Long the most important source for "American" speeches.  If you're at all interested in this genre, a quick look may be addictive. "The publishers of Vital Speeches believe that the important addresses of the recognized leaders of public opinion constitute the best expressions of contemporary thought in America, and that it is extremely important for the welfare of the nation that these speeches be permanently recorded and disseminated." Coverage is wide ranging. There is a website (which includes an index and access to all texts); but we are not subscribers.

1. The form k=Lincoln.au,su. and speech? is by far the most inclusive of approaches.  Do not limit "speech?" to the subject field; it is not consistently included within a subject heading string. 
2. Once you've tried this, you can move on to other approaches: Search the catalog in keyword mode: making the author of the speech both an author and a subject in combination with such terms as: addresses, oratory, and sermons.  For instance:  k=Lincoln.au,su. and oratory
3. Try subject searches using the form: s=Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Oratory.  Similarly, the same formulaic search will work for anyone: s=Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972--Oratory
4. Because oratory is a subject heading component, you can escape the need of knowing birth and death dates and execute keyword searches using the form: k=Lincoln.au.su. and oratory.su.  To eliminate the confusion caused by using only the author's last name, use the form: k=Lincoln Abraham.au,su. and oratory.su. 

To find speeches in the catalog by subject heading there are such offerings as:

Presidents--United States--Inaugural addresses

Presidents--United States--Messages

War, Declaration of--United States

Speeches, addresses, etc., American.  This form will, of course, work for other nationalities, for instance: Speeches, addresses, etc., French.  Such searches can be further limited, for instance:

Speeches, addresses, etc., American--Women authors or Speeches, addresses, etc., American-African American authors

Among other headings are:

Orators--United States

Women Orators--United States

Political Oratory--United States

African-American Orators

Or, if it seems appropriate and you're looking for other types of primary sources as well, try:

United States History--19^th century [or the century of your choice]

United States History--19^th century--sources

History, Modern--19^th century--Sources

To find "speeches" delivered or popular during a specific period:

Execute keyword searches qualified by date, for instance: k=speeches and American and 184?.dt1,dt2.  This will retrieve publications originally printed in the 1840s, even of they were reprinted this year.

III. The Catalog: Finding Audio-Visual Materials

In addition to material on the Web (and there's quite a bit), see the major video production listed below.  Check the catalog for other possibilities.  Speeches are written to be delivered, not merely to be read.  The full power and persuasiveness of a speech -- even its meaning -- may not be captured in its reading.

Great American Speeches: 80 Years of Political Oratory.  Princeton, N.J.: Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1997.  6 videocassettes (275 minutes).
Lockwood Microforms and Newspapers Videocassette VHS PS668.G7 1997

Begins with a 1912 speech by Theodore Roosevelt and ends with 1984 addresses by Mario Cuomo and Jesse Jackson.

Any of the searches performed above may be restricted to audio-visual materials as follows

To limit a search to sound recordings (voice or music) use s.gmd.

To limit a search to video recordings, videodiscs, motion pictures and slides use f.fmt.

IV. Indexes to Anthologies and to Serials (Magazines, Journals, and Newspapers) and More

Speech Index: An Index to 259 Collections of World Famous Orations and Speeches for Various Occasions (1935--) and Speech Index, 1966-1980, 4^th edition supplement.  Early edition in Undergraduate Reference and Lockwood Book Collection PN6122.S87; supplement in Lockwood Reference and Undergraduate Library Reference

Index to American Women Speakers, 1828-1978.  Beverly Manning.  Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1980.  Lockwood Reference Collection Z1231.O7M36 and We Shall Be Heard: An Index to Speeches by American Women, 1978 to 1985.  Beverly Manning.  Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1988.  Lockwood Reference Collection Z1231.O7M37 1988

If presented with a phase and told it comes from a speech, don't forget quotation books.  Bartlett's has gone through many editions.  Depending on the "age" of what you are searching for, older editions may be more appropriate than more recent ones -- or the most recent one.

Familiar Quotations: A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature. Lockwood Reference Collection PN6081.B18

Finding speeches in the contemporary press (journals, periodicals, and newspapers):

EBSCOHost MasterFile Select
            http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/ebsco.html

            InfoTrac OneFile
            http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/eai.html

Both include coverage of the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents and Vital Speeches of the Day.  Years of coverage may differ between the two indexes.  Citations for speeches available in InfoTrac OneFile are "indexed" with the embedded term "transcript."  Use it as a keyword in basic search mode or as a subject in advanced mode. 

            Factiva
            http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/factiva.html

            Lexis/Nexus
            http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/lexisnexis.html

For both sources: To find speeches by President Bush simply search <bush speech>; if appropriate limit further by date or by subject.  If you scroll through the results you'll often be rewarded with the text or partial text of a speech.  Try adding the word <transcript>.  Sometimes it helps; other times it kills a search.

