The papers of the University of Michigan Oratorical Association consist of nearly three linear feet of material. The collection is organized in five series: History, Minutes, Correspondence, Name File and Publicity
The uses of this collection are rather limited. Probably only researchers of the University of Michigan's history will find it of any value. Even then, the quality of the material here is low, consisting as it does primarily of newspaper clippings which are readily obtainable elsewhere. Although the Oratorical Association made use of many notable figures of the day, neither the Correspondence nor the Name-file yield unique information about these people. Possibly the only thing this collection reflects is the changing public taste in entertainment.
The University of Michigan Oratorical Association was formally initiated in 1912, although the tradition of bringing lecturers to speak on campus had been long established. As early as 1824, the University was visited by itinerant speakers, and in 1854 the Student Lecture Association was formed. As its name suggests, this was a student-run organization whose purpose was to bring lecturers to the University. This was in contrast to the faculty-sponsored Oratorical Association, organized by Professor-Emeritus Thomas Trueblood in 1889. The latter organization was essentially a debating society, but it took on the form and function of the Student Lecture Association when that group went bankrupt in 1912.
The lectures themselves covered a broad spectrum of interests. Some of the early speakers included Horace Greeley, Victoria Woodhull, Mark Twain, and P.T. Barnum. Later speakers, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Admiral Byrd, Margaret Bourke-White and Ogden Nash continued this tradition of widely varied lecture topics. Some spoke on serious political issues of the day, or important scientific discoveries, while still others simply entertained.
By the early 1960s, however, interest in the lecture series had waned. At some point in time, probably around 1961, the Oratorical Association quietly collapsed, due to lack of interest.
