The Library of Congress in the US have set up a National Recording Registry to keep copies of recordings they consider to be "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". Among the first fifty additions to the Registry – which will include music and spoken word recordings - are Elvis Presley's Sun Records sessions, Bob Dylan's ‘The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan’, Miles Davis' ‘Kind of Blu’e, Frank Sinatra's ‘Songs for Young Lovers’, Tito Puente's ‘Dance Mania’ and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five's 1982 groundbreaking rap record, ‘The Message'.
Talking about the Registry, Librarian of Congress' James Billington told Daily Variety. "We’re not another Grammy Lists of Lists or Hall of Fame. Rather, Congress created the registry to celebrate the richness and variety of our audio legacy and to underscore our responsibility to assure the long-term preservation of that legacy so that it may be appreciated and studied for generations to come."
Among the audio recordings entering the registry are Orson Welles' Mercury Theater broadcast of ‘War of the Worlds’ and Abbott, Costello's classic ‘Who's on First?’, Martin Luther King Jr's 1963 ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and President Franklin Roosevelt's ‘Fireside Chats’.