Founded by Harriet Monroe in 1912, Poetry magazine continues to flourish in the 21st century. When the magazine was first published, Monroe remarked "The Open Door will be the policy of this magazine-may the great poet we are looking for never find it shut, or half-shut, against his ample genius!" Strong and meaningful words indeed, and the magazine and its accompanying website live up to them...

The lyrical poet Horace once said that "The road of death must be travelled by all." He said many other things, and some of his sayings may be found within this classic volume. Originally published in 1887, the volume "Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages" was compiled by Robert Christy. The intent of this volume was to serve as a reference volume for libraries and personal use. The people at...

American Radio Works has produced a number of provocative and thoughtful radio documentaries (which are also available online), and this latest addition is truly no exception. Visitors to the site should begin by reading how the two creators of the documentary (Kate Ellis and Stephen Smith) selected these particular speeches, which is a rather interesting statement in itself. Visitors to the site...

Drawing inspiration from the wide-ranging projects of the Works Progress Administration, the StoryCorps project was created "to instruct and inspire people to record each others' stories in sound." Over the past four years, they have taken a number of their mobile recording booths (called "Storybooths") on the road across the country, and since that time, they have made thousands of recordings....

StoryCorps' mission is to provide "Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives". Since 2003, 50,000 Americans have taken that opportunity, and some of their stories can be heard on NPR's radio show, Morning Edition. The StoryCorps website has links to over a dozen stories on its homepage, along with photos of those key to...

That's What They Say is a delightful podcast about the history and modern-day use of the English language. For the past several years, Michigan Public Radio's Rina Miller and University of Michigan English professor Anne Curzan have hosted the program, which airs on Sunday mornings. Readers can browse and listen to the show's complete archive on Michigan Public Radio's website. These short, four-...

While many of former United States presidents have their own libraries, The American Presidency Project attempts to bring together documents from all of the presidents. Started in 1999 as a collaborative project between Gerhard Peters, John T. Woolley, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, the Project's site contains over 75,000 documents related to the study of the presidency....

Stuttering has entered popular culture with the release of, and critical acclaim for, the recent movie "The King's Speech", which is about King George VI of England's problem with stuttering. Since 1947, the Stuttering Foundation has focused on preventing and improving the treatment of stuttering. The Foundation's website provides a series of podcasts, which include a recent interview with the...

Based at the Michigan State University Libraries, the Vincent Voice Library is the largest academic voice library in the United States. The majority of the items in the collection are stored on reels of magnetic recording tape, and they include speeches, interviews, and lectures. The library began as the private collection of G. Robert Vincent, who was a noted sound engineer and pioneer in the...

In these tumultuous times, it seems like more and more people want to win friends and influence people. Of course, there are enterprising souls who would attempt to sell you their insights into the art of oratory and such, but this website gives away such prized material at no cost to you, gentle browser. Virtual Presentation Assistant is an online tutorial dedicated to the art and skill of public...