Author Archives: David Rinehart

This week at the Archive | 21 November 2011

Cluck Ol’ Hen

Another is this first or possibly second known recording of the classic fiddle tune Cluck Ol’ Hen from Fiddlin’ Powers. Simple and repetitive, but is has a bounce that I don’t hear in any other versions since. We’re fortunate this authentic Americana was preserved.

http://www.archive.org/details/FidilinPowers-CluckOldHen1925edison78RpmRecord

— recommended by John Littleton


Five Minutes To Live (1961)

This film is one of my favorites.

I’m a fan of Americana music, so this movie with Johnny Cash and Merle Travis is classic. Travis plays the music that Cash is pretending to play. Throw in Vic Tayback and Ron Howard pre-Opie as Johnny Cash’s hostage and well, does it get any better or weirder than that.

http://www.archive.org/details/Five_Minutes_To_Live.avi

— recommended by Jeff Kaplan

Goody Two Shoes

Ever wonder where the phrase “Goody Two Shoes” came from? Goody Two Shoes was first published in 1765. This 1888 edition is only twenty pages long with lots of illustrations; it’s a perfect read for anyone with a short attention span and/or curious about one of the footnotes of popular culture.

http://www.archive.org/details/goodytwoshoes00newyiala

— recommended by Marcus Lucero

What are your Archive favorites? Please suggest a link or two and a few words about why you appreciate your recommendation to:

bestof [at] archive.org

—David Glenn Rinehart

This week at the Archive | 14 November 2011

San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge; a technical description in ordinary language (1936)

Here’s a fascinating book describing the building of the entire San Francisco (California) Bay Bridge, which opened seventy-five years ago. It’s full of fabulous illustrations.

http://www.archive.org/details/sanfranciscooakl00mens

— recommended by Mario Murphy

Buckminster Fuller, Everything I Know

Why? Because he was crazy enough to think he could change the world. Plus the pre-MTV green-screen production values are not to be believed. There should be a special award for anyone who can watch all 42 hours nonstop.

http://www.archive.org/details/buckminsterfuller

— recommended by Jeff Kaplan

Bad Panda

Bad Panda disseminates recordings based on the idea that, “music is about creative and passionate ideas, not product.” The label releases new work every Monday, an approach that’s earned a large following. For example, the ensemble Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles’ Brick City Love Song has been downloaded almost nine-hundred thousand times.

What are your Archive favorites? Please suggest a link or two and a few words about why you appreciate your recommendation to:

bestof [at] archive.org

—David Glenn Rinehart

This week at the Archive | 7 November 2011

Alice in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is one of those works that’s become an integral part of popular culture, including an Oscar winning film. It’s worth going back to this 1894 edition to appreciate that a great story doesn’t need modern technology to work.

http://www.archive.org/details/alicesadventwond00carrrich

— recommended by Brewster Kahle

The Jonestown Death Tape (FBI No. Q 042)

A chilling audio recording made on November 18, 1978, at the Peoples Temple compound in Jonestown, Guyana immediately preceding and during the mass suicide or murder of over 900 members of the cult.

http://www.archive.org/details/ptc1978-11-18.flac16

— recommended by Gareth Hughes

The Three Stooges

These are the original knuckleheads. The American life shown in these popular films is charmingly dated, but the stupidity is timeless.

What are your Archive favorites? Please suggest a link or two and a few words about why you appreciate your recommendation to:

bestof [at] archive.org

—David Glenn Rinehart

This week at the Archive | 31 October 2011

The Girl in the Flammable Skirt: Stories, Aimee Bender

Here’s how the publisher described Bender’s 1998 debut collection of short stories: Aimee Bender’s stories portray a world twisted on its axis, a place of unconvention that resembles nothing so much as real life, in all its grotesque, beautiful glory. From the first line of each tale she lets us know she is telling a story, but the moral is never quite what we expect.

http://openlibrary.org/works/OL46566W/The_Girl_in_the_Flammable_Skirt

—suggested by George Oates

The Last Man on Earth

This classic film—based on the Richard Matheson science fiction Classic “I am Legend” and later remade as “The Omega Man”—features Vincent Price as a scientist in a post apocalyptic nightmare world consumed by bloodthirsty vampires. It’s a fine film for Halloween, or any other day.

For more information:

http://www.archive.org/details/the-last-man-on-earth

Recordings from the Illegal Art Exhibit collection

These songs are from the Illegal Art Exhibit, which documents the impact of copyright law on freedom of expression. Many of these tracks have been censored due to intellectual property law. For background on the particular tracks and the cases involved, see Copyright and Music: A History Told in MP3s.

http://www.archive.org/details/illegal-art

Thanissaro Bhikkhu: Basics, and Joseph Goldstein on Satipatthana

These two selections—one from a great lay Buddhist meditation teacher, the other from a renowned American bhikkhu (Buddhist monk)—are essentially thorough courses in the development of the Buddha’s teaching. If there is one thing that I think should be preserved for future generations—one thing that will be as relevant in five years as it will in 5,000 it is to be found in both of these collections.

