Historical Figures & Historians
Many people are not famous enough to have entire books devoted to them (or you may not want to read an entire book!) In these cases your best bet is to consult a biographical dictionary or encyclopedia. Typically these sources provide a brief essay (a paragraph to a few pages) summarizing the individual's major accomplishments. The library has hundreds, if not thousands, of these sources. The ones below are listed to give you a sense of the variety of biographical sources we collect.
- African American Biographical Database, 1790-1950
- American National Biography Online
- Blackwell Dictionary of Historians,
Call # D14.B58 1988, Arts and Humanities Library, Reference Collection, Pattee Level 2 - Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia,
Call # CT103.C26 1998, Arts and Humanities Library, Reference Collection, Pattee Level 2 - Directory of History Departments and Organizations in the United States and Canada,
Call # D16.3G8301. Latest edition in Arts and Humanities Library, Reference Collection, Pattee Level 2 - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- Who's Who in America (1899-present),
Call # E663.W56, Latest edition in Arts and Humanities Library, Reference Collection, Pattee Level 2
LOOKING FOR MORE BIOGRAPHIES?
The best way to tell if the person you are interested in is profiled in a biographical source is to use the database:
These indexes will tell you if a person has been profiled and in what source the profile appears. You will then need to search the CAT to determine if we own the work the biography appears in..