Listed below are some useful starting points for those seeking information about speech and drama online. Suggestions for additions to this list that might be particularly helpful for classes or activities at Trinity may be sent to Benjamin Harris, the library's liaison for the Department of Speech and Drama.

American Rhetoric: Online Speech Bank
Created by Michael E. Eidenmuller of UT-Tyler, this comprehensive collection of speeches is searchable using an "I-site" interface powered by Google.  The site includes very recent as well as classical speeches, along with links to other locations that give context to rhetorical works and strategies. 

H-Rhetor Discussion Network
Active listserv focused on the discussion of topics related to the study and teaching of rhetoric.

Historical Voices
Sponsored by numerous university projects and housed at Michigan State University, the goal of this digital collection is to present and encourage development of resources that present digital voice files for subjects across the curriculum.  The site is an interesting browse, even if you are not looking for a particular event or speaker.

History Place: Great Speeches Collection
Site includes great speeches by a number of historical figures, primarily presidents and religious figures.

Great Debate and Beyond: History of Televised Presidential Debates
While the site's audience may not be undergrads, this interactive multimedia "celebration" is packed with resources and possibilities for further reading and research.

Perseus Digital Library
Extensive digital collection of materials with a wide chronological scope, Perseus includes a large number of classical plays as well as texts from the English Renaissance, examples of oratory, and classical/contemporary rhetoric.  While the site focuses on offering primary sources, some secondary sources on historical texts and theater history are included.

Presidential Rhetoric
"This site is devoted to bringing you contemporary information and resources concerning the study of presidential rhetoric."  Site is the combined effort of a number of scholars in the study of rhetoric.

Say It Plain: A Century of Great African-American Speeches
Full-text and audio files of this collection of historic speeches by African-American women and men is sponsored by American Radioworks.

Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric
One of the first and one of the best sites offering online definitions and guidelines for the study of rhetorical concepts and theories (both classical and contemporary).  Sponsored by Brigham Young University, this site extends the tree as a metaphor for learning and thinking about rhetorical activity.

See related links at the "Resources by Subject" page for Communication.

Drama Links

American Memory Collection Finder
Includes links to the following Library of Congress online collections: The Federal Theater Project: 1935-39, The Plays of Zora Neale Hurston 1925-1944, The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment 1870-1920.

Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Available since 1993, this site offers full-text of Shakespeare's plays and poetry.

Costumer's Manifesto
The sheer size and comprehensive quality of this site requires its inclusion here.  Not all of the many links remain current, and a number of the links go to commercial sources, but the depth given in each topic is notable.  Example: on the "Make-Up and Mask Supplies" page, surfers can visit an academic essay on make-up design for the stage, or visit a commercial theatrical mask dealer.  The site requires browsing but is clearly worth the effort.

Didaskalia: Ancient Theatre Today
Site for the online journal dealing with contemporary research and performance related to Ancient Greek and Roman drama in performance.

English Accents and Dialects
While focusing specifically on accents and dialects in Great Britain, these audio files give a sense of the varied character of the spoken-word over time in a single geographic location.

Inter-Play
Index to plays in collections, anthologies, and periodicals. Searchable by author and/or titles. More than 18,000 entries for plays. Database was created by Pennsylvania State University Librarians.

Internet Broadway Database
From the League of American Theatres and Producers, "IBDB is the official database for Broadway theatre information. IBDB provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre until today. Details include pertinent people involved as well as interesting facts and production statistics. Get a list of every production of Hamlet on Broadway or a list of your favorite actor's credits. Find out what played at a particular theatre or what shows opened in a specified Broadway season.

Internet Theatre Database
This attempt to act as the "Internet Movie Database" for theater enthusiasts continues to develop since its 1999 inception.  While incomplete, the site offers quick and easy reference for cast lists, acting credits, and production notes.  

Jack Wolcott's Theatre History on the Web
Wolcott, has maintained this resource since 1996.  Including annotated links to sites on theater history (from the classical to contemporary periods), stagecraft (lighting, costuming, make-up), and physical resources (libraries, archives, commercial contacts), the helpful scope of the site is complimented by its accuracy. 

OTA: Oxford Text Archive
"The OTA works closely with members of the Arts and Humanities academic community to collect, catalogue, and preserve high-quality electronic texts for research and teaching. The OTA currently distributes more than 2500 resources in over 25 different languages, and is actively working to extend its catalogue of holdings." The archive's holding include a good number of plays available in full-text.

Playbill On Line
This resource is one of the largest and most popular theatre pages on the Web, reaching a wide audience (amateur, student, and professional) with its listings of theatre-related sites.  With a focus on current and future theater happenings in New York City and the United States, Playbill gives readers a sense of the contemporary theater community.

Shakespeare Illustrated
Hosted by Emory University, this "work in progress, explores nineteenth-century paintings, criticism and productions of Shakespeare's plays and their influences on one another."

Shakespeare in Quarto (from the British Library)
"On this site you will find the British Library’s 93 copies of the 21 plays by William Shakespeare printed in quarto before the theatres were closed in 1642."  Aside from the plays themselves, the site offers biographical information on Shakespeare, a glossary, references, background on the writing of the plays as well as their original performance history, and links to other sites.  

Shakespeare Online
With Shakespeare's life and work represented in great abundance on the Internet, comprehensive sites that are both helpful and navigable are increasingly hard to find.  This resource offers full-text of Shakespeare's plays and poems, as well as biography, scholarly discussions related to the authorship of Shakespeare's work, and an extensive annotated links page extending beyond sole coverage of the Bard.

TheatreCrafts.com
In association with the University of Exeter Drama Department, "the aim of theatrecrafts.com is to eventually be the best resource for practical information and advice about technical theatre techniques for theatre folk at any level."

The WWW Virtual Library for Theatre and Drama
While this site is not regularly updated, a number of the aggregate links are some of the best on the web.  Of particular note is the "Theater Image Collections Online" page, featuring links to visual collections from a wide variety of theaters and archives.