National Recording Registry Adds 25 New Entries

On the tenth anniversary of the National Recording Registry, Librarian of Congress James Billington has selected 25 sound recordings as the official entries for 2011, stating: "America’s sound heritage is an important part of the nation’s history and culture and this year’s selections reflect the diversity and creativity of the American experience."

In chronological order, the selections are as follows:

1. Edison Talking Doll cylinder (1888)
2. "Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star," Lillian Russell (1912)
3. "Ten Cents a Dance," Ruth Etting (1930)
4. "Voices from the Days of Slavery," Various speakers (1932-1941 interviews; 2002 compilation)
5. "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart," Patsy Montana (1935)
6. "Fascinating Rhythm," Sol Hoopii and his Novelty Five (1938)
7. "Artistry in Rhythm," Stan Kenton & and his Orchestra (1943)
8. Debut performance with the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (Nov. 14, 1943)
9. International Sweethearts of Rhythm: Hottest Women’s Band of the 1940s (1944-1946)
10. "The Indians for Indians Hour" (March 25, 1947)
11. "Hula Medley," Gabby Pahinui (1947)
12. "I Can Hear It Now," Fred W. Friendly and Edward R. Murrow (1948)
13. "Let’s Go Out to the Programs," The Dixie Hummingbirds (1953)
14. "Also Sprach Zarathustra," Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1954, 1958)
15. "Bo Diddley" and "I’m a Man," Bo Diddley (1955)
16. "Green Onions," Booker T. & the M.G.’s (1962)
17. "Forever Changes," Love (1967)
18. "The Continental Harmony: Music of William Billings," Gregg Smith Singers (1969)
19. "A Charlie Brown Christmas," Vince Guaraldi Trio (1970)
20. "Coat of Many Colors," Dolly Parton (1971)
21. "Mothership Connection," Parliament (1975)
22.  Barton Hall concert by the Grateful Dead (May 8, 1977)
23. "I Feel Love," Donna Summer (1977)
24. "Rapper's Delight," Sugarhill Gang (1979)
25. "Purple Rain," Prince and the Revolution (1984)

The full National Recording Registry currently numbers 350 recordings, and can be viewed here. The Registry solicits nominations for inclusion on the registry; further information on the criteria and procedures for making nominations is available at the Registry website. 

 

A Tribute to Morris L. Cohen

The Law Library Journal, the main publication of the American Association of Law Libraries, recently devoted the entirety of its Winter 2012 issue to the remarkable life and work of legal scholar, bibliographer, and librarian, Morris L. Cohen [1927-2010]. Cohen died on December 18, 2010, with an obituary appearing in the New York Times; the newspaper also published an editorial appreciation extolling Cohen's career.

The articles appearing in Law Library Journal, with links to PDFs, are titled as follows:

— Introduction
— Morris L. Cohen, 1927-2010: A Remembrance and Celebration
— In Praise of Morris L. Cohen's Bibliography of Early American Law
— Morris L. Cohen: A Reminiscence
— Memories of Morris—and How I Use His BEAL 
— Morris Cohen and Rare Book School
— Morris Cohen and the Art of Book Collecting
— Cornerstones for Enduring Law Libraries: Morris Cohen's Influence at Yale
— Birth of a Nutshell: Morris Cohen in the 1960s
— The End of Scholarly Bibliography: Reconceptualizing Law Librarianship
— Appeals to the Privy Council Before American Independence: An Annotated Digital Catalogue
— Blackstone and Bibliography: In Memoriam Morris Cohen
— Booksellers in Court: Approaches to the Legal History of Copyright in England Before 1842
— Practicing Reference . . . "That Most Congenial Lawyer/Bibliographer"
— Reflections: An Interview with Morris L. Cohen
— Morris L. Cohen: A Bibliography of His Works
— Keeping Up with New Legal Titles

The Common Curator was fortunate to have known Morris while working in the antiquarian book trade and as a curator of rare law books. A true scholar-librarian and gentleman, he exemplified the very best qualities of the book world, the likes of which are indeed rarely encountered.

