Finding Speeches

Indexes

Speech Index, An Index to Collections of World Famous Orations and Speeches for Various Occasions, SSHR, AI 3 .S85 1966. "A guide to speeches of famous orators from the earliest times to the present day, and to types of speeches."  Indexes standard collections of speeches, single volumes by various authors, books and public speaking; limited to books published in English from 1900 through 1965.

Index to American Women Speakers, 1828-1978, SSHR, Z 1231.O7 M36. Index is divided into 4 sections: List of Books Indexed, Author, Subject, Title.   

We Shall Be Heard: An Index to Speeches by American Women 1978 to 1985, SSHR, Z1232.O7 M37. Updates the previous entry, by the same author.  

ABI/INFORM indexes two major sources for speeches, Vital Speeches of the Day and Executive Speeches. Vital Speeches is indexed from about 1975 onward, full text; Executive Speeches from about 1987 onward, page image.

Full Text

Vital Speeches of the Day,  PN6121 .V5  (v.1, 1934- Current issues in PRR. Also Microfilm 1577) Early volumes have the subtitle "A...journal--printing in full the important addresses of the leading molders of public opinion." Full text of an variety of speeches.  Published twice a month with each issue containing 8 to 10 speeches. There is a name and subject index for each volume.

Representative American Speeches,  AC5 .R4 ( 1937-1974 in  Remote Storage; 1975- in Main). The series was started to fill the perceived need for contemporary speech models for students, so these are not necessarily important speeches.  The types of speeches reprinted include lectures, sermons, eulogies, welcomes, farewells, inaugurals, as well as speeches at commencements, conventions, conferences, and awards. Topics vary, but cover representative subject areas; the 1996-97 volume contains speeches in the areas of Religion and Prejudice; the Human Community; Race; Arts and the Humanities; Government; and Foreign Policy. There is an index, sometimes cumulative, in each volume.

The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents is published every Monday by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration and contains Presidential materials released by the White House during the preceding week.  It contains addresses and remarks, communications to Congress and federal agencies, executive orders, texts of interviews and news conferences, proclamations, appointments, as well as supplementary materials, such as acts approved. There are cumulative quarterly indexes each year.

Current issues are in Gov Docs Current Periodicals, earlier are in the Gov Docs stacks at AE 2.109: (v.1, 1965-).  1993 forward is also available online from GPO Access.

Public Papers of the Presidents , AE 2.114: Gov Docs stacks.  Hoover, Truman forward.  
Messages, speeches and papers of the U.S. Presidents, includes public messages, speeches, and statements, presidential proclamations, vetoes, and executive orders.

Anthology of Public Speeches, Main PN6122.P5. An excellent anthology published in 1940, selections are arranged by time period throughout history, which include: Greek, Roman, Patristic, Mediaeval, Reformation, French Revolution, British, American, and World War I.

American Short Speeches: An Anthology, Main, PN6122.A47. Some of the most eloquent speeches from colonial times to 1968. Each speech is introduced with extensive information on the speaker and the occasion and is followed by suggested further reading.

The Great Society: A Sourcebook of Speeches, Main, PN6122.C3. Divided into sections on basic philosophy, civil rights, education and poverty, the speeches reflect varying points of view. Each speech is prefaced by an introduction which contains information about the speaker and the occasion, and a brief explanation of the speech.

WEB Resources

General * Douglass, Archives of American Public Address at Northwestern University is an electronic archive of American oratory and related documents.  There's an Alta Vista search of the site or you can review speeches and related documents by speaker, title, chronologically or by controversy/movement.  * The History Place: Great Speeches has an interesting assortment, which includes Nixon's Checkers speech. * At the History Channel speech archives you can 'hear the words that changed the world." Speeches are searchable & browsable several ways.

Historical * The Causes of the Civil War website includes related speeches, such as the 1860 inaugural message of S.C. Governor Pickens. * American Leaders Speak: Recordings from WWI and the 1920s Elections from the Library of Congress American Memory collection * WWII Sounds & Pictures    * PBS's H-Files let you browse some of history's great speeches and important documents.  There is also a link to an audio historical speeches archive where the first thing you hear Richard Nixon saying "I am not a crook."  * Selected speeches of Queen Elizabeth I from the Modern History Sourcebook (Fordham University).

Presidents * The University of Oklahoma Law Center's Chronology of U.S. Historical Documents has the inaugural address and other speeches of every U.S. President.  * Columbia maintains Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States.  * Speeches of Abraham Lincoln is a small sample of speeches from The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. * The Clinton White House's Virtual Library  includes the text of Presidential press briefings and radio addresses. * Boston College's Department of Communications Speeches page includes video clips of JFK speeches. * Truman Speeches includes audio as well as text speeches.  * Works of Franklin D. Roosevelt  from the New Deal Document Library has over 50 of FDR's speeches.

Celebrities There are a number of sites devoted to speeches of a particular person.  These include: Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr.*   Famous Speeches by (Really) Famous People has selected speeches, including Lou Gehrig's farewell to baseball speech.

Women *  feminist.com has a selection of articles and speeches. *  The Gifts of Speech site (Sweet Briar College), Women's Speeches from Around the World, is dedicated to preserving and creating access to speeches made by influential contemporary women. Searchable and browsable by last name or chronologically.

Political *  House Democratic Leadership Statements and Speeches * Speeches of Governor Engler * Congressional Testimonies, Letters and Speeches from Fast Track.