’s the fun thing about lists.)

Last year’s selections ranged from  1911’s “Dream Melody Intermezzo: Naughty Marietta,” by Victor Herbert and His Orchestra, to 1996’s, “Yo-Yo Ma Premieres Concertos for Violoncello and Orchestra.” That sounds highbrow. But in between were spots for the Mississippi Sheiks’s ”Sitting on Top of the World” (1930), Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” (1962), and the “Raising Hell” album by Run-DMC, in 1986. That’s the one with the “Walk This Way” mashup with Aerosmith, and it’s okay for you to play air guitar anytime you hear it. (“Freebird” isn’t in the Registry, but you can still hold up your lighter and scream for the band to play it.)

One important note: The Library’s selection doesn’t mean the Library owns the recording, or has acquired the rights to it. It only means Library recognizes its significance and preseves a recording. Some older recordings are in the public domain, but many others are not.

Stay tuned for this year’s picks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Recording Registry Countdown: Who makes the selections?

The National Recording Registry’s list of the 25 inductees for 2019 drops on Wednesday (March 20), so let’s answer the annual question, “Who gets to vote on this, anyhow?”

Short answer: You and anyone else can make nominations; the 22 members of the National Recording Preservation Board culls the nominees to the top few; and, ultimately, the Librarian of Congress, in consultation with Library curators, makes the final choices.

Slightly longer answer: The Registry began in 2000 with the passage of the National Recording Preservation Act.  This created the Preservation Board. Under the direction of the Librarian of Congress, the Preservation Board is to “implement a comprehensive national sound recording preservation program,” that is to be populated by songs, speeches, radio broadcasts and so on that are “culturally, historically or aesthetiscally significant.” It’s the companion idea to the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, which established the National Film Registry.

The Registry isn’t intended to be a collection of monster hits, nor is it to be an assemblage of obscure history — like, say, some never-heard-before solo track Miles Davis laid down in the studio one time when nobody was looking. It’s not even supposed to be the “best.”  Instead, the recording is to be “significant” in American life.

“Significant” is a debatable standard, of course, and that’s why anyone can make a nomination. There are only two requirements: There has to be an actual recording (no “lost” records); and it has to be at least 10 years old. Thousands of people make nominations every year — musicians, historians, casual listeners, industry experts, recording engineers. The Preservation Board, which takes those nominations and adds its own, is a wide-ranging group. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has a seat, as do the American Federation of Musicians, the American Folklore Society, the Country Music Association, the Audio Engineering Society, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and so on. There are five at-large members.

The resulting Registry now has more than 500 recordings, a lineup with which you may, or may not, agree. (That’s the fun thing about lists.)

Last year’s selections ranged from  1911’s “Dream Melody Intermezzo: Naughty Marietta,” by Victor Herbert and His Orchestra, to 1996’s, “Yo-Yo Ma Premieres Concertos for Violoncello and Orchestra.” That sounds highbrow. But in between were spots for the Mississippi Sheiks’s ”Sitting on Top of the World” (1930), Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” (1962), and the “Raising Hell” album by Run-DMC, in 1986. That’s the one with the “Walk This Way” mashup with Aerosmith, and it’s okay for you to play air guitar anytime you hear it. (“Freebird” isn’t in the Registry, but you can still hold up your lighter and scream for the band to play it.)

One important note: The Library’s selection doesn’t mean the Library owns the recording, or has acquired the rights to it. It only means Library recognizes its significance and preseves a recording. Some older recordings are in the public domain, but many others are not.

Stay tuned for this year’s picks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pic of the Week

 

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Gloria and Emily Estefan sing “Embraceable You” during the Gershwin Prize concert, March 13, 2019. Photo: Shawn Miller.

Taking to the Constitution Hall stage during the Gershwin Prize concert the evening of March 13, co-honoree Gloria Estefan and her daughter, Emily, sang a duet of “Embraceable You,” one of the Gershwin brothers’ standards, near the show’s end. The concert was taped for broadcast on PBS on May 3, 2019.

Inquiring Minds: Teaching American Culture Through Movies

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Thomas Doherty. Photo by Mike Lovett.

For the past three decades or so, Thomas Doherty has taught and written about films, television and Hollywood — a lot. An American studies professor at Brandeis University with a special interest in classical Hollywood, he has written seven books touching on topics including teen movies, censorship, Hitler and McCarthyism. His latest book, “Show Trial: Hollywood, HUAC, and the Birth of the Blacklist,” was published in April 2018. Doherty also writes about film for the Hollywood Reporter, Cineaste magazine and other publications, and he advocates for film, television and radio preservation.

