International Biographies
- Dictionary of World Biography5th edition, JSTOR ebooks; online only; open access
Comprehensive, short-entry articles about persons worldwide throughout history, both living and dead. Part of the ANU Lives Series in Biography, an initiative of the National Centre for Biography in the History Program in the Research School of Social Sciences at The Australian National University. The National Centre was established in 2008 to extend the work of the Australian Dictionary of Biography
- Dictionary of African BiographyOxford, 2012.
"From the pharaohs to Frantz Fanon, Dictionary of African Biography provides a comprehensive overview of the lives of the men and women who shaped Africa’s history." --Publisher's description - Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American BiographyOxford, 2016. Online only.
"a comprehensive overview of the lives of Caribbeans and Afro-Latin Americans who are historically significant..., unprecedented in scale, covering the entire Caribbean, and the Afro-descended populations throughout Latin America, including people who spoke and wrote Creole, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish." - Visual History Archive [of the USC Shoah Foundation].[Los Angeles, CA]: USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education; online only.
Contains more than 54,000 audiovisual testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other acts of genocide, recorded in 63 countries and in 40 languages since 1994. Most testimonies have been terminologically indexed at one-minute segments. Aside from Holocaust testimony, the resource includes (as of 20 July 2018) testimonies from the Armenian Genocide (1915-23), the Nanjing (China) Massacre (1937), the Cambodian Genocide (1975-79), the Guatemalan Genocide (1978-83), the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and ongoing conflicts in the Central African Republic and South Sudan. Also included are testimonies about contemporary acts of violence against Jews.
National Biographies
These national biographies cover persons no longer living who were prominent in the history of that country (often including its colonial extensions). For exact coverage dates and information on other criteria for inclusion, see the front matter of the individual title. Online versions are regularly updated with new entries.
- American National Biography.Online version of the standard national biography of the United States. Profiles of more than 23,000 notable American women and men from all eras of U.S. history who are no longer alive. The ANB Online features thousands of illustrations, thousands of hyperlinked cross-references, links to select web sites, and archival sources. Articles are updated and added regularly. The ANB supersedes the Dictionary of American Biography, the previous standard national biography of the United States.
For persons not listed in the ANB, check the less authoritative, older National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (Call number: Olin Reference, CT 213 .N27) and the K. G. Saur index and microfiche collection of biographical dictionaries.
- African American National BiographyEntries integrated into the Biography section of the Oxford African American Studies Center.
"Covering African American life for almost five centuries, from the arrival of Esteban in Spanish Florida in 1528 to notable black citizens of the present day, this major reference project collects and resurrects the lives of over 5,000 African Americans." [Introduction]
New biographies added regularly.
- The Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese BiographyBerkshire, 2014.
"In 135 entries, written by some of the world's leading China scholars, the Dictionary takes the reader from the important figures of ancient China to Communist leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping." [catalog summary]
- Diccionario Biográfico Español. 50 volumes.Call Number: Library Annex CT 1343 .D52 2009Publication Date: 2009-2013The premier biographical dictionary of Spain.
- Dictionary of Canadian Biography.online version of the standard Canadian national biography. Full coverage for individuals who played an important role in the formation of what is now Canada who died between the years 1000 and 1930 or whose last known date of activity falls within these years. Additional biographies cover 1940 to 2000. Annotated bibliographies include substantial listings of archival collections.
- Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie. 12 volumes.Call Number: Olin Library Reference CT 759 .D48 1995For an more extensive version of German biography, available online, see Elektronische Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, below. See also Deutsches Biographisches Archiv from K.G. Saur.
- Dictionary of German Biography. 10 volumes. byCall Number: Olin Library Reference CT 759 .D48 2001Publication Date: 2001 - 2006München: K.G. Saur.
We also have the German language edition. See above.
- Dictionary of Irish Biography.Contains over 9,000 signed biographical articles on the careers of Irish men and women who made a significant contribution from the earliest times to the year 2010 in Ireland and abroad in all fields of endeavor. Also includes articles on people born outside Ireland who had noteworthy careers in Ireland. Articles may be searched by name, gender, birth or death place, birth or death dates, religion, occupation, contributor, or keywords. Articles will be added each year to cover people who died since the previous update.
- Elektronische Allgemeine deutsche Biographie: Herausgegeben von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek.Also known as Deutsche Biographie. Searchable database for Allgemeine deutsche biographie (ADB) and Neue deutsche Biographie (NDB). "Certified information on more than 730.000 personalities and families in the German speaking areas from the Middle Ages to the present; namely 50.000 biographies (ADB and NDB) and links to more than 230 online resources (literature, dictionaries, source editions etc.)." [database home page]
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.A continuously updated online version of the standard British national biography which was originally published from 1885-1901 in 66 volumes and updated with decennial supplements. Over 50,000 biographies of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond, from the earliest times to the year 2000 (newer entries in the online version). Portraits and citations to archival collections and major biographies of the subject. See also K. G. Saur index and microfiche.
Other National Biographies
- Australian Dictionary of Biography.Online. Print volumes through volume 18 (1981-1990): Library Annex CT 2801 .A93.
Online version covers persons who died through 1995. Entries for persons who died from 1996 to 2000 is currently in progress.
- Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland. 4 volumes.Call Number: Olin Library Stacks CT 1143 .B61Publication Date: 1979-1994
- Chinese Lives: The people Who Made a Civilization.Call Number: Kroch Asia Reference DS 734 .M35 2013Publication Date: 2013Biographical work for major persons in Chinese history.
Description from the catalog record. - Dictionnaire de Biographie Française.Call Number: Olin Library Stacks Oversize CT 143 .D55Publication Date: 1933 to date.22 volumes so far.
- Dizionario Biografico degli Italiana. 100 volumes so far.Call Number: Library Annex CT 163 .D62Publication Date: 1960 to date.
- Polski Slownik Biograficzny.Call Number: Olin Library Reference CT 1230 .P76Publication Date: 1935 to date.54 volumes so far. Names covered in each volume.
