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Sam, what does this mean in practice?
Frank [Forman]

On 2002-09-19, Samuel Brylawski opined [message unchanged below]:

> Everything Les states is correct, and of course recordings
> significant for their place in the technical history of audio would be
> appropriate candidates. I take Kurt's question to be one of "eminent
> domain:" would the gov't seize Kurt's copy if it were the only one in
> existance? I am sure there are plenty of recordings in Kurt's collection
> LC would like to have but that's not the intention of the criteria nor
> the law.
> 
> Recordings on the Registry can be published or unpublished, and publicly
> or privately held. The "master" need not exist for a recording to be on
> the Registry. (That would eliminate quite a few good candidates.) What are
> eliminated are "lost" recordings, for which nothings exists, such as
> the Bettini Mark Twain, or Buddy Bolden.
> 
> This year there are preservation resources available to digitize Registry
> recordings. LC would seek the best available copy, wherever we can 
> locate it (within reason!), preserve it, and return
> it to its owner. In some cases, LC might have the best available copy
> already. In cases where, say, Kurt has the only copy or best copy, we'd
> hope to be able to borrow it, preserve it, and have a copy of it (not the
> original) available to researchers.
> 
> Hope this helps. We look forward to having your nominations.
> <http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/>
> 
> Sam
> 
> On Thu, 19 Sep 2002, Leslie Waffen wrote:
> 
> > David & Kurt and others.....As an NRPB Board alternate member and from
> > our discussions, one of the six "criteria" for nominations is that
> > unpublished (hence private recordings, broadcast recordings, etc.) can
> > be nominated as well as published (commercial) recordings be they
> > music, non-music, spoken word, or broadcast sound.  But it is unclear
> > to be me Kurt what you mean by "privately held".  Do you mean a
> > commercially made recording (released or unreleased) which would mean
> > published but in private hands?  Or privately recorded hence
> > "unpublished"?
> > 
> > Remember one of the other criteria:  "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."  Very broad, but I would speculate that
> > "technically significant for the history of recorded sound" would also
> > be understood as being in the above criteria.
> > 
> > If a recording that "exists" is placed on the registry I would imagine
> > the process would follow as it does for the National Film Registry,
> > which is when significant films that still exist were selected for the
> > registry.  The item could already have been preserved, or LC would
> > seek to locate the original or best surviving copy and if possible
> > obtain a copy which could lead to preservation work.  It does not
> > affect the owner's rights in any way.  However the item must be known
> > to "exist" on a recording which could then possibly lead to locating
> > the original or copy closest to the original, thus enhancing the
> > possibility that the item(s) will be properly preserved in the best
> > sound.
> > 
> > An example of a group of recordings (unpublished) I will nominate is
> > FDR's "Fireside Chats" broadcasts.  Now they exist in various places,
> > but probably the best copies would be the instantaneous transcription
> > discs held either by the FDR Library or National Archives.  Or another
> > group would be the "Mapleson Cylinders" (already preserved) and so on.
> > 
> > An example of an unpublished single broadcast recording would be
> > President Woodrow Wilson Armistice Day speech from November 10, 1923.  
> > Not only was it his last speech, this one is electrical and of an
> > actual broadcast ¯ the earliest still in existence.
> > 
> > I am not an expert in commercial recordings, but I would assume such
> > obvious items such as Elvis Presley's first released recording; or
> > those of Robert Johnson's blues recordings, and on and on......the
> > possiblities of recordings that were "first", or helped define a
> > musical genre, or were technically significant, all could be
> > possibilities.
> > 
> > Anyone anywhere gets to send in ten nominations if the recording falls
> > within the six criteria.
> > 
> > Les Waffen Special Media Archives National Archives


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