V.  Using the Web: Search Engines

In any of the various search engines try searches combining the author of a given speech and the word "speech."  If searching for a speech by a known phrase, be sure to place the phrase in quotation marks.  If this does not work, it may be because the patron has paraphrased. Be creative. Combine elements of the phrase with the author's name.

VI.    Using the Web: Hearing and Seeing (Still and Video)

AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive

Use for stills, video, and audio. Useful for recent, as well as for older material.

Google Image Search

http://www.google.com/imghp
Useful for recent, as well as for older material.

Singingfish

http://search.singingfish.com/mvc/jsp/search.jsp
Use for audio and video.  Useful for recent, as well as for older material.

In addition, images of recent deliveries may be found using:

            Factiva
            http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/factiva.html

VII. A Selection of World Wide Web Resources

American Rhetoric.Com
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/

Movie Speeches: "Full text, audio and video database of some 80 Hollywood movie speeches, as selected by audiences of American Rhetoric."   Top 100 Speeches: "Complete index to and partial text and audio database of the 100 most significant American political speeches of the 20th century, according to 137 leading scholars of American public address." Figures in Sound: "200+ short audio clips from well-known speeches, movies, sermons, popular songs, and sensational media events by famous (and infamous) politicians, actors, preachers, athletes, singers, and other noteworthy personalities."  See Online Speech Bank below.  

American Memory
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/mdbquery.html
Draws primarily on the collections of the Library of Congress.  Depending on how you search -- and what is available -- you may find the handwritten-text of an address or a recording of the speech as it was delivered.

Avalon Project
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm
Over 400 speeches are part of this effort, covering primarily the 18^th through 21st centuries; however, pre-18th century materials are included.  Within the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government we select those materials which are of sufficient importance as primary material to be included. Documents are also included because they are referred to in a document which is already part of the Project. We also take quite seriously suggestions from our readers and many documents have been included for that reason.

Center for History and New Media
http://chnm.gmu.edu/assets/historyweb/historyweb.php
The Center at George Mason University -- maintains a database of Web sites especially valuable to history teachers.  Among these are some sites devoted to specific speeches as well as topical collections of speeches.

Douglass: Archives of American Public Address
http://douglassarchives.org/
Intended to serve general scholarship and courses in American rhetorical history at Northwestern University. Always a good place to look for famous American addresses and an excellent topical "index" to the holdings of other Web collections.  Onsite speeches may be browsed by speaker, title, chronologically, and by issue and searched by Boolean (and/or), exact phrase, and sound-alike matching.  A very useful collection of resources for studying speeches is included at http://douglassarchives.org/comsrces.htm 

Famous Historic Speeches
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/speeches/speeches.cfm
Draws on many of the aggregator sources included in this list; but some "unique" items are also included.  Some speeches are accompanied by or presented in audio-visual format.

Gifts of Speech: Women's Speeches from Around the World
http://gos.sbc.edu/
Here will be found addresses by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Emma Goldman, Golda Meir, and Barbara Jordan.

The History Channel: Great Speeches
http://www.historychannel.com/speeches/archive1.html
A broad cross section, restricted by neither time period nor geography -- although certainly restricted by language.  Sound clips are provided.

The History Place: Great Speeches Collection
http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/previous.htm
Not a long list; but some well-known contemporary and historic addresses are included. Audio is provided for each speech.

History Resource Center: U.S.
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/hrc.html
After performing a subject search, select Primary Sources from the tab selection options. Speeches are often among the sources listed and accessible in full text.

Index to USA Presidents
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/index.htm
Includes not only inaugural addresses, but also state of the union and farewell addresses and other major speeches.

InfoUSA: Famous Speeches
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/speeches.htm
A modest list that may contain some material not variable elsewhere.

Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States
http://www.bartleby.com/124/
Arranged by president, and full-text searchable.

The National Gallery of the Spoken Word

Michigan State University
http://www.ngsw.org/app.html

HistoricalVoices.Org
http://www.historicalvoices.org/galleries.php
A gateway to the components of this initiative. Among its programs are: The OYEZ Project (Supreme Court), Earliest Voices, and History and Politics Out Loud.

The Nation's Forum, 1918-1920
The American Memory Project
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/nfhtml/nfhome.html

Speeches focus on issues and events surrounding the First World War and the presidential election of 1920. Speakers include: Warren G. Harding, James Cox, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Samuel Gompers, Henry Cabot Lodge, and John J. Pershing. Speeches range from one to five minutes.

Online Speech Bank
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speechbank.htm
Index to and growing database of 5,000+ full text, audio and video (streaming) versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recorded media events, etc.

PBS's Great American Speeches
http://www.pbs.org/greatspeeches/
A wide selection of political and social addresses (including Ken Burn's affirmation of the Democratic Party); arranged chronologically. 

Speeches and Speechmakers (University of Iowa)
http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/resources/speech.html
Offers links to "speeches" as well as to sources for studying oratory and rhetoric.  Many of the "speech" collections listed are topical.

