Research Guides: Biographical Resources: General

General

Biographical Dictionary: Thumbnail sketches of thousands of "notable men and women."

Biography and Genealogy Master Index Gale Research. 1980- . Annual. (ALEXANDER REF Z 5305 .U5 B562, DANA Reference Index Table M): An index to millions of profiles in hundreds of biographical dictionaries and encyclopedias. Online access no longer available.

Biography Center: A search engine for biographies, with the option to limit to sites in one of four major languages.

Biography.com: Provides thousands of brief entries from the Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia.

Biography Index. H.W. Wilson. 1946- . Quarterly with biennial cumulation. (ALEXANDER, CARR REF Z 5301 .B5; CAMDEN Reference Index Area; DANA Reference Index Table M): An index to biographical material, including obituaries, from selected books, journals, and the New York Times.

Business Biographies (Reference for Business): Hundreds of notables from the global world of business are profiled here.

Contemporary Black Biography: Profiles from the International Black Community. Gale. 1992- . (CAMDEN, DANA, DOUGLASS, CARR REF E 185.96 .C65): This multi-volume set has a cumulative subject index in each volume; look under headings such as "Banking," "Economics," and "Finance."

Distinguished Asian Americans: A Biographical Dictionary. Hyung-chan Kim, ed. Greenwood, 1999. (ALEXANDER, CAMDEN REF E 184 .O6 D57)

Forbes 400: The Richest People in America: This list can be sorted by name and by net worth. Entries include brief biographical information.

The International Who's Who. Europa Publications. Annual. (DANA REF CT 120 .I5)

Jewish Virtual Library: Biographies: Profiles of Jewish personalities from around the world.

Marquis Biographies Online: Brief biographical information in directory format. Common features include birth date and place, family, education and degree(s), career history, creative works, awards, military history, achievements, current memberships, interests/hobbies, and contact information. Includes more than 1.4 million biographies. Supports complex searches combining fields like political affiliation, degrees earned, birth year and place, gender, occupation, state or country, etc. (Rutgers-restricted Access)

National Women's Hall of Fame: A handful of entrepreneurs are among those briefly profiled here.

Notable American Philanthropists: Biographies of Giving and Volunteering. Robert T. Grimm, ed. Greenwood Press, 2002. (DANA REF HV 27 .N68): The individuals and families selected for this volume include many entrepreneurs, industrialists, and business leaders.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004. 60 volumes. (ALEXANDER, DANA REF DA 28 .O95 ): Lengthy biographies of more than 50,000 famous deceased people from around the world who were somehow connected with the British Isles.

Who's Who Among African Americans. Ashyia N. Henderson and Shirelle Phelps, eds. Gale Group, annual. (ALEXANDER, CAMDEN, DANA, DOUGLASS REF E 185.96 .W62)

Who's Who Among Hispanic Americans. Gale Group, 1992. (ALEXANDER, DANA, DOUGLASS, CARR REF E 184 .S75 W567)

Who's Who in America. Marquis. Biennial. (ALEXANDER, DANA REF E 663 .W56): The standard source for biographical portraits of prominent living Americans. Also accessible as part of the Marquis Biographies Online database. (Rutgers-restricted Access)

Who's Who in the East. Marquis. Biennial. (ALEXANDER, DANA REF E 747 .W59): Regional biographical source; includes names not in Who's Who in America. Also accessible as part of the Marquis Biographies Online database. (Rutgers-restricted Access)

Who's Who of American Women. Marquis. Biennial. (ALEXANDER, DANA, DOUGLASS REF CT 3260.W5): Also accessible as part of the Marquis Biographies Online database. (Rutgers-restricted Access)

World's Billionaires: These annual lists (1996 to the present) from Forbes Magazine can be sorted by country of residence, name, or total wealth. Entries include brief biographical information.

World Biographical Index: An index to biographical articles collected from many different print sources, with individuals' full names, country, profession, birth and death dates, and references for the print and microfiche publications where the articles may be found. (Rutgers-restricted Access)