WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy are working to help ensure that historically significant films and sound recordings are preserved for the benefit of generations of Americans. Together, they introduced legislation to reauthorize the sound recording and film preservation programs of the Library of Congress, which are charged with collecting, archiving and preserving films and recordings that are rapidly disappearing and deteriorating with time.
“We want to continue to foster an environment that encourages the preservation of our nation’s historical and cultural resources. Many of these works already have been lost and others are deteriorating rapidly,” Grassley said. “These works are unique and rare. It’s important to safeguard these films and sound recordings so generations to come have the opportunity to learn from and appreciate these treasures.”
“We must ensure that the films and recordings that played vital roles in shaping and recording the American experience are preserved for future generations. Those works, created by previous generations, tell us who we are, and who we were, as a society,” Leahy said. “To help preserve these records of our history, our dreams, and our aspirations for future generations, I am joining with Senator Grassley to introduce legislation reauthorizing the Library of Congress sound recording and film preservation programs.”
Congress created the National Film Preservation Board in 1988 and the National Film Preservation Foundation in 1996 to help save historically significant American films for the benefit of the public. In 2000, Congress created the National Recording Preservation Board and the National Recording Preservation Foundation to help save historically important American sound recordings.
The two Boards advise the Librarian of Congress on national preservation planning policy, helping the Library develop and disseminate preservation and production standards for at-risk works. In addition, the Film Board selects films of importance to cinema and America’s cultural and artistic history for the National Film Registry, while the Recording Board selects sound recordings which have been recognized for their cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation’s audio legacy for the National Recording Registry. The two Foundations raise funds and distribute them to archives throughout the United States. A requirement of the grants is that recipients make these works available to researchers, educators and the general public.
To date, the National Film Preservation Foundation has given grants in all 50 states. Iowa libraries participating in the grant program have received assistance to help preserve important films and recordings. The National Film Preservation Foundation has provided grants to preserve films held in Iowa institutions, including Coe College, Council Bluffs Public Library, Davenport Public Library, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum, Iowa State University American Archives of the Factual Film, and the University of Iowa. In addition, a number of Iowa-related items are preserved in the Library of Congress Packard Campus audio-visual collection, including copies of Iowa Public Radio and Public Television items from the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.
The University of Vermont has received grant funding to preserve agricultural experiment films from the 1940s. Well over 2000 films have been preserved through the Foundation’s grants, including the earliest feature film shot in Vermont, “A Vermont Romance” from 1916. Many of the preserved films can now be viewed online. Hildene, the Lincoln Family Home in Manchester, also received grant funding to preserve home movies made by Robert Todd Lincoln’s descendants.
Historical Films Must Be Preserved For Future Generations
- “As a co-founder of Northeast Historic Film in Bucksport, Maine, I have been witness to the importance of the programs of the National Film Preservation Foundation for archives and libraries in our region. In addition to providing more than $140,000 in preservation funding to our organization, the NFPF has provided grants to Vermont institutions such as Hildene, The Lincoln Family Home and the University of Vermont, and other institutions in our state such as the Maine Historical Society. These grants have helped us keep the moving image memory of the Northeast alive for scholars and film viewers of all stripes.” David Weiss, co-founder of Northeast Historic Film
· “In 2008 Hildene, The Lincoln Family Home received a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation to preserve a collection of home movies ranging from the 1920s to the 1940s that were taken by the descendants of Robert Todd Lincoln. Thanks to this funding we are able to share these historic images with researchers and the public. The NFPF has helped support more than 270 organizations throughout the country, and we are grateful that their programs were able to assist Hildene, The Lincoln Family home with its mission: Values into Action.” Hildene, the Lincoln Family Home in Manchester, Vermont
· “The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, Coe College, Davenport Public Library, and Council Bluffs Public Library also received grants to preserve films from the NFPF. We and other Iowa organizations have hundreds of other culturally and historically significant films that need preservation work to survive. These document the history of our state from its earliest years to present time.
“Thanks to the National Film Preservation Foundation we have made important progress on saving this important material. To date the NFPF has helped rescue more than 2,600 films from all 50 states and these aren’t Hollywood features but regional films and newsreels that document our history and culture.” David McCartney, University Archivist, University of Iowa
· “In 2012 Council Bluffs Public Library received a grant to preserve Man Power, a 1930 silent film created to boost the local economy by luring businesses to Council Bluffs. This historic film sat in our archives for over 80 years, unwatched and deteriorating over time. With the help of the NFPF, we were able to preserve and digitize this wonderful time capsule of our local history. Thanks to the NFPF, this lost piece of history has been viewed hundreds of times and is now safe from decay and available for the public.