THOMAS (Legislative Information on the Internet)
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/Thomas.html
Provides indexing and full text access to the Congressional Record from the 101^st Congress, or from 1989 to date.  For guidance on identifying Congressional publications -- including the various sources that have preserved debates, see the appropriate section of United States Federal Government: Selected Resources. Complement THOMAS with:

Congressional Universe
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/lml/e-resources/cis.html
Coverage of the Congressional Record from 1988 to date.

GPO Acccess
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html
Coverage of the Congressional Record from 1994 (v. 140) through 2004 (v. 150).  Also includes the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents from 1993 (v.29) through 2004 (v.40).

The White House: Presidential News and Speeches
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/
Read, see, and hear the President's remarks and public addresses.

VIII. A Selection of Reference Works (Not all are in the Reference Collections.)

American Short Speeches: An Anthology.  Bower Aly and Lucile Folse Aly.  New York: Macmillan, 1968.  Lockwood PN6122.A47

The Annals of America.  21 vols.  Undergraduate Library E173.A793

Calls to Arms: Presidential Speeches, Messages, and Declarations of War.  Russell D. Buhite.  Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 2003.  Lockwood J81.4.C35 2003

Contemporary American Speeches.  Richard L. Johannesen, et al.  Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., 2000.  Lockwood PS668.C6 2000

Documents of American History.  Henry Steele Commanger.  9^th ed.  New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1973.  Lockwood Book Collection/Undergraduate Reference Collection E173.C66 1973

Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History.  Selected and introduced by William Safire.  New York: Norton, 1992.

Lockwood Reference Collection/Undergraduate Reference Collection PN6122.L4 1992

Notable Speeches in Contemporary Presidential Campaigns.  Robert V. Friedenberg. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2002.  Lockwood E838.3.F75 2002

The Penguin Book of Twentieth-Century Speeches.  Edited by Brian MacArthur.  2nd rev. ed.  London, England; New York: Penguin Books, 1999. Lockwood D411.P46 1999

The Presidents Speak: The Inaugural Addresses of the American Presidents from Washington to Clinton.  Davis Newton Lott.  New York: H. Holt and Co., 1994.  Lockwood Reference Collection J81.C62 1994

Public Papers of the Presidents
http://www.gpo.gov/nara/pubpaps/aboutpaps.html

This online service makes available material that was compiled and published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration, in hardcover printed volumes entitled The Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States. This hardcopy series includes volumes covering the administrations of Presidents Hoover, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush, as well as President William J. Clinton.

Representative American Speeches.  [1937/1938 - 1977/1978]  New York: H. W. Wilson Co.  Lockwood PS668.B3

An annual publication containing the texts of representative speeches of the year given by American politicians and public figures. Cumulated author indexes appear every 10 years. Top politicians, scientists, philosophers, theologians, educators, journalists, and others are represented. 

Selected American Speeches On Basic Issues, 1850-1950.  Edited by Carl G. Brandt and Edward M. Shafter, Jr.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960. Lockwood E178.6.B85

Speeches of the American Presidents.  Janet Podell and Steven Anzovin.  New York: The H. W. Wilson Co., 1988.  Lockwood Reference Collection J81.C88 1988

The State of the Union Messages of the Presidents, 1790-1966.  With an introduction by Arthur M. Schlesinger.  Editor Fred L. Israel.  New York: Chelsea House, 1966.  Lockwood J81.C66

U.S. Presidents as Orators: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook.  Edited by Halford Ryan.  Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1995. Lockwood PN4055.U53P648 1995

Voices of Multicultural America: Notable Speeches Delivered by African, Asian, Hispanic, and Native Americans, 1790-1995.  Deborah Gillan Straub, editor.  New York: Gale Research, 1996.  Undergraduate Reference Collection PS663.M55V64 1996

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, 1965- ; electronic 1993-
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/wcomp/index.html
Access is provided from 1993 to date.

Published every Monday. It is the official publication of presidential statements, messages, remarks, and other materials released by the White House Press Secretary. Published by the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).  For guidance on the range of presidential materials see the guide Presidential Materials and United States Federal Government: Selected Resources.  Note that an online version of Richardson's A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents is available online through Project Gutenberg, Washington through Buchanan.  The Public Papers of the Presidents series in available online through GPO access from 1992.  See above.

The World's Orators.  Guy Carleton Lee.  G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1900. 10 vols.
Lockwood PN6121.L4 

There's a relatively recent movie where somebody reads a letter written by Abraham Lincoln. the scene's really famous. I just can't place it.  My professor mentioned it when he was talking about American causalities in Iraq. Can you help me?  What is the title of the movie?  What was the letter about?   Through which source can I watch a clip of it?

Charlie D'Aniello, 645-2814 x 424

Last Modified 22 July 2004 djb
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