The Library of Congress’ American Folklife Center is seeking sermons that are preached in U.S. houses of worship during inaugural week.
The library said it would mark the historic inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama as the nation’s first black president by adding sermons from a range of houses of worship and secular settings to its spoken-word collection.
“In anticipation of citizens’ efforts to mark this historic time around the country, the American Folklife Center will be collecting audio and video recordings of sermons and orations that comment on the significance of the inauguration of 2009,” the center states on its Web site.
“It is expected that such sermons and orations will be delivered at churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship, as well as before humanist congregations and other secular gatherings. The American Folklife Center is seeking as wide a representation of orations as possible.”
The collection will include written texts and audio and video recordings from Jan. 16–25. Submissions must be sent to the center by Feb. 27.
Recordings, texts and related printed programs that meet the center’s specifications will be processed by archivists and then made available to students, scholars and the general public.
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