Library of Congress Adds 25 Films to National Film Registry

Librarian of Congress
James H. Billington
(Image: loc.gov)

The Library of Congress announced its 2013 additions to the National Film Registry (NFR). According to a Washington Post story on the NFR, the movie selections are made by a committee of one: the Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. His goal is to choose movies that somehow represent the American cultural zeitgeist, at least as depicted on celluloid or digital capture. To that end, the NFR is not a "best of" collection, as those critically anointed films don't always tell an insightful story about the culture that spawned them.

On the other hand, Billington chose some films that very few people have seen. Some are clearly generated by the art world and its chosen few. Some come from the silent era (any effort in that area deserves praise and respect). Some contemporary movies slip into the mix, although choices such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf strike me as an older generation's fascination.

For all its flaws, the NFR serves a useful purpose. Films are notorious for disappearing or surviving in some disfigured way. The latter issue is no joke. A stunning number of post-World War II movies are visually diminished, a consequence of film stock being a poor preservation medium. To save our nation's legacy, the NFR works hard to preserve the powerful, lyrical, or just plain silly films that reflect American myths and the reality underpinning them. The preservation of our heritage is one reason to pay federal taxes -- and smile.

First U.S. Map Purchased

With the swirl of politically turbulent events dominating the news, the Washington Post slipped in a story in today's edition about the recent purchase of the first known map of the new United States. Carlyle Fund co-founder and managing director David Rubenstein made the purchase. He has lent the map to the Library of Congress.

Obtaining the 43" x 48", hand colored item, known as the Abel Buell map, is a significant achievement for the Library of Congress. Sadly, the map was sold by the New Jersey Historical Society. They lacked funds and the institution, in essence, sold their equivalent of the family silver. The map is shown at right.

The Great Recession Observed by Wal-Mart CEO

A note from Art Cashin, director of floor operations at UBS Financial Services, was posted today in the financial blog Zero Hedge. Cashin's comments include the following observation from Wal-Mart's CEO:

"About 11 p.m. customers start to come in and shop, fill their grocery basket wth basic items -- baby formula, milk, bread, eggs -- and continue to shop and mill about the store until midnight when government electronic benefits cards get activated, and then the checkout starts and occurs. And our sales for those first few hours on the first of the month are substantially and significantly higher."

Based on the quote, and your own anecdotal evidence, do you think the Great Recession is over? All comments are welcome.

PS. The Dorothea Lange photograph above is titled "Dispossessed Arkansas farmers, Bakersfield, California," courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The Great Depression in Color

Roger Nusbaum, in his respected personal finance blog Random Roger, did a very unlikely, yet entirely admirable thing in comments he posted today on his site. He discussed color photographs taken during the later years of the Great Depression in the United States. He also included a link to a Denver Post blog that shows the images.

The pictures originally appeared in a 2006 Library of Congress exhibit called "Bound for Glory: America in Color." My favorite so far (shown above) is #18, Russell Lee's "saying grace before the barbeque dinner at the New Mexico Fair." The principal subjects possess an uncalculated modesty, while remaining rooted in their worldly concerns. The secondary subjects inhabit the frame, but appear to be independent of the major figures. Lee's willingness to have multiple, barely joined subjects in the frame seems surprisingly tangent to contemporary visual sensibilities.

I hope you take a few minutes to enjoy these explorations in color photography.