To Kill a Mockingbird was added to the National Film Registry in 1995.
The Library of Congress selected the 1962 film for preservation because it was judged culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. The registry recognizes works that matter to American film heritage, not merely movies that were commercially successful or won major awards.
Directed by Robert Mulligan and adapted from Harper Lee’s 1960 novel, the film stars Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and Mary Badham as Scout. Its story of racial injustice, childhood moral education, and life in Depression-era Alabama helped make it one of the most widely studied American films.
The registry honor came more than three decades after the movie’s release. That timing is easy to confuse with later recognitions: the American Film Institute named Atticus Finch the greatest movie hero of the twentieth century in 2003, and the film later appeared on several AFI lists. The National Film Registry is a Library of Congress preservation program, not an Academy Awards category.