IT and Culture: Library of Congress makes largest collection of rare historical recordings between 1901 and 1925 freely available online

May 10, 2011 the Library of Congress and Sony Music Entertainment unveiled a new website of over 10,000 rare historic sound recordings available to the public for the first time digitally. The site is called the "National Jukebox" and is available at http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/.

Developed by the Library of Congress, with assets provided by Sony Music Entertainment, the National Jukebox offers free online access to a vast selection of music and spoken-word recordings produced in the U.S. between the years 1901 and 1925.

"This amazing collection is a chance to hear history," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. This collection includes popular music, dance music, opera, early jazz, famous speeches, including political speeches by Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, William Jennings Bryan and William Howard Taft, readings from the Bible, ethnic music, poetry and humor. “This brings online one of the most explosively creative periods in American culture and music and one of the finest additions to the Library's American Memory materials”, said James H. Billington.

The agreement for the National Jukebox grants the Library of Congress usage rights to Sony Music’s entire pre-1925 catalog—comprising thousands of recordings produced by Columbia Records, OKeh, and Victor Talking Machine Co. among others – and represents the largest collection of such historical recordings ever made publicly available for study and appreciation online.

The National Jukebox additionally will include playlists annotated by Library staff, focusing on different genres, time periods, themes and artists. Users also will be able to create their own playlists to post on their own webpages and social networking sites or submit them to the Library for posting on the National Jukebox site.