From Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies (full text):

Purdue University Archives and Special Collections (ASC) is pleased to announce the digitization of paper transcripts used by Neil Armstong for his public and select speeches. The nearly 500 transcripts – a total of 7,700 pages – were generously donated in 2011 by his wife, Carol Armstrong. The speeches are available to the public, text-searchable and accessible on Purdue’s online archive platform, e-Archives.

The speeches are annotated by Armstrong with commentary, jokes and jokes, or with arrows in the margins suggesting changes in word or sentence order. Jo Otremba, Barron Hilton Archivist for Flight and Space Exploration and clinical assistant professor at Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies, said Armstrong regularly added information that provides readers with additional context of the talk.

“He often added notes to the speeches stating the date and location of the speech, which is an interesting feature for the readers to think about,” Otremba said.

Some of the most notable speeches were given at Purdue University events, such as the dedication of Grissom and Chaffee Halls and Armstrong’s acceptance of an honorary degree in 1970. The halls are named after two Purdue astronauts who both died on a NASA mission. launched fire on Cape Kennedy in 1967 – the late Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and the second American to fly in space, and Roger B. Chaffee, a Navy pilot and NASA astronaut.

The Neil Armstrong papers remain one of the most accessible collections for research applications and instructional use through ASC. Increasing access to the archival collection through digitization has been a goal since the speeches were acquired in 2011. Work to digitize the speeches, funded by the Purdue Research Foundation and Carol Armstrong, began in 2022. The digitization process itself is lengthy and requires that each speech be described, checked for third-party copyrights and uploaded to e-Archives.

“This project highlights the ongoing efforts needed to make these resources accessible, and it is great to celebrate the public availability of the speeches through our e-archive,” said Otremba.

Building this digital collection would not have been possible without the detailed and steady collaboration between Otremba at ASC; graduate assistant Camryn Beeman; Neal Harmeyer, archivist for digital collections and initiatives, interim head of archives and special collections, and clinical associate professor; Sammie Morris, former chief of archives and special collections and former director of the Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center; and members of the Purdue Libraries Digital Programs team: Cliff Harrison, operations manager; M Lewis, digital collections photography assistant; and Samuel Wilson, digitalization project assistant.

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Directly to the Neil A. Armstrong Papers digital collection

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