Composition and Rhetoric: Online Collections
Online Collections
This page lists online collections related to the study of rhetoric. The collections will include books, videos, photographs, documents, pamphlets, and many other formats. These collections will mostly include primary source collections. For other online resources you may want to refer to some of the other tabs above.
- American & English Literature Full CollectionThe American & English Literature Collection contains many works of poetry, drama, and prose based on books and other sources originally published in print. It also contains 21 historic editions of the Bible in English.
- American Film Scripts Online This link opens in a new windowContains 823 scripts by 969 writers. When it is complete there will be 1000 scripts. Most of them have never been published before and appear through arrangements with major film studios.
- American Periodicals This link opens in a new windowDigitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals published between 1741 and 1900.
- Asian American Drama This link opens in a new windowContains 252 full-text plays by 42 playwrights. In addition to well-known works, the collection includes items by emerging and less familiar playwrights.
- Black Drama 1850 to Present This link opens in a new windowContains approximately 1200 plays by 201 playwrights, together with related information on productions, theaters, and production companies.
- Black Short Fiction and Folklore This link opens in a new windowA full-text collection of short stories, fables, and folklore from African, African-American, and Caribbean authors.
- Early American Imprints: The Digital Evans This link opens in a new windowProvides the full text of most printed matter issued in the United States and Canada from 1639-1800, including books, pamphlets, and broadsides.
- Early English Books Online This link opens in a new windowDigital facsimile page images of virtually every work (books, pamphlets, broadsides, and other matter) printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new windowDigital images of every page of 150,000 English-language titles covering all subjects, published between 1701 and 1800 in the United Kingdom and the Americas (including foreign-language titles printed in the U.K.).
- Latin American Women Writers This link opens in a new windowProse, poetry and drama by Latin American women (from Mexico, Central America and South America)
Latin American Women Writers contains full-text prose, poetry and drama by Latin American Women. Authors are from Mexico and South and Central America. Materials are in Spanish and Portuguese as well as French, Italian and English.
Dates of coverage: 17th century-present - Latino Literature This link opens in a new windowContains the full text of poetry, fiction, and drama written in English and Spanish by hundreds of Chicano, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and other Latin authors working in the United States.
- New World Cinema: Independent Features & Shorts, 1990-present This link opens in a new windowThis collection includes approximately 200 full-length feature films from leading independent distributors such as Kino Lorber, First Run Features, Film Movement, MK2, and Global Lens. There are also some 50 award winning short films. All films were presented at major film festivals, many were nominated for awards, and many have won major awards.
Films include the Oscar-nominated Twilight Samurai, directed by Yoji Yamada, Oscar-nominated The Scent of Green Papaya, directed by Tran Anh Hung, Oscar-nominated Dogtooth, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, and Cannes Grand Jury Prize winner The Piano Teacher, directed by Michael Haneke. Collectively the films in the database have won more than 1,000 awards. - New York Times Historical This link opens in a new windowFull text of the complete run of the New York Times, 1851-three years ago.
Full text of the complete run of New York Times from 1851 to three years ago, with page images, individual articles, ads, and illustrationss in downloadable PDF. It includes, and is searchable by, display and classified ads, cartoons, photos, maps, graphics, etc., editorials, obituaries, and commentary, as well as articles.
Dates of coverage: 1851-three years from the present.
Updated: Varies - North American Women's Drama This link opens in a new windowFull text of over 1,500 plays by more than 300 playwrights, beginning with colonial times and spanning the 19th and 20th centuries. A third of the plays have never been published before.
- Romantic Era Redefined This link opens in a new windowOnline collection of Romantic-era literature.
It covers writers from Britain, the British Empire, and North America and includes over 170,000 pages of text. It has poetry, prose, drama, letters, and diaries—along with political, philosophical, scientific, and sociological works. The project includes the full run of The Wordsworth Circle and critical essays written by notable scholars.
Dates of coverage: 1800-1830 - Rotunda This link opens in a new windowCollections of 18th and 19th century texts/papers by significant Americans. Includes texts by Emily Dickinson, Herman Melville, and Matthew Arnold.
Consists of two broad collections of 18th and 19th century texts. The American Founding Era contains the papers of Dolly Madison and George Washington. The 19th-Century Literature and Culture collection includes papers from Kristina Rosetti, Matthew Arnold, Emily Shore, Herman Melville (text of his novel Typee), and an 19th century novel about slavery by a slave. Each database also contains supplemental and interpretive materials.
Dates of coverage: 18c.-19c.
Updated: New collections added. - Scottish Women Poets of the Romantic Period This link opens in a new windowContains 60 volumes of Romantic Poetry, extensive contemporary critical reviews, as well as material specially written for this database by leading scholars.
- South and Southeast Asian Literature This link opens in a new windowA searchable full-text collection of fiction and poetry written in English by authors from South and Southeast Asia and their diasporas. Focusing on works composed during the late-colonial and post-colonial eras, the collection also features author interviews and manuscript materials that will shed additional light on the rich literary heritage and emerging traditions of this region.
- Times Digital Archive, 1785-2010 This link opens in a new windowComplete digital edition of The Times (London) including all articles, advertisements and illustrations, and photos.
- Twentieth Century Advice Literature This link opens in a new windowFull-text of handbooks, manuals, textbooks, etiquette guides, self-help books, instructional pamphlets, and how-to books that illustrate the standards of personal conduct for millions of Americans and reflected the prevailing social mores across the twentieth century. Titles include: "Official Preppy Handbook" and "Facts about Marriage Every Young Man & Woman Should Know" 1900-present
What is a primary source?
A primary source provides direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art. Characteristically, primary sources are contemporary to the events and people described and show minimal or no mediation between the document/artifact and its creator. As to the format, primary source materials can be written and non-written, the latter including sound, picture, and artifact. Examples include:
- personal correspondence and diaries
- speeches and oral histories
- photographs and posters
- newspaper ads and stories
- audio and video recordings
Primary Sources Beta
This database provides access to the primary source databases that the University Libraries subscribe to as well as a large selection of free sites available on the Internet. In most cases the collections referenced here are full text, providing the document or image that you have searched for. In many cases these materials are copyrighted by the provider of the information. The Miami University Libraries make no determination of fair use.