The (US) Library of Congress today announced the launch of its own YouTube channel.

The Library of Congress is the country’s oldest federal cultural institution, and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections. In terms of “modern” (20th-century) media, they curate over 6 million films, broadcasts and sound recordings).

One of the Library’s stated missions is to “preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations,” and today’s additions to YouTube are another way to do that.

Because the knowledge of boxing cats is something the world should preserve and pass along to future generations.

No, really, this is a really cool thing. There are recordings of lectures and author presentations from the National Book Festival, industrial films from the early 1900’s,  a twenty-minute documentary on poet Langston Hughes. More content is promised in the days to come, along with a promise to “make our content more useful and delivered across platforms with built-in audiences of millions.”

You should definitely check it out.