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On 01/08/2013, Steve Greene wrote: > Tom, > The LoC has a much broader mandate of preserving the "cultural > climate", including commercial entertainment. > One could think of "I Love Lucy" as a tribal ritual. When the Americans are extinct, or are a small vanishing remnant, the history of their culture and customs will be of great interest to anthropologists. You can't predict what will be valuable to historians. But there is a good chance they will be more interested in popular culture than in the names of Presidents. And you have to save a hundred things to be sure of having the one you want. > Fortunately, the National Archives (and my organization within NARA, > the Office of Presidential Libraries) has had its own preservation > program for two-inch, that has included a large volume of (DC-centric) > news and public information programming. Presidents since LBJ have > been recording off-air video of programming of interest to the > Administration. We have also been preserving large quantities of > Presidential campaign advertising on two-inch. Like most federal > agencies, we face a difficult budget climate today, which challenges > our ability to continue large-scale preservation programs. > Regards -- Don Cox [log in to unmask]