Slightly off topic but if the National Film Registry included Star Wars among its selected films in 1989, why did Lucasfilm offer the SE print 8 years after the fact??? Was Lucas intending to change the film(s) as early as '89 and wouldn’t submit a print until the film was ‘finished’???
Seeing as how the Library itself had two copies already and the National Film Registry is essentially just another bureaucratic wing of the Library of Congress, it probably wasn’t much of a priority. Who knows really? I’d be curious to see how many films on the registry don’t have prints submitted.
Their website is pretty vague on the matter:
Have all of the Registry films been preserved?
The National Film Registry of the Library of Congress works with motion picture studios, independent filmmakers, archives, museums and historical societies to secure the best available film elements for each Registry title. These elements are conserved under the best possible physical conditions i.e. low temperature and low humidity at the Library. In some cases, the films have already been preserved by a studio, filmmaker or archive, and the Library simply maintains a “reserve” print or a copy of the master materials which are not distributed or projected and is considered the Registry master element(s).
But given that preservation is the NFR’s mandate, and given the answer above, I would think that they have actively tried to get better elements, especially for Star Wars, whose copyright registry print, IIRC, is an exhibition print.
Maybe Mike Verta could strike them a copy.