Note: The photograph above appeared in the Law Library Journal courtesy of the Cohen family.

Letterpress Guild of New England Exhibition

In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of its founding in 1982, the Letterpress Guild of New England is mounting an exhibition "to educate, entertain, and inform the public," and is soliciting entries of letterpress posters and broadsides through June 15, 2012. For further details and an entry form, visit the LGNE website. Call for entries poster designed by the Interrobang Press.

Support Chapel Hill Public Library

The Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library are sponsoring a fundraiser for the Library, which is currently undergoing a major expansion project. For a donation of $150, the Friends will include an engraved paver in Friends Plaza at the front of the Library in time for its reopening in early 2013:

Your paver will be a long lasting public tribute to whoever is named and the money will be used for an otherwise unfunded need in the new library. Pavers are being sold by the Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library, a membership organization dedicated to supporting library needs not covered by the town’s budget. Friends’ gifts are used to support children’s programming, the Library’s collection and other special projects.

320 pavers are being offered to the public until the deadline of August 31, 2012. Further details and an application form are available on the Friends' website.

Note: Image of the planned expansion by Corley Redfoot Architects.

For Arbor Day: The Forest Where Ashley Lives

To commemorate Arbor Day, check out the free electronic version of The Forest Where Ashley Lives, an educational book about the value and care of urban forests, written by Mark A. and Ashley L. Vitosh, and illustrated by John L. Smith. Intended for elementary school readers, the text has won an Arbor Day Foundation Education Award.

The book is also available in print and as an interactive CD from the Iowa State University online store. The CD includes the text and illustrations of the book, plus additional features such as audio narration, web links, a glossary, “Did You Know?” facts about forests, and supplemental materials for teachers.

NC Governor Opposes Amendment One

North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue has recently released a video urging a "no" vote on "Amendment One," or North Carolina Senate Bill 514 (2011), which is on the ballot for the 2012 Primary Election on May 8. The bill proposes that the North Carolina Constitution would be amended to include the following section: "Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State . . . . " Early voting is now underway throughout the state, and the State Board of Elections has also prepared a Voter Guide for candidates covered by the North Carolina Public Funding Programs. Register and vote!

The Sioux City Journal on Bullying

The entire front page of the April 22, 2012 edition of the Sioux City Journal was devoted to the issue of bullying in schools, precipitated by the recent death of a young student at South O'Brien High School in Paullina, Iowa. The text of the editorial board's statement can be read here; more information on bullying can be found at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services web site, StopBullying.gov.

The Surf Zombies Release "Lust for Rust"

Practitioners of the tsunami school of surf music, The Surf Zombies have recently issued their third album, Lust for Rust. Their self-titled first album, The Surf Zombies, appeared in 2008, followed by Something Weird in 2009. More on the band can be found at ReverbNation.

National Library Week 2012

Sponsored annually by the American Library Association, National Library Week promotes libraries of all types: school, public, academic, and special. In conjunction with this year's celebration (April 8-14, 2012), the ALA released its annual report, The State of America's Libraries, which details many current trends, including the growing use of e-books, continued budget cuts and diminished library services across the United States, and other issues such as book challenges and censorship.

Johnny Dowd Releases "No Regrets"

The redoubtable Johnny Dowd and band have just released the latest in a long series of sui generis albums, this one featuring a lucky 13 songs about women recorded with five female vocalists. A CD release party will take place on Record Store Day (April 21, 2012) at Lot 10 in Ithaca, New York, with a European Tour following in May. The video above is for the CD's first cut, "Betty," and was produced by Louk Voncken at Ummerfilm.

Master Printmaker: Mauricio Lasansky [1914-2012]

Mauricio Lasansky, who as a long-time professor of art developed the printmaking program at the University of Iowa into one of finest anywhere, died at 97 on April 2, 2012 in Iowa City. Best known for his series, The Nazi Drawings, Lasansky exhibited widely throughout the world, and extended his influence through his work as a teacher of countless artists and printmakers. "Lasansky: Inside the Image" documents his artistic methods, life, and philosophy.