“Did you know Council Bluffs Iowa had the first electric Streetcar system in the country? As a result of this grant we were able to see, for the first time, real, moving images of Council Bluffs from back when it was a major rail hub. 1 have no doubt that, without support from the NFPF, vital pieces of local history would be lost forever.” Ben Johnson, Support Services Librarian, Council Bluffs (Iowa) Public Library
- “Coe College received grants to preserve two films that depict campus life in the 1930s and 1960s. Once these historically rich films were preserved more than 170 people attended a screening of the films. Thanks to that event, the college was able to raise funds from alumni to preserve a third campus film from 1972. The public funding from the [National Film Preservation Foundation] helped us not only share our history with the public but also generated financial support from the community. Since posting the films on our website students, faculty and the public have viewed the films using them in academic and public history research.” Jill Jack, Director of Library Services, College Archivist and Associate Professor at Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
- “Thanks to the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF), Iowa State University was able to preserve and make accessible an important group of films documenting the Rath Packing Company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Without support from the NFPF, these important visual documents of Iowa History would have been lost. The NFPF continues to help regional archives throughout the country, helping to save more than 2,230 films and collections in all 50 states. While most film preservation efforts focus on the Hollywood product, the NFPF is the only agency devoted to helping organizations like Iowa State University preserve films in their collections that would otherwise deteriorate and go unseen. These films provide important historical documentation depicting local and regional business, groups, and organizations of interest to both Iowa constituents and U.S. citizens.” Tanya Zanish-Belcher, Director of Special Collection & Archives at Wake Forest University, former Head of the Special Collections Department, Iowa State University
Prepared Floor Statement of Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
Reauthorization of the Sound Recording and Film Preservation Programs of The Library of Congress
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following be printed in the Congressional Record: my speech introducing The Library of Congress Sound Recording and Film Preservation Programs Reauthorization Act of 2016, the bill text, and letters from David McCartney, Jill Jack and Ben Johnson in support of these Library of Congress programs.
Mr. President, today I’m introducing The Library of Congress Sound Recording and Film Preservation Programs Reauthorization Act of 2016. I’m pleased have Senator Leahy as a cosponsor. This bill would reauthorize the sound recording and film preservation programs of the Library of Congress through fiscal year 2026. The current authorization sunsets in September 2016. In addition to reauthorizing the programs, the bill would increase the National Recording Preservation Foundation’s number of board members and place a cap on federal matching funds similar to what is currently required of the National Film Preservation Foundation.
Congress created the National Film Preservation Board in 1988 and the National Film Preservation Foundation in 1996 to help save historically significant American films for the benefit of the public. In 2000, Congress created the National Recording Preservation Board and the National Recording Preservation Foundation to help save historically important American sound recordings.
The two Boards advise the Librarian of Congress on national preservation planning policy, helping the Library develop and disseminate preservation and production standards for at-risk works. In addition, the Film Board selects films of importance to cinema and America’s cultural and artistic history for the National Film Registry, while the Recording Board selects sound recordings which have been recognized for their cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation’s audio legacy for the National Recording Registry.
The two Foundations are the private sector charitable affiliates of the Boards. They raise funds and distribute them to archives throughout the United States. The Library’s federal match is used for small grants to archives, educational institutions, museums and local historical societies with small film and sound recording collections in need of preservation. A requirement of the grants is that recipients make these works available to researchers, educators and the general public.
These programs have allowed the Library of Congress, in collaboration with a wide range of industry organizations, no-profit libraries and archives, preservation organizations, artist guilds, educators and academics, to collect and preserve at-risk films and recordings all over the country.
My state of Iowa has benefitted directly from these programs. For example, the National Film Preservation Foundation has provided grants to preserve films held in Iowa institutions, including Coe College, Council Bluffs Public Library, Davenport Public Library, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum, Iowa State University American Archives of the Factual Film, and the University of Iowa. In addition, a number of Iowa-related items are preserved in the Library of Congress Packard Campus audio-visual collection, including copies of Iowa Public Radio and Public Television items from the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.
Iowa constituents have contacted my office about their support for the reauthorization of these programs. For example, I heard from Ben Johnson, Support Service Librarian at the Council Bluffs Public Library, Jill Jack, Director of Library Services, College Archivist and Associate Professor at Coe College, Tanya Zanish-Belcher, Director of Special Collection & Archives at Wake Forest University, and David McCartney, University Archivist at the University of Iowa, about the value of these programs to local libraries and historical societies, and how their organizations were in the possession of materials that were able to be saved with the help of these programs.
