Biographical Resources: A Research Guide: Subject Biographies

New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Online only.
"...offers in-depth biographies of the most important economic figures in American history from the seventeenth century to the present day. All of the major schools of American economic thought are represented, from the Constitutional school to the Keynesian school, and the dictionary includes in-depth coverage of the many overlooked women who have influenced economic thought in America." [Publisher's description]

London: Thoemmes Continuum, 2006.
Online and in print (Olin Library Stacks B 741 .B56 2006)
2006 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
"The notion of philosophy has been interpreted broadly to include a large number of intellectuals who were interested in conceptual issues that either directly relate to philosophy or form part of the background of Islamic philosophy as a whole. Included are details about the lives of significant legal thinkers, theologians, political thinkers and even geographers where their lives are relevant indicators of the progress of philosophy in the Islamic world." [Publisher's description]

2nd edition.
New York: Springer, 2014.
Online only.
2,357 online biographical articles on astronomers throughout history and worldwide.

An online research guide created by Kofi Acree, Librarian at Cornell, for locating information about people of African descent. Includes online and print resources.

The Biographical Sources section of the Feminism, Gender and Sexuality Studies research guide.

Detroit: Scribner, 2008.
Lengthy, readable, and signed essays on the major scientists in world history. The standard biographical reference in the history of science. Merges entries from the Dictionary of Scientific Biography (18 volumes, 1970) and the New Dictionary of Scientific Biography (8 volumes, 2008).

New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Available online and in print (Africana Library Reference CT 1920 .D52 2012.and Library Annex).
Edited by Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
"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]

New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Edited by Franklin W. Knight and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Online only.
"[A] comprehensive overview of the lives of Caribbeans and Afro-Latin Americans who are historically significant... 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." [Publisher's description]

2nd edition. Oxford University Press, 2013.
2nd edition: online only.
Describes and assesses the lives of around 870 men and women who have shaped political events across the world. Each entry includes an account of the background, career, and achievements of the individual concerned, balancing fact with critical appraisal. The first edition (1998) is available in print (Library Annex D 412 .D53x 1998).

Institüt für Frauen-Biographieforschung.
Biographies primarily in German. English-language interface also available.
The database Notable Women International contains biographical information on more than 30,000 women worldwide. For now, 600 of them are searchable on this website, accumulated since 1982 by Luise F. Pusch. Each record contains name, dates and places of birth and death, and nationality plus, if possible, additional information on the woman's life and work, and a list of sources for further research.

Gale Group.
The major online source of literary biography, this database includes the content from the Dictionary of Literary Biography main series (394 volumes) plus the the DLB yearbooks and documentary series.

Oxford, 2007- .
Online
The major online source of artists' biographies. The database has over 200,000 biographies of artists, architects, and designers, patrons, collectors, and dealers; writers and scholars; and the publishers and printers of art.

Oxford, 2007- .
Online.
Over 57,000 online biographies for all manner of people involved in music, from choreographers and instrument makers to composers, arrangers, performers, critics, publishers, curators, collectors, audio engineers, scholars, educators, and more.