Ritchie Valens, Dexter Gordon & Nina Simone among Artists Added to the National Recording Registry

Now in its seventeenth year, the National Recording Registry has grown to 525 entries with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden having just announced 25 additional sound recordings as the official entries for 2018, stating: “The National Recording Registry honors the music that enriches our souls, the voices that tell our stories and the sounds that mirror our lives. The influence of recorded sound over its nearly 160-year history has been profound and technology has increased its reach and significance exponentially. The Library of Congress and its many collaborators are working to preserve these sounds and moments in time, which reflect our past, present and future.”

Under the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, selected recordings must be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and at least ten years old.

Spanning the years 1901-2001, the selections for 2018 are as follows:

1. Yiddish Cylinders from the Standard Phonograph Company of New York and the Thomas Lambert Company (c. 1901-1905)
2. “Memphis Blues” (single), Victor Military Band (1914)
3. Melville Jacobs Collection of Native Americans of the American Northwest (1929-1939)
4. “Minnie the Moocher” (single), Cab Calloway (1931)
5. “Bach Six Cello Suites” (album), Pablo Casals (c. 1939)
6. “They Look Like Men of War” (single), Deep River Boys (1941)
7. “Gunsmoke” — Episode: “The Cabin” (Dec. 27, 1952)
8. Ruth Draper: Complete recorded monologues, Ruth Draper (1954-1956)
9. “La Bamba” (single), Ritchie Valens (1958)
10. “Long Black Veil” (single), Lefty Frizzell (1959)
11. “Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Vol. 1: The Early Years” (album), Stan Freberg (1961)
12. “GO” (album), Dexter Gordon (1962)
13. “War Requiem” (album), Benjamin Britten (1963)
14. “Mississippi Goddam” (single), Nina Simone (1964)
15. “Soul Man” (single), Sam & Dave (1967)
16. “Hair” (original Broadway cast recording) (1968)
17. Speech on the Death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy (April 4, 1968)
18. “Sweet Caroline” (single), Neil Diamond (1969)
19. “Superfly” (album), Curtis Mayfield (1972)
20. “Ola Belle Reed” (album), Ola Belle Reed (1973)
21. “September” (single), Earth, Wind & Fire (1978)
22. “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” (single), Sylvester (1978)
23. “She’s So Unusual” (album), Cyndi Lauper (1983)
24. “Schoolhouse Rock!: The Box Set” (1996)
25. “The Blueprint” (album), Jay-Z (2001)

The full National Recording Registry can be viewed online here. The Registry solicits nominations annually for inclusion on the registry; further information on the criteria and procedures for making nominations for 2019 is available at the Registry website.