April Is the Foolest Month

This spaghetti farmer from New Jersey is just one of many from around the world who strives year after year for a bountiful crop. Archival footage from the BBC documents that the spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland was especially good in 1957, while television station HSV-7 in Melbourne has reported that yields in Australia have been known to suffer from the dreaded Spag-Worm. Indeed, as T.S. Eliot observes at the very beginning of The Waste Land:

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain . . . .

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead trees give no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water . . . .

For more on April Fools' Day, see this previous Common Curator post.

Of Cherry Blossoms and Plant Quarantines

The National Cherry Blossom Festival is this year celebrating the 100th anniversary of the planting of cherry trees in Washington, D.C. The trees planted during the spring of 1912, however, were not the first ones imported from Japan for the beautification of the Capitol. Two years earlier, on January 6, 1910, 2,000 flowering cherry trees arrived from Japan and were inspected by the U.S. Bureau of Entomology. Although the Bureau lacked authority to inspect private plant imports, acting chief Charles Marlatt determined that the trees were afflicted with "practically every pest imaginable" and should be destroyed. President Taft subsequently ordered the burning of the entire shipment, which took place at the Washington Monument.

The controversy surrounding the cherry tree incident galvanized the passage of the Plant Quarantine Act of 1912, which established the Federal Horticultural Board and authorized plant quarantines. Prior to this, 39 states had enacted their own legislation regulating plant inspections. While the federal regulatory framework was being built, a second batch of 3,020 cherry trees was ordered from Japan. Fumigated before shipment and declared pest-free upon arrival, the first two trees were finally planted in the Capitol on March 12, 1912 by First Lady Taft and Viscountess Chinda, the Japanese Ambassador's wife.

A full account of this interesting intersection of international diplomacy and domestic horticulture can be read in "Cherry Blossoms, Insects, and Inspections" at the Law Library of Congress' blog, In Custodia Legis. The image above depicts two paired commemorative stamps recently issued by the USPS.

Kickstarting "Shell Game"

"Shell Game: An Art Show about the Financial Meltdown" is a Kickstarter project by artist Molly Crabapple. As she describes it:

Shell Game is an art show about the world financial collapse, and the people who have risen up in protest against it. I'll create nine giant paintings about the different parts of the collapse and the global movement fighting back (including Goldman Sachs, Greece, and Occupy Wall Street), but filter them through my lens of burlesque, surrealism, satire, and symbolic animals. Then, I'm going to rent a storefront in New York city, rig it out like a gambling parlor, and invite the city and the Internet to check it out for a week.

Crabapple's project has already elicited widespread support from over 600 funders, more than doubling its $30,000 goal well before deadline; pledges may be made at Kickstarter until March 27, 2012. The image shown here, entitled "The Great American Bubble Machine," is the first in a series of nine large (6' x 4') paintings planned for the project. Of related interest is the illustration Crabapple executed for The People's Library at Occupy Wall Street.

North Carolina Issues Draft Report on Hydraulic Fracturing

The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources has just issued a draft report on proposed hydraulic fracturing within the state entitled, "North Carolina Oil and Gas Study under Session Law 2011-276." In addition to the full report, the draft Executive Summary and draft Recommendations and Limitations are downloadable separately.

Findings from this draft report will be presented publically in two upcoming meetings, in Sanford on March 20, 2012 and in Chapel Hill on March 27, 2012. Written comments on the draft report will be accepted through April 1, in addition to any feedback received at the two public meetings. Written comments can be sent via email to Shale_gas_comments@ncdenr.gov or through the mail to NCDENR, attn: Trina Ozer, 1601 MSC, Raleigh, NC 27699. Additional resources regarding shale gas can be found at the NCDENR site.

Of related interest is an earlier Common Curator post on an Integrative Workshop on Hydraulic Fracturing held in January 2012 at Duke University.