An NBC broadcast of Charles Lindbergh's arrival in Washington after his solo flight to Paris in 1927 is among the inductees to the National Recording Registry. Photograph: Dennis Cook/AP
The US Library of Congress has just announced its 50 additions for 2005 to the National Recording Registry, an archive of recordings deemed to have special significance for American culture.
It contains spoken word clips such as Neil Armstrong's first words from the moon, music - ranging from Al Jolson to Public Enemy - and field recordings of ethnic groups and animals. Another 50 recordings were set aside today for special preservation.
Given the wide availability of sound recordings, it's all rather pointless - a bit like those toe-curling "hall of fame" things - but the list itself contains some real gems, such as the first ever recording of Rhapsody in Blue, featuring George Gershwin on piano.
The earliest recording on the list is from 1888: a version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Emile Berliner, who invented the microphone. Cheers, Emile.
The National Recording Registry website inexplicably fails to have any audio, but it does include some intriguing blurbs for each entry in the archive, such as this, for what it lists as Okeh Laughing Record (1922): "This odd Okeh record label recording of a bad cornet solo interspersed by a laughing woman and man was one of the most popular discs of the 1920s. The laughing was infectious to listeners, so much so that the disc was re-recorded several times and imitated by other record companies."
