The Recorded Sound Vault of the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Center is home to voices that have told the American story since the inception of radio, film, and television.

A view down a long basement hallway lit by fluorescent lights with tall gray filing cabinets on both sides

Film reels occupy some of the 90 miles of shelving in the 45-acre facility in Culpeper, Virginia.

Three tall gray shelves filled top to bottom with film reels

The Video Lab processes moving images recorded on aging VR2000 Quad and Sony ½” EIAJ VTRs. 

An interior room filled with audio and video equipment 

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The issue of machine obsolescence is a non-trivial one. We’re fortunate in that at the scale we work at, we can throw the resources at some of these challenges.

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Antique sound recording equipment in the Audio Lab Museum in the National Audio-Visual Center is a reminder of the technology of yesterday and the persistent challenge of obsolescence in preservation. 

An interior room filled with historical audio equipment stacked on shelves

A paper print of D.W. Griffith’s 1909 35mm thriller “The Lonely Villa,” made for the purpose of copyright deposit. 

A close up of a black and white film reel

In a Former Bunker, America’s Public Media is Safe 

The archive is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, providing underground storage for what will be the most comprehensive collection of audio and visual media materials in the world. 

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The Robotics Lab moves media from obsolete physical sources such as VHS and ¾” U-matic into digital files. 

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Cabling runs beneath the floor tiles at the Packard Campus of the Library of Congress. 

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Library of Congress Project Specialist Rachel Curtis (left) and Project Director Alan Gevinson (right) for the American Archive of Public Broadcasting. 

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All nitrate films—highly combustible in composition—are stored in sealed concrete vaults and monitored with a fire suppression system. 

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The first Digital Cinema Package (DCP) ever received by the Library via copyright deposit, “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (Director’s Fan Cut).” 

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The Disc Examination Room of the Recorded Sound Reference Center. 

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Vinyl LPs are just one of the formats represented—from cylinders to CDs—in the Library of Congress’s collection of nearly 3.5 million recordings. 

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Motion Picture Laboratory Specialist Carol Galbraith inspects nitrate film. 

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An inspection bench running a reel through a synchronizer in the Film Preservation Laboratory. 

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A renewed effort to protect, preserve, and save America’s vast historical public media content depends, in large part, on a small group of unsung heroes.

Public Knowledge

Reel fallback

Rescuing the Nation’s Stories One Tape at a Time

Artists as Catalysts

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Beyond Incarceration

A side profile of a Black poet who is wearing glasses and a hat with a feather hat pin.

Civic Engagement

A man in a brown jacket stands in front of blue bulletin board that is covered with papers and advertisements  

Evolving Higher Education

A vertical image of an Indigenous person who is sitting on a chair in front of a backdrop.

Expanding Public Knowledge

Monuments and Memory

A multicolored painted totem pole set in front of a foggy forest landscape

Multivocality

Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.

Power of the Word

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."

Public Places‚ Public Stories

A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods

Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez" 