For years now, Doherty’s work has brought him into close contact with the Library of Congress and its staff. He testified in the 1990s about the state of American television and video preservation for a major Library report on the subject; more recently, as a member of the Library’s Radio Preservation Task Force, he has articulated the value of Golden Age radio for teaching cultural history.

For his research and writing, Doherty has also drawn extensively on the Library’s vast film, television and video archives, most recently for “Show Trial.” Here he answers a few questions about his scholarship and his connections to the Library.

Tell us a little about your background and how you became a film enthusiast.

I was an Air Force brat, and the base movie theaters (back in the day) were real centers of community for the kids in remote postings —  not to mention permissible sites for budding adolescent romance. The programming was along the lines of the old classical Hollywood model, with frequent changeovers in the offerings. So I got into the habit of going two or three times a week — it wasn’t like you could play around outside at Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska, in the dead of a long winter. That’s where I first got the movie bug.

How did you come to teach film and television as a scholar? 

I weaseled my way into it as an American studies scholar. Film remains, I think, a perfect way to teach American cultural history — to select a likely film from the past and view it through the lens of its time. In my teaching, I try to keep an eye on both the aesthetic qualities of a film and its historical resonance — the way, say, the accelerating cross-cutting in “The Birth of a Nation” (1915) seduces the viewer into identifying with the KKK.

What is “Show Trial” about, and why did you want to write it now?

“Show Trial” covers the first great media-political spectacle of the postwar era, the investigation by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) into alleged communist subversion in Hollywood — a courtroom-like, high-stakes drama starring glamorous actors, colorful moguls, on-the-make congressmen, high-priced lawyers, single-minded investigators and recalcitrant screenwriters, all recorded under the lights of the newsreel cameras and broadcast over radio. I wanted to explain the political backstory to the hearings and detail the ideological agenda and theatrical elements of a proceeding that bridged the realms of entertainment and politics. The book chronicles the story of the Hollywood Ten — motion picture artists who were held in contempt of Congress and went to prison for refusing to say whether they were members of the Communist Party — and the other witnesses, friendly and unfriendly, who testified. It also covers the Committee for the First Amendment, the delegation from Hollywood that flew to Washington to protest the hearings, and the implementation of the postwar blacklist. In an age in which constraints on public discourse can seem positively Cold War-ish, and where past behavior deemed retrospectively awful can derail a career, I thought a reminder of another made-for-media political frenzy might be timely.

Which collections from the Library did you draw on for the book?

I became a fixture on the third floor of the Madison Building, where the Moving Image Section is located. The staff was characteristically helpful in dredging up the extant newsreel footage from the 1947 HUAC hearings and the other relevant materials in the archives — not just films but also trade press publications. The five newsreel companies covered the 1947 hearings like a blanket — you can see the lineup of the vintage 35mm Mitchell cameras behind the dais. One interesting fact movie-picture-wise is that the hearings from 1947 were the only HUAC hearings in D.C. covered by the newsreels. Responding to charges that the presence of the cameras created a “circus atmosphere,” the House banned the  newsreels from subsequent HUAC hearings — which explains why every time you see a documentary on the Hollywood blacklist, the filmmaker has to unspool footage from the 1947 hearings as cinematic shorthand for all of the hearings. Oh, one more thing: the Moving Image Section librarians no longer let you cue up the film reels yourself: scholars from, shall we say, a younger generation have no experience in threading a projector, so for safety’s sake, the policy is to have the professionals do it.

What other collections have you used over the years?

The Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division and its infinitely patient and knowledgeable staff has been a go-to source for virtually everything I’ve written over the years.  Of course, the main library has virtually every book and periodical known to man. Walking into that glorious rotunda, I always feel 20 IQ points more intelligent.

How did you end up on the Library’s Radio Preservation Task Force?

I am an all-around media geek, and the history of radio is so fascinating. Unlike theatrical cinema, which is an entertainment option we have now, radio as it existed in its golden age is a lost gestalt. Also lost are so many of the shows and news stories, so anytime you find a radio show from the 1930s, it’s like stumbling upon a treasure. That’s one of the reasons the Radio Preservation Task Force is so important — to help find the lost broadcasts and make them available. Funny, though, radio is so durable and persistent, changing but keeping on as a central media presence — like today, with the explosion in podcasts. There’s still an almost genetic need to listen to the human voice — whether around a campfire or driving to work.

What has your experience been like working with Library staff?

