Narrow the focus of your quotation search by "scoping," or limiting the sources you are searching to a particular type or format.
Ebook Archives/ Book Search Engines
Print materials not only may include the quotation you are researching, but these materials also often include citation information that may be helpful. Several sources allow you to search the full text of books online:
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Search the full text of books digitized by Google. The full text of some books is available, while others provide only a snippet view and page number for your search term.
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HathiTrust is a partnership of academic and research institutions, including the Library of Congress. It offers a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. Many books on the site are available in full text while some offer snippets or a partial view of your search term in context.
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Search full-text books, movies, archived websites, and more.
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More than 58,000 free online books are available in full text and searchable.
Newspaper Archives
Search full-text historical newspapers to find early or original uses of a phrase.
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Historic American newspapers selected and contributed by state partners in the National Digital Newspaper Program.
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Google Newspaper Archive External
Google News Archive offers a wealth of digitized historic newspapers online—many of them for free. While Google has stopped digitizing and adding new papers to the archive, the historical newspapers that have been digitized remain.
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Newspaper Archives, Indexes & Morgues
Librarians in the Library of Congress's Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room have compiled a list of online newspaper archives.
Local libraries, historical societies, and archives also may provide access to local digitized newspapers. As examples, see:
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Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive External
Full-text, searchable significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers.
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Washington State Library Historic Newspapers External
This resource includes Washington's first newspaper, "The Columbian" from Olympia. Additional newspapers will be brought online as they are scanned and indexed.
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Archive of Wisconsin Newspapers External
Full-text daily and weekly Wisconsin newspapers from 2005 to 90 days ago, plus newspapers from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Personal Papers and Archives
Search online archives and digitized personal papers associated with prominent figures, such as:
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Digital Collections at the Library of Congress
Online collections include the papers of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Clara Barton, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alexander Hamilton, Ulysses S. Grant, Susan B. Anthony, Theodore Roosevelt, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Jefferson, and many more.
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The American Presidency Project External
The University of California Santa Barbara has created this online resource that includes full-text, searchable Messages and Papers of the Presidents; Public Papers of the Presidents; the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents; and thousands of other documents such as party platforms, candidates' remarks, Statements of Administration Policy, documents released by the Office of the Press Secretary, and election debates.
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Collected Papers of Albert Einstein External
Princeton University Press, in partnership with Tizra, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and California Institute of Technology, provides full public access to the translated and annotated writings of Albert Einstein.
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Thomas Jefferson's Monticello External
The website for Monticello includes a section with helpful tips for finding Jefferson quotations. Some of the advice is applicable for general quotation searching as well.
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute Papers Project External
Cooperative venture of Stanford University, the King Center, and the King Estate that presents primary and secondary source material from and about MLK. Includes speeches, sermons and photographs.
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The Abraham Lincoln Association External
In 1953, the Abraham Lincoln Association published The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, which is available in full text and searchable on the University of Michigan's website.
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The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project External
The George Washington University's Columbian College of Arts & Sciences is working to make Eleanor Roosevelt's documentary record available online. Many original documents have been digitized and are available and searchable online.
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Mark Twain Project Online External
Authoritative texts, documents, and historical research from the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.
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George Washington's Mount Vernon External
The website for the home of the Washingtons includes a page of quotes by George Washington. Each quotation includes context, a date, and an editorial note from the Washington Library Center for Digital History.
Speeches
Search the full text or listen to audio files of famous speeches to find quotations from the original source. Keep in mind, of course, that the person giving the speech may have borrowed language from another source.
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American Rhetoric Online Speech Bank External
Includes full-text speeches and audio files.
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Biography Online: Famous Speeches That Changed the World External
Includes full speeches with historical context.
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Miller Center: Presidential Speeches External
From the University of Virginia's Miller Center, which specializes in presidential scholarship, public policy, and political history.
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Women's Speeches from Around the World External
Includes the text of nearly 700 speeches from women around the world. Created by Sweet Briar College.
