National Film Registry Adds 25 Films for 2010

Established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-446), the National Film Preservation Board is an advisory body for the Librarian of Congress. The Board helps shape national film preservation planning policy, and also recommends films for the National Film Registry, including 25 additional films just named for 2010. Chosen for their cultural, historic, or aesthetic significance, this year's selections cover a wide gamut of genres and time periods. The earliest, Newark Athlete, was produced in 1891 at the Edison Laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey. The entire 2010 list follows:

1990s
Study of a River (1996)
Malcolm X (1992)

1980s
Airplane (1980)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

1970s
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
All the President’s Men (1976)
Grey Gardens (1976)
The Exorcist (1973)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)

1960s
I Am Joaquin (1969)
Our Lady of the Sphere (1969)
Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
The Pink Panther (1964)

1950s
Cry of Jazz (1959)

1940s
Let There Be Light (1946)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
Tarantella (1940)

1930s
Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)
It’s a Gift (1934)
The Front Page (1931)

1920s
Lonesome (1928)

1910s
The Bargain (1914)
Preservation of the Sign Language (1913)

1900s
A Trip Down Market Street (1906)

1890s
Newark Athlete (1891)

Further information on the Registry as well as the films themselves can be found on the Library of Congress' web site. All 500+ films selected for the Registry since 1989 can also be browsed online.

In January 2011, "These Amazing Shadows," an independently produced documentary by Gravitas DocuFilms, will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. It documents the history and cultural significance of the National Film Registry since its inception. More information can be found at the documentary's website.

The End of an Era for Kodachrome Film

Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas will be processing the last roll of Kodachrome film today, December 30, 2010. Eastman Kodak manufactured Kodachrome film in a variety of formats for still and motion picture cameras from 1935 until 2009, when it announced that further production would cease due to diminished demand. Countless photographers greatly valued Kodachrome, which offered significant archival stability among other positive qualities. Dwayne's Photo was the last certified facility to continue developing the film--until today's deadline. The shirt pictured here commemorates a few highlights from Kodachrome's long history: Paul Simon recorded the song, "Kodachrome" in 1973, and the Kodachrome Basin State Park adopted its name after a photoessay of the Utah park appeared in the September 1949 issue of National Geographic.

University of Iowa To Offer MFA Program in the Book Arts

The University of Iowa's Center for the Book received approval earlier this month to begin offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Book Arts beginning Fall 2011. The Center has long offered a graduate certificate, and will soon join the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Columbia College in Chicago, and Mills College in Oakland, California as one of just a handful of institutions with a graduate program in the book arts. Iowa's program is notable for its breadth and depth, as well as its collaborative approach, drawing on significant university resources and faculty in papermaking, printing, calligraphy, bookbinding, digital technologies, and the history of the book. More information on Iowa's Center for the Book can be found at the Center's web site.

See related blog post on the Center's Timothy Barrett: Papermaker Named MacArthur Fellow.