And what is that one thing? It is this: 2,500 years ago, an extraordinary human being, through rigorous self-experimentation, discovered a method for untangling human suffering. This path he devised is a gradual one and, as such, it does not place unconditional demands upon one’s faith. Instead it produces distinct results for one who makes the time and puts forth the effort to cultivate the practice.

Of all the audio series that I’ve heard on the subject, these two collections are among the very best. The first is a systematic explication of one of the most famous of the the Buddha’s discourses on the art of meditation in 35 progressive hour-long talks. The second collection consists of 55 15 minute impromptu discourses that focus on practical aspects of the teaching and methods for the development of intuitive wisdom.

http://www.archive.org/details/basics-thanissaro-bhikkhu

http://www.archive.org/details/satipatthana-joseph-goldstein

—Danny Bernstein

What are your Archive favorites? Please suggest a link or two and a few words about why you appreciate your recommendation to:

bestof [at] archive.org

—David Glenn Rinehart

 

This week at the Archive | 24 October 2011

Lincolniana

One of the interesting collections we are digitizing is the Lincoln Financial Collection, the largest privately owned collection of Lincolniana (yes, that’s a real word) in the United States. The collection includes many books Abraham Lincoln owned, including The life and speeches of Henry Clay. The volume features a note written by Lincoln and bound into the book when it was rebound.

It is a real treat to be able to touch a piece of history, something that Lincoln once held and read, one which surely influenced his thinking on the slavery issue. If you read the many notations in the description field, you will see that this was a book used by Lincoln in composing some of his early anti-slavery speeches.

—Jeff Sharpe

Zappa on Zappa

In a program recorded in 1968, Tom Donahue interviews Frank Zappa about his life and work, and allows the irreverent rock star to present some of his favorite music. The ensuing free form program ranges from surf music, doo-wop, jazz, the blues, to the works of Pierre Boulez. The song selection is very informative for any fan of Zappa’s music, as one can easily trace the influence of all these styles on his own creative output, be it the cheesy harmonies of 1950s pop songs or the intricate percussive patterns of Boulez’s avant-garde classical compositions. The role that such songs had on Zappa’s own musical evolution is made all the more clear at the end of this hilarious program when a selection of satirical songs from the Mothers of Invention are also heard.

—suggested by John Gilmore

Wayback to the Rescue

Graham Readfearn, an Australian writer, recently wrote to thank the Archive “for rescuing a former blog of mine, owned by News Ltd, from the internet dustbin.” Readfearn thought that twenty months of work had disappeared down the corporate drain until he discovered it was preserved on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

“I suppose this raises broader issues about the permanency of work online and what kind of a responsibility, if any, major news organisations have for archiving work that doesn’t get committed to a printed page,” he wrote. “In this particular case, a not-for-profit organisation on a separate continent has filled the breach.”

Here’s the full story.

—suggested by Alexis Rossi

 Popeye: Fright To The Finish (1954)

This Halloween adventure is notable for Popeye’s memorable line, “Olive, I didn’t recognize you without your skin on!”

What are your Archive favorites? Please suggest a link or two and a few words about why you appreciate your recommendation to:

bestof [at] archive.org

-David Glenn Rinehart

 

This week at the Archive | 17 October 2011

With the Internet Archive growing by terabytes a day, it’s impossible for any one person to have more than a partial or specialized appreciation of what’s on offer. And so, we’re presenting some favorites from the collections. If you’d like to share yours, please send a link or two and a few words about why you appreciate your recommendation to:

bestof [at] archive.org

Heaven’s Gate
I discovered the Internet Archive in 1997 after dozens of cultists in San Diego committed suicide in preparation to be picked up by a passing spaceship. (Who said air travel couldn’t get any worse?) The group’s Internet site was taken down after the tragedy, but press reports cited a copy of the site at the Archive:

http://web.archive.org/web/19961222130009/http://www.heavensgate.com/

I was grateful for that information; I’ve been using the Archive as a resource for my notebook ever since.

The drawings and engravings of William Blake
If you’re not familiar with William Blake, this volume is a great introduction:

http://www.archive.org/details/drawingsengravin00blakuoft

I’ll conclude with a few recommendations from Brewster Kahle, digital librarian and founder of the Internet Archive

The Letter
James Maduzia
This Lego movie is well crafted and has a good story:

Are You Ready For Marriage?
Aaron Simpson
This video was made using footage from from the Prelinger Archives; it was shown at the couple’s wedding. It’s funny and an inspiration for all:

Ditty Bops
I discovered the Ditty Bops on the archive, and have bought all of their CDs. They could be described as a cross between the Andrew Sisters and the Roches.

More Ditty Bops concerts:

http://www.archive.org/details/TheDittyBops

Finally, at the risk of being repetitiously redundant, please suggest a link or two and a few words about why you appreciate your recommendation to:

bestof [at] archive.org

-David Glenn Rinehart