Gallaudet University and Library of Congress safeguard rare sign language films

The Library of Congress announced on December 28 that it had named the landmark 1913 film, The Preservation of the Sign Language, for inclusion in the National Film Registry. Only 25 films are selected each year to the National Film Registry by the Librarian of Congress under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act. According to the library, which received more than 2,112 nominations last year, selected films are those that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically” significant.

In the 1940s, Preservation and the other 13 films in the series (including one featuring Gallaudet’s first president, Edward Miner Gallaudet) were entrusted for safekeeping with Gallaudet University and the Library of Congress. The University’s Archives eventually converted all 14 films to digital format.