Search Essay Collection

Use this feature to search through the tens of thousands of essays that have been submitted to This I Believe. In addition, you can search through many of the essays from Edward R. Murrow’s original 1950s radio series. You can select a name, city, state, country, age range, or theme, or you may enter specific keywords. You can select multiple themes by holding down the control (Ctrl) key (Apple key for Macs) while selecting each theme.

For privacy purposes, when an essay is viewed, the essayist will only be identified by first name, city, and state. The only exception to this rule are essayists whose essays aired on NPR or as part of the original 1950s series. They are identified by first and last name.

[Please note: At the moment, with the exception of essays from the 1950s and those that aired on NPR, you can only search by the essayist's first name. For example, you can put "John McCain" into the name field and find his essay which aired on NPR. However, if you wish to find an essay by "John Jones" from Omaha, Nebraska, please put John in the name field, Omaha in the city field, and Nebraska in the state field. We are working on changing this so that you can easily search by first and last name. Thank you for your patience.]