National Recording Registry
Updated February 11, 2017 | Infoplease Staff
In 2002, the Library of Congress took its first step to preserve American sound recordings and selected the first 50 recordings to start a national registry.
(Listed in chronological order.)
- Edison Exhibition Recordings (Group of three cylinders): “Around the World on the Phonograph;” “The Pattison Waltz;” “Fifth Regiment March.” (1888–1889).
- The Jesse Walter Fewkes field recordings of the Passamaquoddy Indians. (1890)
- “Stars and Stripes Forever” Military Band. Berliner Gramophone disc recording. (1897)
- Lionel Mapleson cylinder recordings of the Metropolitan Opera. (1900–1903)
- Scott Joplin ragtime compositions on piano rolls. Scott Joplin, piano. (1900s)
- Booker T. Washington's 1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech. (1906 recreation)
- “Vesti la giubba” from Pagliacci. Enrico Caruso. (1907)
- “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Fisk Jubilee Singers. (1909)
- Lovey's Trinidad String Band recordings for Columbia Records. (1912)
- “Casey at the Bat.” DeWolf Hopper, reciting. (1915)
- “Tiger Rag.” Original Dixieland Jazz Band. (1918)
- “Arkansas Traveler” and “Sallie Gooden.” Eck Robertson, fiddle. (1922)
- “Down-Hearted Blues.” Bessie Smith. (1923)
- “Rhapsody in Blue.” George Gershwin, piano; Paul Whiteman Orchestra. (1924)
- Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings. (1925–1928)
- Victor Talking Machine Company sessions in Bristol, Tennessee. Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Ernest Stoneman, and others. (1927)
- Harvard Vocarium record series. T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, others, reciting. (1930–1940s)
- Highlander Center Field Recording Collection. Rosa Parks, Esau Jenkins, others. (1930s–1980s)
- Bell Laboratories experimental stereo recordings. Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, conductor. (1931-1932)
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt's radio “Fireside Chats.” (1933–1944)
- New Music Recordings series. Henry Cowell, producer. (1934–1949)
- Description of the crash of the Hindenburg. Herbert Morrison, reporting. (1937)
- “Who's on First.” Abbott and Costello's first radio broadcast version. (1938)
- “War of the Worlds.” Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater. (1938)
- “God Bless America.” Kate Smith. Radio broadcast premiere. (1938)
- The Cradle Will Rock. Marc Blitzstein and the original Broadway cast. (1938)
- The John and Ruby Lomax Southern States Recording Trip. (1939)
- Grand Ole Opry. First network radio broadcast. Uncle Dave Macon, Roy Acuff, and others. (1939)
- “Strange Fruit.” Billie Holiday. (1939)
- Duke Ellington Orchestra “Blanton-Webster Era” recordings. (1940–1942)
- Bela Bartok, piano, and Joseph Szigeti, violin, in concert at the Library of Congress. (1940)
- “Rite of Spring.” Igor Stravinsky conducting the New York Philharmonic. (1940)
- “White Christmas.” Bing Crosby. (1942)
- “This Land is Your Land.” Woody Guthrie. (1944)
- General Dwight D. Eisenhower's D-Day radio address to the Allied Nations. (1944)
- “Koko.” Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. (1945)
- “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. (1947)
- “How High the Moon.” Les Paul and Mary Ford. (1951)
- Elvis Presley's Sun Records sessions. (1954–1955)
- Songs for Young Lovers. Frank Sinatra. (1955)
- Dance Mania. Tito Puente. (1958)
- Kind of Blue. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, and others. (1959)
- “What'd I Say,” parts 1 and 2. Ray Charles. (1959)
- “I Have a Dream.” Speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
- Freewheelin'. Bob Dylan. (1963)
- “Respect!” Aretha Franklin. (1967)
- Philomel: for soprano, recorded soprano, and synthesized sound. Bethany Beardslee, soprano. (1971)
- Precious Lord: New Recordings of the Great Gospel Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey. Thomas Dorsey, Marion Williams, and others. (1973)
- Crescent City Living Legends Collection (New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Archive/WWOZ New Orleans). (1973–1990)
- “The Message.” Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. (1982)
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