Primary Sources: Speech Collections: Online

"This database contains transcripts of the onstage acceptance speeches given by Academy Award winners and acceptors. Some records include video clips. The database is a work in progress**; additional speeches will be added as they become available."

"The Nation's Forum recordings were made between 1918 and 1920 in an effort to preserve the voices of prominent Americans; in most cases, they are the only surviving recordings of a speaker. The project originated with St. Louis attorney Guy Golterman (1879-1967), an active supporter of the opera and other performing arts. With the endorsement of the Department of State's Committee on Public Information -- a governmental propaganda ministry -- the Nation's Forum sought speakers, and the Columbia Graphophone Company pressed and distributed the recordings under the Nation's Forum label."

Site provided by Iowa State University. Access speeches by women in politics on a variety of topics.

"... an online archive of British political speech and a place for the discussion, analysis, and critical appreciation of political rhetoric" It includes the "texts of speeches given by Conservative, Labour and Liberal/Liberal Democrat Party leaders going back to 1895."

This database includes speeches, interviews, etc., by Fidel Castro from 1959 to 1996 translated into English.
From the Latin American Network Information Center at the University of Texas.

A selection of presidential speeches, some include audio/video and/or transcripts.

Provided by the History Channel

Site includes:

Presidential Speeches

War Speeches

Civil Rights Speeches

Sports Speeches

Space Exploration Speeches

"... contains published pamphlets of addresses made on Independence Day from 1791-1925. The speeches explore topics central to the developing United States in the first 150 years of its existence..."

"... a non-profit project, sponsored by Sweet Briar College, dedicated to preserving and creating access to speeches by inspirational, influential and contemporary, women from around the world. "

"Welcome to Wyzant's Audio History section! Here, you can listen to famous speeches made by influential leaders of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We're offering original audio tapes of how JFK dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis. You can also hear Dr. Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Use these resources to bring history and politics alive! Listening to these historically famous speeches out loud can be truly inspirational for both students and educators alike. In addition to the original audio of the speeches, you will also find transcriptions beneath the audio player, so that you can follow along as you hear some of the world's greatest speakers address political issues of the 1900s and 2000s. "

"The Library of Congress presents the National Jukebox, which makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge. The Jukebox includes recordings from the extraordinary collections of the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation and other contributing libraries and archives."

The site from the U.S. National Park Service provides access to photographs from the Thomas Edison National Historical Park collection of 60,000 images. It also provides access to a selection of Edison sound recordings in MP3 format.

Access speeches and other materials at the Vatican from Pop John Paul II.

"Public speech making has played a powerful role in the long struggle by African Americans for equal rights. This collection, for the ear and the eye, highlights speeches by an eclectic mix of black leaders."

A collection of speeches that were made in the late 1960s - early 1970s recently digitized and made available on YouTube by the UCLA Communications Studies Department.

"The G. Robert Vincent Voice Library files found in the digital repository represent only a small part of the entire Voice Library collection, which includes over 100,000 hours of audio recordings. The repository features Voice Library items held in the public domain or which include permission from the rights holder for online distribution. More files will be added to the repository as the Voice Library continues to grow. Please search the MSU Libraries catalog to explore more Voice Library items."

"The Voices of Democracy project is designed to promote the study of great speeches and public debates. The emphasis of the project is on the actual words of those who, throughout American history, have defined the country’s guiding principles, debated the great social and political controversies of the nation’s history, and shaped the identity and character of the American people. " It is run by the University of Maryland

Contains historic audio recordings about events in the 20th Century.