News

Massenburg Leads Discussion of First Recordings

New York City (October 14, 2003)--On Saturday, (October 11) George Massenburg moderated a panel discussion on the criteria used to select the first 50 recordings chosen for the National Registry of Recorded Sound at the Library of Congress.

Earlier this year, Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington, selected the first 50 recordings to be included in the National Registry of Recorded Sound. As a member of the National Recording Preservation Board, the AES, represented by Elizabeth Cohen and Massenburg, advised the Librarian on his selection. Nominations for the registry were garnered from members of the public and the National Recording Preservation Board, which is composed of leaders in music, recorded sound and preservation.

The preservation of America's sound heritage has drawn a lot of attention since the establishment of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, which aims to preserve and restore America's recorded sound heritage. This heritage is threatened by the deterioration of most of the recording media invented in the last 100 years, including modern audiotape.