Looking Back on Our Scholarship: Some Paths Now Abandoned

Abstract

This short essay surveys the breadth of scholarship published in the Quarterly Journal of Speech since its beginnings in 1915. I argue that many of the areas once regularly published in QJS have slowly—and rightly—migrated to other journals or other fields entirely. However, there are four areas that have only recently disappeared from the pages of QJS, and these areas—translations of key texts, studies in textual authenticity, rhetorical history, and studies of non-academic rhetorical practitioners—need to be recovered. By recuperating these four areas, QJS will better represent the breadth of rhetorical scholarship and incorporate important voices into the ongoing conversation about the nature and practice of rhetoric.

Keywords:

• Translation
• Textual Authenticity
• Rhetorical History
• Rhetorical Practitioners
• Disciplinary History

Notes

[1] For an extended discussion of the early years of the field see Martin J. Medhurst, “The History of Public Address as an Academic Study,” in The Handbook of Rhetoric and Public Address, ed. Shawn J. Parry-Giles and J. Michael Hogan (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2010), 19–66.

[2] J. S. Gaylord, “Preparing Literary Material for Public Utterance,” Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking 1 (1915): 38–43; Maud May Babcock, “Teaching Interpretation,” Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking 1 (1915): 173–76; A. M. Drummond, “Fifty One-Act Plays,” Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking 1 (1915): 234–40; Floyd S. Muckey, “Some Fundamental Facts in Voice Production,” Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking 2 (1916): 153–67; J. H. Doyle, “The Style of Wendell Phillips,” Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking 2 (1916): 331–39; J. L. Highsaw, “Interscholastic Debates in Relation to Political Opinion,” Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking 2 (1916): 365–82; Mary Yost, “Argument from the Point-of-View of Sociology,” Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking 3 (1917): 109–27; Charles H. Woolbert, “Conviction and Persuasion: Some Considerations of Theory,” Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking 3 (1917): 249–64; Edwin Du Bois Shurter, “The Rhetoric of Oratory and How to Teach It,” Quarterly Journal of Speech Education 4 (1918): 72–75; Edwin G. Flemming, “A Comparison of Cicero and Aristotle on Style,” Quarterly Journal of Speech Education 4 (1918): 61–71; Clara Kathleen Rogers, “Class Instruction in Voice,” Quarterly Journal of Speech Education 4 (1918): 222–28; Ernest Tompkins, “Perceptions of Stammering,” Quarterly Journal of Speech Education 4 (1918): 290–95.

[3] J. A. Winans, “The Need for Research,” Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking 1 (1915): 17–23; Rachel L. Dithridge, “High School Plays in New York City,” Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking 1 (1915): 284–87; Mary Yost, “Training Four Minute Men at Vassar,” Quarterly Journal of Speech Education 4 (1919): 246–53.

[4] Keith R. St. Onge and James J. Calvert, “Stuttering Research,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 50 (1964): 159–65; Garff B. Wilson, “The Art of the Leading Actresses of the American Stage,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 48 (1962): 31–37; John W. Black, “Aural Reception of Sentences of Different Lengths,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 47 (1961): 51–53; Ward Rasmus, “Voice and Diction: Historical Perspective,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 47 (1961): 253–61; Samuel R. Levin, “Suprasegmentals and the Performance of Poetry,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 48 (1962): 366–72; Ralph L. Smith, “Radio's Early Prospectors—The Critics of the Twenties,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 48 (1962): 136–41; Cj Stevens, Arthur J. Bronstein, and Helen H. Wong, “English as a Second Language—Practices of Speech Departments,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 48 (1962): 285–90; Katharine T. Loesch, “Literary Ambiguity and Oral Performance,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 51 (1965): 258–67.

[5] Gary Lynn Cronkhite, “Toward a Real Test of Dissonance Theory,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 52 (1966): 172–78; Gerald R. Miller, “A Crucial Problem in Attitude Research,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 53 (1967): 235–40.

[6] For more on the classical seminar of 1920–21 see Medhurst, “The History of Public Address as an Academic Study,” 31–33.