I’d like unanimous consent to include their letters to me expressing their support for these programs in the record.
According to Mr. Johnson, the Council Bluffs Public Library received a grant to preserve a 1930s silent film entitled Man Power, which had been created “to boost the local economy by luring businesses to Council Bluffs. This historic film sat in our archives for over 80 years, unwatched and deteriorating over time. With the help of the [National Film Preservation Fund], we were able to preserve and digitize this wonderful time capsule of our local history. Thanks to the [National Film Preservation Foundation], this lost piece of history has been viewed hundreds of times and is now safe from decay and available for the public.” Mr. Johnson wrote, “Did you know Council Bluffs Iowa had the first electric Streetcar system in the country? As a result of this grant we were able to see, for the first time, real, moving images of Council Bluffs from back when it was a major rail hub. I have no doubt that without support from the [National Film Preservation Foundation], vital pieces of local history would be lost forever.”
Ms. Jack wrote, “Coe College received grants to preserve two films that depict campus life in the 1930s and 1960s. Once these historically rich films were preserved more than 170 people attended a screening of the films. Thanks to that event, the college was able to raise funds from alumni to preserve a third campus film from 1972. The public funding from the [National Film Preservation Foundation] helped us not only share our history with the public but also generated financial support from the community. Since posting the films on our website students, faculty and the public have viewed the films using them in academic and public history research.”
According to a statement from Ms. Zanish-Belcher, who managed the National Film Preservation Foundation film grant when she was Head of the Special Collections Department at Iowa State University, “[t]hanks to the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF), Iowa State University was able to preserve and make accessible an important group of films documenting the Rath Packing Company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. As the Head of the Special Collections Department at Iowa State at the time, I oversaw the preservation of these fragile nitrate films from the 1930s. Without support from the NFPF, these important visual documents of Iowa History would have been lost. The NFPF continues to help regional archives throughout the country, helping to save more than 2,230 films and collections in all 50 states. While most film preservation efforts focus on the Hollywood product, the NFPF is the only agency devoted to helping organizations like Iowa State University preserve films in their collections that would otherwise deteriorate and go unseen. These films provide important historical documentation depicting local and regional business, groups, and organizations of interest to both Iowa constituents and U.S. citizens.”
According to a letter from Mr. McCartney, the University of Iowa received funds to preserve a number of films significant to Iowa history, including “a set of student-produced dance films (1939) believed to be the oldest thesis films of their type in the nation. Another noteworthy project is Iowa State’s Rath Packing Company Collection (ca. 1933), a group of depression era films documenting the largest meatpacking company in the country. The films show the Rath test kitchen, packing plant operations, and advertising efforts. Thanks to a [National Film Preservation Foundation] grant, this collection is now available for scholars and historians.”
I appreciate the fact that these Library of Congress programs have placed a special emphasis on assisting small and local projects that would otherwise have been lost or overlooked. Local libraries and historical societies have been helped by the National Film Preservation Foundation to rescue films that, according to Mr. Johnson, Ms. Jack and Mr. McCartney, “aren’t Hollywood features but regional films and newsreels that document our history and culture.” According to Ms. Jack, “we and other Iowa organizations have hundreds of other culturally and historically significant films that need preservation work to survive. These document the history of our state [of Iowa] from its earliest years to present time.” So the biggest value that I see of these programs is that they boost smaller archives with few resources to protect their collections, and they provide smaller organizations with a path to learn about film preservation and successful production standards. These programs are an invaluable partner to these small and local organizations in their efforts to save America’s moving picture and sound recording heritage.
It’s important to foster an environment that encourages the preservation of our nation’s cultural resources, and films and music are a big part of the American experience. As such, vulnerable motion pictures and sound recordings of historic and cultural significance should be protected from disintegration and decay. I understand that many of these works already have been lost and that others are deteriorating rapidly. I’m a history buff, so I’m inspired when I see works that depict our American heritage – and especially life in Iowa and rural America – saved for future generations. We need to safeguard these precious items so they are not lost and so that generations of Americans to come can appreciate and learn about their historical and creative roots in both film and sound recordings. Many of these works are unique and rare, so I’m pleased to support the Library of Congress programs and their effort to assist organizations all across the 50 states to preserve these treasures for students, researchers and the general public.
I look forward to swift action on this bill so that it can be enacted before these programs sunset at the end of September.
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