Cool Speech Archives and Resources

American Rhetoric
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/
As the name suggests, the site provides numerous speech texts (many with audio and some with video) of speeches from US history. The site is searchable as well as having a speech bank you can browse. Of special note is the site's ranking of the 100 Top Speeches from the 20^th century US (All rankings have their drawbacks, but it remains a nice selection of 20^th century American rhetoric.). My favorite speech resource, though certainly not all-encompassing.

The History Place — Great Speeches Collection
http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/previous.htm
Pop-up ads aside, this site provides speeches from authors as divergent as Saint Francis of Assisi, George W. Bush, and several Popes. What the collection lacks in length it makes up for in variety. I consider it the coolest site on my list.

Gifts of Speech
http://gos.sbc.edu/
This site dedicates itself to collecting and making available women's texts. A broad selection of orators makes this site doubly useful. Most speeches are contemporary, but provides a good base for feminist rhetorical studies.

The Douglass Archives of American Public Address
http://www.douglassarchives.org/
In memory of Frederick Douglass, this site provides texts and background resources arranged by social issues affecting the US from the Colonial period forward.

The Living Room Candidate
http://livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us/index.php
Oh my gosh! Presidential campaign commercials and short films from 1952 on. I can lose quite a bit of time watching them. Too much fun!

Michigan State University Library System
http://www.lib.msu.edu/foxre/speeches.html
The library site provides a nice collection of resources for finding speeches. Be sure to scroll to the bottom half of the page.

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