To paraphrase Blanche Dubois from “A Streetcar Named Desire”: I have always depended on the kindness of archivists. Not only do they find the stuff you’re looking for, but they point you to places you might not have thought of. Even in the age of digital search engines, there’s no substitute for a knowledgeable human who knows where the archival bodies are buried deep in the bowels of the Library. In short, my experience has been nothing like the priggish treatment given to the reporter who visits the Thatcher Library in “Citizen Kane.”

How would you describe the research value of the Library’s film collections?

Irreplaceable? Indispensable? I am always shocked that so much of the great work in film, radio and TV is lost, that the networks and the studios weren’t better custodians of their legacy.  Fortunately, the Library has been there to fill in so many of the gaps.

Guest Blog: For Love, War, and Tribute: Featherwork in the Early Americas

This is the second in series of guests posts by Giselle Aviles, the 2019 Archaeological Research Associate in the Geography and Map Division, where she is delving into the treasures of the William and Inger Ginsberg Collection of Pre-Columbian Textiles and the Jay I. Kislak Collection of the History and Archaeology of the Early Americas. It was first published on the Library’s Worlds Revealed blog by John Hessler. We’re republishing a slightly edited version here so that more people can get a glimpse of her work. Aviles is undertaking an ethnographic analysis of Andean textiles and Mesoamerican ceramics, tracing and unfolding their stories. She is a former Research Fellow of the Quai Branly Museum-Martine Aublet Foundation in Paris, and has conducted fieldwork in Puerto Rico, Haiti, Algeria, France and Spain. She has come to the Library through the Hispanic National Internship Program sponsored by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU).

From vivid reds, blues, oranges and yellows, to iridescent turquoise and purple, feathers can resemble a perfectly designed suit — delicately colored, with every detail evoking the sublime perfection of nature. It does not take much to imagine this kind of admiration for feathers many centuries ago in the early Americas, with objects like the ancient miniature tunic (shown below), part of the William and Inger Ginsberg Collection, looking as if it were made yesterday.

Miniature Tunic. Ica Valley, Peru, 1200-1350 A.D. William and Inger Ginsberg Collection, Geography and Map Division. Photo by Giselle Aviles, Archaeological Research Associate, Library of Congress.

Scholars believe that this tunic (28.3 x 28.9 cm) comes from Ica Valley in Peru and that it dates from 1200-1350 AD. Heidi King, senior research associate at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, says these tunics were likely made as offerings to the deceased or as a wak’a (an object that represents something revered in Quechua), substituting for full-size garments. A close examination reveals that both sides have small openings for arms, and that there was once an opening at the top, now sewn, presumably for the head. It gives us deep insight into the techniques and skilled manipulation of feathers and cotton that Andean artisans utilized. We can see the meticulous nature of the craft,  weaving little by little, until all the feathers were in place, creating a masterful work of art.

Tunics like this are composites, part woven textile and part natural feathers. They can be difficult to trace by date. Many are attributed to the Nasca (1st B.C.-7th A.D.) and Huari  (7th-10th century) cultures because of their origin on the south coast of Peru. Although we do not have written documentation on feather workers from the Ica Valley of the 12-13th century A.D, later sources of information provide us some clues to their techniques and origin.

 

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Ultraviolet and Visible Light Microscopy of the Ica Tunic. Photos and microscopy by Tana Villafana, Senior Research Scientist and Giselle Aviles, Archaeological Research Fellow, Library of Congress.

Love for feathers is found throughout the cultures of the early Americas, and there is rich historical documentation about them. Most of these are written from the post-conquest Spanish chroniclers’ point of view. Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, for example, a Peruvian noble of Inca origin, wrote El Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno Compuesto por Don Phelipe Guaman Poma de Aialas (The First New Chronicle and Good Government) in about the 17thcentury. It narrates stories of the costumes, traditions, and political structures from centuries past. Although the miniature tunic pictured here doesn’t belong to the period that Guaman Poma described, some of what he says helps us put it in context.

Guaman Poma tells us that “young boys hunted birds with slings; they kept the flesh for food and the feathers for use in the production of cloth.” Feathers were part of the patrimony of the richest nobles, and were also composed of precious stones, pearls, and necklaces. Rich Inca houses could have aviaries full of big and small macaws, parrots, parakeets, kestrels, doves, along with other birds from across the continent. The Incas valued feathers for the burial of their beloved family members. Guaman Poma writes that for someone recently deceased, “they wash his body and dress him all with his clothes and feathers and silver or gold jewelry, and put him on some ‘andas’ and go to the procession. They sing, go jumping and crying as the costume says.”

