Rhetorical Artifacts

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Source Material
Rhetorical Artifacts

Resources available from the BC Libraries -- online and offline -- and on the Web can be rich sources of rhetorical artifacts for critical analysis. The following are just a sampling of resources you may find valuable.

Speeches

• Vital Speeches of the Day (BC login required)
  The complete text of more than 15,000 speeches dating back to 1934. Available via the Business Source Premier database. (Choose EBSCOHOST, then click on a year and issue to browse or click on Search Within This Publication to look for a particular speech or speaker.)
• Presidential Rhetoric at the American Presidency Project
  An impressive collection of presidential rhetoric -- from George Washington to George Bush -- including: every presidential inaugural address from 1789 to 2005; weekly Saturday radio addresses of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, plus a selection of Franklin Roosevelt's "Fireside Chats"; transcripts of presidential news conferences as far back as Herbert Hoover; presidential nomination acceptance speeches back to 1932 for the Democrats and 1956 for the Republicans; and transcripts of Presidential debates back to 1960.

TV & Radio

• TV & Radio Transcripts
  Transcripts of radio and television programs are available in both Lexis/Nexis and Factiva.
  • Lexis/Nexis Academic . Sources include ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News, CNN, National Public Radio, and others including the Burrelle's service which provides transcripts of syndicated programs such as the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Montel Williams Show, Marketplace, and others. Click on News on the red bar at the top of the page, then select Transcripts from the Select Sources drop-down menu and check off the source that you want in the box that appears below it.
  • Factiva. Factiva makes it possible to search specific news and news-related programs on the major broadcast and cable networks, as welll as National Public Radio and the BBC. Click on Search, then click on Source. Select Publications - By Type from the drop-down menu, then click on the + next to Transcripts to see what is available.
• TV Shows on Video and DVD
  A variety of recent and older TV shows are available on video or DVD in the Media Center on Level 2 of the O'Neill Library. (One level down from the main entrance.)
• Vanderbilt Television News Archive (BC login required)
  An index database of national network television news programs and other news-related programming collected by Vanderbilt University. As a subscriber, Boston College has free access to streaming video of CNN news broadcasts from the mid-1990s to the present, as well as commercial shown on CNN.

Newspapers

• ProQuest Historical Newspapers (BC login required)
  • New York Times 1851-2004
  • Washington Post 1877-1991
  • Boston Globe 1872-1924
  • Chicago Defender 1905-1975
    Full text access to historical content of these newspapers, including advertisements and original layout, for the dates listed
• PressDisplay (BC login required)
  A rolling 60-day archive of more than 270 newspapers from around the world, in full color, exactly as they appear in print.

Advertising, Images, and Ephemera

• Ad*Access
  Presents images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. Concentrates on five main subject areas: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II.
• The Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850 - 1920
  Presents over 9,000 images, with database information, that "illustrate the rise of consumer culture, especially after the American Civil War, and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States."
• ArtStor (BC login required)
  A database of over 300,000 images plus descriptive information of art, architecture, painting, photography, sculpture, decorative arts and design, archeological and anthropological objects, and visual and material culture.
• American Broadsides and Ephemera (BC login required)
  Based on the American Antiquarian Society's landmark collection, American Broadsides and Ephemera includes facsimile images of approximately 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed between 1760 and 1900. These include early trade cards, advertisements, theater and music programs, campaign literature, playbills, begging poems, and more.

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