Hillsdale College Acquires a Churchill Audio Collection
Generous gift from scholar expands College’s growing Churchill archive
Hillsdale, Mich. – Hillsdale College announces that it has acquired what is likely the most comprehensive collection of audio recordings of Sir Winston Churchill, dating back to 1909.
Generously donated by collector and bibliographer Ronald I. Cohen of Ottawa, Ontario, the collection of 300 items includes 100 speeches, 24 readings from Churchill’s war memoirs, and other related materials.
The College has a long-standing commitment to leadership studies through The Churchill Project, an initiative designed to encourage scholarship in and completion of the remaining volumes of The Churchill Documents, a series in Churchill’s official biography.
“In forty years of collecting and bibliographical research, I have encountered no audio collection nearly so comprehensive,” said Mr. Cohen, author of the Bibliography of the Writings of Sir Winston Churchill and founder of the Churchill Society of Ottawa. “I believe these recordings represent the truest, most accurate source of what Sir Winston said, and how he said it—the actual voice, not the printed record, of the inspiring words that drew people to the wireless and gave them the courage to fight on.”
“We are extremely excited to acquire these recordings,” said Richard Langworth, senior fellow for the Churchill Project. “Churchill is one of the great modern masters of oratory. His career, recorded so well through his writings and speeches, are an invaluable study in statesmanship. Converting these recordings to digital format will make Churchill’s voice and words accessible to all.”
The recordings are found across a variety of mediums, from CDs and tapes to 33, 45, 78, and 80 rpm records. Hillsdale College is now converting the recordings to digital format for ease of use and access. The content spans decades of Churchill’s career, beginning with a 1909 budget speech. Highlights of the collection include:
• Four cased 78 rpm albums, each titled The Progress of the War, containing Churchillʼs famous 1940 and 1941 broadcasts;
• Churchill’s speech of March 15, 1946 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, his first following the “Iron Curtain” speech at Fulton, elaborately cased and bound;
• Churchill’s speech at the Pilgrims Society Dinner for Eleanor Roosevelt at the Savoy Hotel in London on April 12, 1948, with his tribute on the third anniversary of FDRʼs death;
• “The 20th Century: Its Promise and its Realization”: Churchill’s “Mid-Century” speech at M.I.T., Cambridge on March 31, 1949;
• “The Path of Duty”: Churchill’s address after becoming Prime Minister for the second time, at the Guildhall in London on November 9, 1951;
• “The Years of Crisis (1933-1945)”: Columbia’s collection of Churchill’s war speeches and his response to a letter from FDR in 1941;
• A cased edition of “Wartime Speeches of Winston S. Churchill 1940-1945” from the Library of Imperial History, a rare item unheard of until its acquisition.
Hillsdale College launched the Churchill Project to propagate a right understanding of Churchill’s record and to better understand his contributions to statecraft and leadership. The project seeks to promote Churchill scholarship through national conferences, scholarships, and other resources. For more information about the Churchill Project, visit winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu.