Resources by format
Speeches and other oral communications on topics such as politics, history, science and business can be vital sources for research. Often you will be looking for transcripts of these speeches as opposed to recordings of the speech itself. The library also has sources for transcripts of radio and television programs, particularly news programs. When accessing text of speeches or programs, be sure to check if the text is a summary, except or the full transcript of the speech or program.
Speech and transcript databases
- Oral History Online from Alexander Street PressOral History Online is both an index of full-text interviews and other oral history narratives and free oral history information online. The narratives cover diverse subjects, including civil rights and race relations, labor history, African American history, women's history, immigration studies, political history, American Indian history, regional history, and more.
- Drama OnlineDrama Online provides over 2000 full-text plays and monologues You can search by content type, genre, period, author, setting, theme, cast size, and roles. Its Reader can show original pagination, tables of contents, or scholarly annotations, and you can add bookmarks and notes or extract citations or a parts book. The library subscribes to Nick Hern books, Canadian Playwrights, Stage on Screen, and the Hollow Crown.
- America's Historical Imprints from ReadexAmerica's Historical Imprints is a digital collection containing virtually every book, pamphlet, and broadside published in America over a 200-year period. It is comprised of a vast range of publications, including advertisements, almanacs, bibles, broadsides, catalogs, charters and by-laws, contracts, cookbooks, elegies, eulogies, laws, maps, narratives, novels, operas, pamphlets, plays, poems, primers, sermons, songs, speeches, textbooks, tracts, travelogues, treaties, and more. Scanned pages available as JPEG, TIFF, and PDF.
- Presidential SpeechesThe Scripps Library, through cooperation with various presidential libraries, has been collecting some of the most important presidential speeches in American history. These speeches all have transcripts, and some are available in their entirety in audio or video. 1789-present.
- CQ Press Electronic LibraryFor more than 40 years, Historic Documents has made primary source research easy by presenting excerpts from documents on the important events of each year for the United States and the world. Each volume includes approximately 70 events with well over 100 documents from the previous year, from official or other influential reports and surveys, to speeches from leaders and opinion makers, to court cases, legislation, testimony, and much more. Full-source citations are provided. Readers have easy access to material through a detailed, thematic table of contents and a cumulative five-year index that directs them to related material in earlier volumes.
General databases
Databases that primarily index speeches and transcripts of programs are listed below. Search by author for speeches by that author (also search the author by keyword or subject for articles on that author). Limit by date range for transcripts of specific speeches or programs.
- Academic Search Complete from EBSCOhostTry searching the speech-giver or topic of the speech as a subject and limiting by Document Type to Speech. Also includes content from Vital Speeches of the Day from 1934-present, which reprints 8-12 speeches in each issue. Use the Search Within This Publication feature to search this publication.
- Access World News from NewsbankAccess World News provides full-text newspapers, magazines, and broadcast transcripts for American and international publications. Use the Browse by: Source Type menu and choose Transcript to choose a particular source or to limit your search to just transcripts. 1978-present.
- FactivaUnder the search box, use the Subject menu, then Subject Category > Content Types and select Transcripts by using the up-pointing triangle. A code will be added to the search box. Add the word AND and your search terms to search against transcripts.
- General OneFile from GaleUse the Select Document Type menu to select Transcript to limit your search.
Subject specific databases
Speeches by experts in various fields can be reprinted or analyzed in academic journals and other academic sources. These sources will be indexed in subject specific databases found through the subject guides. Search the speech's author and the topic of the speech. Bibliographies may give references to sources of the text of the speech.
Print indexes and sources of speeches
Speeches can be found in a wide variety of sources, including many not indexed by online databases. Use print indexes to locate sources (search the catalog by the source title to see if it is owned locally, otherwise Login to ILLiad to request the title.
Speech index by Publication Date: 1966-1982Covers speeches published between 1900 and 1978. Indexing is by author, subject, and type of speech.
Documents of American history by Call Number: E173 .C66 1988ISBN: 0132172747Publication Date: 1988-04-01This volume covers 1492 to 1898, and the second volume from 1899 to the 1970s; together they total 670 important documents, each with its own introduction.
Index to American women speakers, 1828-1978 by Call Number: PS400 .M36 1980ISBN: 0810812827Publication Date: 1980-04-28In addition to books, this source also indexes speeches in periodicals, government documents, and conference proceedings.
Representative American speeches by Call Number: PS668 .B3Publication Date: 1937-2009Each volume contains 10 to 20 representative speeches of the year. Check at the back of the latest volume for information on using the cumulative author indexes. This source is also indexed in Speech Index and its supplements (see separate entry).
