Research Guides: Biographical Resources: Business & Industry

Business & Industry

20th Century Great American Business Leaders: A database of thumbnail sketches of significant Americans, indexed by industry, ethnicity, and other criteria. Hosted by Harvard Business School.

A to Z of American Women Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs. Victoria Sherrow. Facts on File, 2002. (DOUGLASS REF HD 6054.4 .U6 S5): Biographical essays of 140 of the "most influential and innovative women in the history of American business."

African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. John N. Ingham and Lynne B. Feldman. Greenwood Press, 1994. (ALEXANDER, DANA REF HC 102.5 .A2 I52): Lengthy biographies of more than 100 business personalities from the Afro-American community.

African-American Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs. Rachel Kranz. Facts on File, 2004. (ALEXANDER, DANA REF HC 102.5 .A2 K73): About 150 business leaders from the 1700's to the present are profiled in this volume. Each entry includes a short bibliography.

American Business Leaders : From Colonial Times To The Present. Neil A. Hamilton. ABC-Clio, 1999. (DANA REF HC 102.5 .A2 H36): This two-volume set includes profiles of more than four hundred prominent men and women in business.

American Women Managers and Administrators: A Selective Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Leaders in Business, Education, and Government. Judith A. Leavitt. Greenwood Press, 1985. (DANA REF HC 102.5 .A2 L37): Covers more than 200 women who had significant accomplishments or were prominent in their professions or occupations.

Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders. John W. Ingham. Greenwood Press, 1983. Four vols. (ALEXANDER, DANA REF HC 102.5 .A2 I53): Includes about 1,000 of the "historically most significant business leaders." All entries list other sources of information.

Business Biographies: Thumbnail sketches of hundreds of business leaders and entrepreneurs from the Information Please Almanac.

Business Leaders: USA, 1840-1960.: Part of Spartacus Educational. Forty prominent (and not so prominent) individuals are profiled here.

Canadian Business Resource: Executive Profiles: Dozens of thumbnail sketches of senior executives at leading Canadian firms. Based on the Blue Book of Canadian Business.

The New Career Makers. John Sibbald. Harper Business. 1995. (DANA HD 38.25 .U6 S53 1995): Two-page profiles of owners and managers of major executive recruiting firms, with an index to their industry or organizational specializations.

Contemporary American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. John N. Ingham and Lynne B. Feldman. Greenwood Press, 1990. (ALEXANDER HC 102.5 .A2 I534; DANA, CARR REF HC 102.5 .A2 I534): A companion volume to Ingham's Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders (above), covering the post-World War II period.

Corporate Eponymy: A Biographical Dictionary of the Persons Behind the Names of Major American, British, European and Asian Businesses. Adrian Room. McFarland, 1992. (CAMDEN, DANA REF HC 29 .R66): Explanations of the origin of corporate names and familiar brand and trade names of products.

Dictionary of Scottish Business Biography, 1860-1960. Anthony Slaven and Sydney Checkland, eds. Aberdeen University Press, 1990. (DANA REF HC 252.5 .A2 D54): Vol. 1: The Staple Industries (on order) include chemicals, textiles, amd shipbuilding; Vol. 2: Processing, Distribution, Services covers other manufacturing sectors such as food and drink, pottery and glass, and furniture, as well as banking, transportation, and utilities.

Distinguished Women of Past and Present: Business and Finance: Links to biographies found on the Web.

Encyclopedia of African American Business. Jessie Carney Smith, ed. Greenwood Press, 2006. (ALEXANDER, CAMDEN, DANA REF HD 2358.5 .U6 E53): Building on Walker's work (below), this two-volume set includes biographical sketches of over 300 African American business leaders from the 18th century to the early 21st century.

Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Juliet E.K. Walker, ed. Greenwood Press, 1999. (CAMDEN, DANA, CARR REF HD 2344.5 .U6 E53): This publication covers the African American business experience from the 1600s to the 1900s, and includes "biographies of black businesspeople."

Encyclopedia of American Business History. Charles R. Geisst, ed. Facts on File, 2005. (ALEXANDER, CAMDEN, DANA REF HF 3021 .G44): Among the many entries on companies, laws, and trends in business history are short profiles of 115 individuals who have had a "significant impact on American history and business life."

Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography. Facts on File, 1988-1994.

A multi-volume set covering many industries, with lengthy essays on the most prominent figures in those businesses. Titles include the following:

Airline Industry. William M. Leary, ed. (CAMDEN, CARR REF TL 509 .E54)
Automobile Industry, 1896-1920. Bruce E. Seely, ed. (CAMDEN HD 9710 .U52 A787; DANA, CARR REF HD 9710 .U52 A787)
Automobile Industry, 1920-1980. George S. May, ed. (CAMDEN HD 9710 .U52 A79; DANA, CARR REF HD 9710 .U52 A79)
Banking and Finance to 1913. Larry E. Schweikart, ed. (CARR REF HG 2461 .B33)
Banking and Finance, 1913-1989. Larry E. Schweikart, ed. (CAMDEN HG 2461 .B325; CARR REF HG 2461 .B325)
Iron and Steel in the Nineteenth Century. Paul F. Paskoff, ed. (CAMDEN HD 9515 .I76; CARR REF HD 9515 .I76)
Iron and Steel in the Twentieth Century. Bruce E. Seely, ed. (DANA REF, CARR HD 9515 .I77)
Railroads in the Age of Regulation, 1900-1980. Keith L. Bryant, ed. (ALEXANDER HE 2751 .R143; CAMDEN, DANA, CARR REF HE 2751 .R143)
Railroads in the Nineteenth Century. Robert L. Frey, ed. (CAMDEN HE 2751 .R1433; DANA, CARR REF HE 2751 .R1433)

Encyclopedia of the History of American Management. Morgen Witzel, ed. Thoemmes Continuum, 2005. (CAMDEN HC102.5 .A2 E53): A collection of 260 biographies of executives and business people in the United States, selected from the two-volume Biographical Dictionary of Management from 2001, which has international coverage of about 600 management thinkers. (CARR HD 30.15 .B464)

Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American Business. Virginia Drachman. University of North Carolina Press, 2002. (DOUGLASS HC 102.5 .D73): Essays on women entrepreneurs from the colonial period to the end of the 20th century.

Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders: British History, 1700-1900.: Part of Spartacus Educational. Essays are grouped by industry e.g. textiles, railways.

Foundations of Business Thought: Biographies: An eclectic collection of thinkers and writers (not all in business, economics, or management) that have contributed to an understanding of the fundamentals of business.

People in Business and Industry in North America: Summaries of Biographical Articles in History Journals. Pamela R. Byrne and Susan K. Kinnell, eds. ABC-CLIO, 1988. (ALEXANDER, DANA REF HC 102.5 .A2 P46): 200 Canadians and Americans are included in this collection of summaries.

Who's Who in Banking: The Directory of the Banking Profession. James Hambelton and Frederick Nordenson-Stein, eds. Business Press, 1968. (DANA REF HG 2463 .A1 W55): This second edition includes about 7,500 brief entries for financial executives and bankers.

Who's Who in Finance and Business (formerly Who's Who in Finance and Industry). Marquis. Biennial. (DANA, CARR REF HF 3023 .A2 W5): Provides biographical data on over 23,000 leaders in business administration, technology, and business-related professions. Also accessible as part of the Marquis Biographies Online database. (Rutgers-restricted Access)

Who's Who in Investing (with a presence) on the Internet: Brief sketches of well-known investors and financial advisors.