[7] Bromley Smith, “Parliamentary Law and Public Speaking,” Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking 3 (1917): 327–31; Bromley Smith, “The Father of Debate: Protagoras of Abdera,” Quarterly Journal of Speech Education 4 (1918): 196–215; Bromley Smith, “Vocabulary Building,” Quarterly Journal of Speech Education 5 (1919): 202–11; Bromley Smith, “Prodicus of Ceos: The Sire of Synonomy,” Quarterly Journal of Speech Education 6 (1920): 51–68; Bromley Smith, “Corax and Probablity,” Quarterly Journal of Speech Education 7 (1921): 13–42; Bromley Smith, “Gorgias: A Study of Oratorical Style,” Quarterly Journal of Speech Education 7 (1921): 335–59; Bromley Smith, “Hippias and a Lost Canon of Rhetoric,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 12 (1926): 129–45; Bromley Smith, “Thrasymachus: A Pioneer Rhetorician,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 13 (1927): 278–91; Bromley Smith, “Theodorus of Byzantium: Word-Smith,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 14 (1928): 71–81; Bromley Smith, “A College Oration by John Milton: A Translation,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 14 (1928): 392–96; Bromley Smith, “Queen Elizabeth at the Cambridge Disputations,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 15 (1929): 495–503; Bromley Smith, “Some Rhetorical Figures Historically Considered,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 20 (1934): 16–29; Bromley Smith and Douglas Ehninger, “The Terrafilial Disputations at Oxford,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 36 (1950): 333–39.

[8] Harry Caplan, “Latin Panegyrics of the Empire,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 10 (1924): 41–52; Harry Caplan and Henry H. King, “French Tractates on Preaching: A Book-List,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 36 (1950): 296–325; Harry Caplan, Mediaeval Artes Praedicandi: A Hand-List (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1934); Rhetorica ad Herennium, trans. Harry Caplan (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954); Harry Caplan and Henry Hall King, Pulpit Eloquence: A List of Doctrinal and Historical Studies in English (Baton Rouge, LA: Speech Association of America, 1955); Harry Caplan, ed., Of Eloquence: Studies in Ancient and Mediaeval Rhetoric (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1970).

[9] Mildred Freburg Berry, “Correction of Cleft-Palate Speech by Phonetic Instruction,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 14 (1928): 523–29; Mildred Freburg Berry, “Lincoln—The Speaker (Part I),” Quarterly Journal of Speech 17 (1931): 25–40; Mildred Freburg Berry, “Lincoln—The Speaker (Part II),” Quarterly Journal of Speech 17 (1931): 177–90; Mildred Freburg Berry, “Abraham Lincoln: His Development in the Skills of the Platform,” in A History and Criticism of American Public Address, vol. II, ed. William Norwood Brigance (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1943), 828–58; Mildred Freburg Berry and Jon Eisenson, The Defective in Speech (New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1942); Mildred Freburg Berry and Jon Eisenson, Speech Disorders: Principles and Practices of Therapy (New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1956); Mildred Freburg Berry, Language Disorders of Children: The Bases and Diagnoses (New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1969).

[10] Walter B. Emery, “Samuel Gompers,” in A History and Criticism of American Public Address, vol. II, 557–79; Walter B. Emery, “Verbal Warfare,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 30 (1944): 154–57; Paul A. Walker and Walter B. Emery, “Postwar Communications and Speech Education,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 30 (1944): 399–402; Walter B. Emery, “The Current Status of Educational Television,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 39 (1953): 173–86; Walter B. Emery, Report of the New York State Temporary Study Committee on Educational Television (New York, NY: The Committee, 1956); Walter B. Emery, Broadcasting and Government: Responsibilities and Regulations (East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 1961); Walter B. Emery, Five European Broadcasting Systems (Austin, TX: Association for Education in Journalism, 1966); Walter B. Emery, National and International Systems of Broadcasting: Their History, Operation, and Control (East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, 1969).

[11] Caplan, “Latin Panegyrics of the Empire”; Hoyt H. Hudson, “Jewel's Oration Against Rhetoric: A Translation,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 14 (1928): 374–92; Smith, “A College Oration by John Milton: A Translation.”

[12] See, for example, Ray Nadeau, “Rhetorica Ad Herennium: Commentary and Translation of Book I,” Speech Monographs 16 (1949): 57–68; Ray Nadeau, “Hermogene's On Stases: A Translation with an Introduction and Notes,” Speech Monographs 31 (1964): 361–424; Prentice A. Meador, Jr., “Minucian's On Epicheiremes: An Introduction and a Translation,” Speech Monographs 31 (1964): 54–63; Dominic A. LaRusso, “A Neo-Platonic Dialogue: Is Rhetoric an Art? An Introduction and a Translation,” Speech Monographs 32 (1965): 393–410; J. R. McNally, “Rudolph Agricola's De Inventione Dialectica Libres Tres: A Translation of Selected Chapters,” Speech Monographs 34 (1967): 393–422; Richard Leo Enos, “When Rhetoric Was Outlawed in Rome: A Translation and Commentary of Suetonius's Treatise on Early Roman Rhetoricians,” Speech Monographs 39 (1972): 37–45. Other rhetoric journals such as Today's Speech and Philosophy and Rhetoric also published translations.

