Information About The Collection

The President's Collection, 1923-1945 . 1,020 items.

Recordings of speeches delivered by the President; political speeches and radio appearances by administration spokesman; programs of music performed by Federal Music Project orchestras, bands, vocal ensembles and artists; radio dramatizations produced by Federal agencies; political and non-political radio addresses delivered by associates and members of the President's family, including his wife and mother; political songs and folk music recorded by professional artists and amateurs given to the President; and poetry and dramatic readings sent to the President by Government agencies and professional artists.

Recordings received from Mrs. Roosevelt, or her estate, and from the ABC disc collection at NARS, including three radio series, 1940-41, 1948-49 and 1950-51, which featured guests interviewed by Mrs. Roosevelt or her daughter, Anna; recordings of miscellaneous speeches given by the President, Mrs. Roosevelt and others; radio interviews of Mrs. Roosevelt, Louis M. Howe, Anna Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr.; recordings produced for the United Nations, particularly those connected with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ; Mrs. Roosevelt's statements during political campaigns, 1940-1960; recordings of music by professional and amateur musicians, vocalists and performing artists, both publicly and privately produced, sent to or collected by Mrs. Roosevelt, which reflected her interest in human rights.

The Thomas J. Watson Collection . 979 items.

A set of recorded speeches of the President and CBS network coverage of his funeral procession and memorial programs, April 13-15, 1945.

The National Broadcasting Company Collection, 1971-1975 . 66 items

Presidential speeches not found in the National Archives or the Watson Collections; and speeches, interviews and other utterances of Mrs. Roosevelt, 1935-59. The collection was donated to the Library by NBC Radio News.

The W.H. Utterback Collection, 1970- . 116 items.

Recordings of selected Presidential addresses and utterances from sources other than the National Archives.

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Collection, 1946- . 946 items

Recordings found among manuscript collections accessioned by the Library or recordings produced by the Library and National Park Service staffs. They include Presidential speeches made in the Hyde-Park-Poughkeepsie, New York area and recorded by WKIP Radio, Poughkeepsie; other copies of Presidential speeches; speech excerpts from commercial sources; interviews from network sources pertaining to the President and/or Mrs. Roosevelt; radio presentations by manuscript donors including Adm. Ross T. McIntire, Leon Henderson and Louis M. Howe; the only recordings of the President's press conferences from August to November, 1940, made by the National Archives from experimental recording machines developed by RCA; recordings of memorial exercises in honor of President and Mrs. Roosevelt; professional recordings of folk music; and material pertaining to the President and Mrs. Roosevelt from all major network sources.

Restrictions .

Speeches and utterances by President Roosevelt and public officials may be duplicated for reference or broadcast purposes without permission, except for specific recordings which require donor consent prior to their use or duplication. Comments by news personnel on speeches delivered by the president and others may not be broadcast without the permission of the networks. Most of Eleanor Roosevelt's recordings may be reproduced for reference purposes; however, permission of the networks or other sources is required to broadcast most of her recordings. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library will duplicate for reference purposes the remaining sound recordings in its collections, except those that are donor restricted. Permission is required to broadcast many of these recordings.

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