- Great American Business Leaders Database
- "An effort to identify and chronicle the lives of 20th century men and women whose business leadership shaped the ways that people live, work, and interact." From the Leadership Initiative at the Harvard Business School. You can view data sorted by Name, Birthplace, Industry, Era, Gender, Ethnicity, or Education. Basic biographical information plus brief paragraph on role/significance. Access to full database available upon submission of a permission form.
- American Business Leaders: From Colonial Times to the Present
- Neil A. Hamilton. Santa Barbara, Calif., ABC-CLIO, 1999. 2 vols.
- 1-3 page biographical essays with short bibliographies.
- DANA REF. HC102.5 .A2H36 1999
- Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders
- John N. Ingham. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press, 1983. 4 vols.
- Biographical sketches with bibliographies of 1,159 "historically significant" American business leaders. Appendices index those profiled by industry, companies, birthplaces, principal business locations, religion, ethnic origin, years of birth, and gender.
- ALEXANDER, DANA REF. HC102.5 .A2I53 1983
- Contemporary American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary
- John N. Ingham and Lynne B. Feldman. New York, Greenwood Press, 1990.
- 116 fairly extensive biographical essays on individuals and families involved in the transformation of American business since World War II.
- ALEXANDER HC102.5 .A2I534 1990; DANA, CARR REF. HC102.5 .A2I534 1990
- American Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Business Visionaries
- Charles W. Carey, Jr. New York, Facts on File, 2002.
- 1-2 page biographical profiles of 280 17th through 20th century individuals who had an impact on American economic and business history.
- CAMDEN REF. CT214 .C29 2002
Business Women
- Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American Business
- Virginia G. Drachman. Chapel Hill, N.C., University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
- Biographies, placed within a historical context, of forty notable women entrepreneurs, 1750 to 2000. Book developed in conjunction with a traveling exhibit organized by the Schlesinger Library of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. Portions of the exhibit are available online, as are some video vignettes with biographical commentary.
- DOUGLASS HC102.5 .D73 2002
- Historical Encyclopedia of American Women Entrepreneurs: 1776 to the Present
- Jeannette M. Oppedisano. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press, 2000.
- 2-4 page biographical essays, with selected bibliography, on 120 American women who contributed to the nation's economy.
- DOUGLASS HF3023 .A2064 2000
- American Women Managers and Administrators: A Selective Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Leaders in Business, Education, and Government
- Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press, 1985.
- ALEXANDER, DANA, DOUGLASS REF. HC102.5 .A2L37 1985
African-American Business Leaders
- African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary
- John N. Ingham and Lynne B. Feldman. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press, 1994.
- 5-15 page profiles of 123 African-Americans who have had an impact on American economic and business life. Includes information taken from primary sources and information on individuals not included in other standard biographical works.
- ALEXANDER, DANA REF HC102.5 .A2I52 1994
- African-American Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs
- Rachel Kranz. New York, Facts on File, 2004.
- Over 150 biographical sketches from the colonial period to the present.
- ALEXANDER, DANA REF HC102.5 .A2K73 2004
For a more extensive list of biographical resources for business and industry see the Business: Biographical Resources guide.