[13] Lawrence J. Flynn, S.J., “The De Arte Rhetorica of Cyprian Soarez, S.J.,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 42 (1956): 367–74; Gussie Hecht Tanenbaum, “Bede's De Schematibus Et Tropis—A Translation,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 48 (1962): 237–53.

[14] Robert D. King, “Franklin D. Roosevelt's Second Inaugural Address: A Study in Textual Authenticity,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 23 (1937): 439–44; Zon Robinson, “Are Speeches in Congress Reported Accurately?” Quarterly Journal of Speech 28 (1942): 8–12.

[15] Gregg Phifer, “Andrew Johnson at Cleveland and St. Louis, 1866: A Study in Textual Authenticity,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 37 (1951): 455–62; Judy Hample, “The Textual and Cultural Authenticity of Patrick Henry's ‘Liberty or Death’ Speech,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 63 (1977): 298–310; Halford Ross Ryan, “Roosevelt's Fourth Inaugural Address: A Study of Its Composition,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 67 (1981): 157–66.

[16] Robert N. Gaines, “The Processes and Challenges of Textual Authentication,” in The Handbook of Rhetoric and Public Address, 136.

[17] Martin J. Medhurst, “Ghostwritten Speeches: Ethics Isn't the Only Lesson,” Communication Education 36 (1987): 241–49.

[18] The authenticated text, credited to Martin J. Medhurst and Belinda Stillion-Southard, can be found at http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu

[19] Martin J. Medhurst, Dwight D. Eisenhower: Strategic Communicator (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993), 129–31.

[20] Stephen E. Lucas and Martin J. Medhurst, eds., Words of a Century: The Top 100 American Speeches, 1900–1999 (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2009).

[21] The two discourses that proved not to be speeches were Mary Church Terrell's “What It Means to Be Colored in the Capital of the United States” (1907) and Margaret Sanger's “A Moral Necessity for Birth Control” (1922).

[22] Gaines, “The Processes and Challenges of Textual Authentication.”

[23] For details on the textual authentication requirements of the Voices of Democracy project (and journal), see http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu

[24] See, for example, Terry Desch Croy, “The Crisis: A Complete Critical Edition of Carrie Chapman Catt's 1916 Presidential Address to the National American Woman Suffrage Association,” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 28 (1998): 49–73; Kathryn Palmer and Stephen E. Lucas, “On Trial: Conflicting Versions of Emma Goldman's Address to the Jury,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 11 (2008): 47–88.

[25] Joseph X. Brennan, “The Epitome Troporum ac Schematum: The Genesis of a Renaissance Rhetorical Text,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 46 (1960): 59–71; James Richard McNally, “Dux Illa Directrixque Artium: Rudolph Agricola's Dialectical System,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 52 (1966): 337–47; Vincent M. Bevilacqua, “Vico, Rhetorical Humanism, and the Study Methods of Our Time,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 58 (1972): 70–83; Don Abbott, “Antonio De Capmany: Human Nature and the Nature of Rhetoric,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 69 (1983): 75–83.

[26] Eugene E. White and Clair R. Henderlider, “What Harry S. Truman Told Us about His Speaking,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 40 (1954): 37–42; Eugene E. White and Clair R. Henderlider, “What Norman Vincent Peale Told Us about His Speaking,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 40 (1954): 407–16.

[27] Frederick W. Haberman, et al., “The Election of 1952: A Symposium,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 38 (1952): 397–414; Charles A. McGlon, et al., “How I Prepare My Sermons: A Symposium,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 40 (1954): 49–62.

[28] See, for example, Thomas W. Benson, “Conversation with a Ghost,” Today's Speech 16, no. 4 (1968): 71–81; Martin J. Medhurst and Gary C. Dreibelbis, “The Ghost of McGovern,” Communication Quarterly 26 (1978): 37–43; Martin J. Medhurst and Gary C. Dreibelbis, “Building the Speechwriter–Principal Relationship: Minority Leader Robert Michel Confronts his Ghost,” Central States Speech Journal 37 (1986): 239–47; Martin J. Medhurst, “Writing Speeches for Ronald Reagan: An Interview with Tony Dolan,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 1 (1998): 245–56.