Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Database Showcase: American Inaugurals

With the 2012 election behind us, I figured that now is the perfect time to highlight another database in the WCCLS collection.
American Inaugurals (accessed under the 'Law and Government' section) features a collection of inaugural addresses by presidents all the way back to George Washington. Mysteriously absent is George W. Bush's second address as well as Barack Obama's, but I'd imagine that those will be added with the next update. Provided alongside the addresses in HTML, PDF, E-Reader, and audio formats are brief histories of the presidents and timelines of notable events that took place during their terms in office. The database offers an excellent way for students to interact with the language of speeches and consider what they were trying to accomplish with the speech and if the words accurately portrayed the type of president that they would be. For more detailed histories of the presidents and their times, check the Biography in Context database, located under "Biographies & About" on the left side of the WCCLS Online Resources page.