Further information can be taken from the 1770 Cartas de relación. This is a later edition of letters to King Charles V from the conquistador Hernán Cortes. It also includes other images and notes by the Archbishop of Mexico, Francisco Antonio Lorenzana. The first pages of the book show an image of Cortes offering the king a globe, a symbol of the New World, and next to him is the indigenous Nahua, dressed in a customary feathered skirt. The bow and arrow on the ground remind us that the violent swords of the Spaniards have defeated them.

Archbishop Lorenzana explains in the prologue “that his [Cortes’] obligation, imposed by the Royal Councils and Laws, was to love them tenderly and care for the Indians as minors, giving them an abundant spiritual covenant, breaking bread in small parts and the livelihood provided for their capacity and complexion.” Despite this paternalistic attitude, Lorenzana adds that the Aztecs were very ingenious in the arts, “so much that having sent to Rome a garment of the high priest of them, Achcauhquitlenamacani, the Court was marveled, and having seen the silversmiths of Madrid some pieces and bracelets of gold that Hernan Cortés had sent to King Charles V, they confessed that they were inimitable in Europe.”

Title page from the 1770 edition of Cortes Letter to Charles V showing indigenous Nahua in feathered costume. Jay I. Kislak Collection, Library of Congress.

In a section of the book entitled, “The people, which before the conquest paid tribute to Emperor Moctezuma, and in what species and quantity,” the Aztecs tax obligations are spelled out. Feathers served as tributos since people from different towns had to pay taxes to Emperor Moctezuma with the different objects they manufactured. Cortés explains that these tributos had to be paid every year and included military adornments, dresses, blankets, huipiles (traditional garments) for the women, and dresses with feathers.

Page from the Historia de Nueva-España / escrita por su esclarecido conquistador Hernán Cortés ; aumentada con otros documentos, y notas, por el ilustrisimo Señor Don Francisco Antonio Lorenzana, Arzobispo de Mexico. Jay I. Kislak Collection, Library of Congress.

Finally, an interesting manuscript from the Kislak Collection contains the reflections of  the first Viceroy of New Spain, Arturo de Mendoza y Pacheco. Relación de las Ceremonias y Ritos y Población y Gobernación de los Indios de la Provincia de Michoacán reads almost like modern ethnography. Like Cortes, he recounts the trade of the Aztecs, and also how the Purépechas, rivals of Aztecs, divided their artisans into featherworkers, stonecutters, fishermen, painters, bow-makers, hunters, merchants, shoemakers and so on.

The uscuarecuri, Mendoza tells us, were craftsman who worked with feathers to make the dresses of their gods, using feathers from papagayos, herons, and many other birds.

Page from the Relacion de las ceremonias … de los Indios de la provencia de Mechoacan, 18th century. Jay I. Kislak Collection, Library of Congress.

Mendoza, Cortés, and Guaman Poma wrote about different cultures in different eras, but there is a continuity in their observations. Through them — and in a small tunic — we can see not only the value of feathers in the Ica Valley, but also the panorama of love, war and beauty that they represent across the ancient Americas.

New CRS Content Now Online

Less than half a year ago, I announced that the Library of Congress is providing Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports to the public for the first time. Since the launch of the CRS reports website, crsreports.congress.gov, the Library has made available all new or updated reports. Created for Congress by experts in CRS, the reports present a legislative perspective on the full range of topics before the U.S. Congress. The reports are written to be timely, nonpartisan, authoritative and objective.
 
Since launching, we’ve added hundreds of new reports and are working hard to include the back catalog of older CRS reports – a process that is expected to be complete later this month. Today, you can access more than 2,300 reports on topics ranging from the Small Business Administration to farm policy. 
 
Starting this week, the Library is making additional product types available on the site. The site now includes In Focus products, which are two-page executive level briefing documents on a range of policy issues. For example, recent topics include military medical malpractice and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant. Another newly-added product type is the Insight, which provides short-form analysis on fast moving or more focused issues. Examples of topics include volcano early warning systems and Congressional Member Organizations. Users can filter by product type using the faceted search on the left hand of the search results page.
 
As we continue to add CRS products and identify ways to enhance the site, I hope you will engage with the material and explore the many other resources the Library makes available online. 

Pic of the Week: Dr. Carla Hayden Testifies Before Congress

It’s International Women’s Day, so we’re recognizing the celebration with this image of Carla Hayden, the first female Librarian of Congress, testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration earlier this week. Dr. Hayden was testifying as part of annual oversight hearings. The Library, she noted, received 1.9 million on-site visitors and more than 114 million visits to the Library’s websites.

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Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden testifies before the Senate Rules Committee, March 6, 2019. Photo by Shawn Miller.