Finding Biographies
There are many online sources and hundreds of biographical reference sources in St. Catherine University Library. Most fields have their own sources, far too many to list here. For example, there are books of biographical entries for scientists, musicians, authors, artists, etc. See a Reference Librarian for help in locating sources of information. Besides reference sources with information about your person, there may be articles written by that person. Search the electronic periodical indexes in that person's subject area or search as a Keyword search on CLICnet. |
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In the list below, the books with call numbers that begin with Ref. are in the reference section of the St. Kate's St. Paul Library.
Biographical indexes | General Biographical Sources | Women | Deaf
Biographical indexes
Reference sources that list where to find information about a person
Biography and Genealogy Master Index Ref. CT 214 .B56
Index to millions of biographical sketches in nearly 1000 biographical dictionaries.
Biography Index Ref. CT 104 .B5
Index to biographical material found in periodicals, biography books, obituaries, and other sources. Published quarterly.
General Biographical Sources
Use a link below or an Internet search engine to retrieve information on almost anyone.
Contemporary Authors (online database limited to the St. Kate's community for access off campus)
An InfoTrac database. Provides biographical and bibliographical information and references on more than 120,000 U.S. and international authors.
Credo Reference Collection (online database limited to the St. Kate's community for access off campus)
Use the "biographies" subdivision.
LexisNexis Academic Universe (online database limited to the St. Kate's community for access off campus)
Use the "Reference" category to look for newspaper articles mentioning people in business, politics and entertainment.
About off-campus access
Biography.com : Ignore the ads and you'll find an easy search engine for over 25,000 bios (including photos for most entries) of celebrities and famous politicians.
The Biographical Dictionary: 28,000 brief biographies.
Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography : Contains over 1,000 entries on a site with some nice features. In addition to the usual ways of searching (alphabetic and subject) there are some useful categories such as gender/minority status, historical period, nationality and prize winners. Some entries contain photos and most provide cross-references, and sources for further information are also given.
American National Biography Ref. CT 213 .A68 1992
24 volume set of biographies of famous Americans. Highly regarded.
Biographical Dictionary of Social Welfare in America Ref. HV 27 .B57
Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography Ref. CT 213 .C36
The most up-to-date and comprehensive source of brief information on notable Americans from Hank Aaron to Antoni Zygmund.
Chambers Biographical Dictionary Ref. CT 103 .C4 1997
Over 17,500 detailed biographies of people, living and dead, from throughout the world.
Current Biography Ref. CT 100 .C8
About 150 biographical sketches per year of currently notable people from around the world. Includes everything from rock stars to astrophysicists.
Dictionary of American Biography Ref. E 176 .D56
Lengthy articles on noteworthy persons who lived in the territory now known as the U.S. Does not include living persons.
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography Ref. CT 103 .M27
5000 articles about famous people from all periods of history.
Who's Who in America Ref. E 663 .W56
The standard dictionary of contemporary U.S. biography with short entries for more than 80,000 entries per issue.
Who Was Who in America with World Notables Ref. E 176 .W64
Brief sketches of deceased American notables.
Women
About.com: Women’s History
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_list.htm
Somewhat annoying pop-ups and format, but extensive list of women presented along with links to other Web resources for each person profiled.
Congresswomen’s Biographies
http://bioguide.congress.gov/congresswomen/index.asp
Brief Bios of women who have served or are currently serving in the Congress and House of Representatives.
DiscoverySchool.comWomen of the Century: 100 Years of American Heroes
http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/womenofthecentury/
Photos and brief bios of a select group of people. School-age level, but worth a browse.
Distinguished Women of the Past and Present
http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/
Contains biographies of writers, educators, scientists, heads of state, politicians, civil rights activists, artists, entertainers, and others. Searchable by name or subject.
Female Nobel Prize Laureates
http://www.almaz.com/nobel/women.html
Nobel Prize winners in all categories since 1903
First Ladies of the United States
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/
400 Years of Women in Science
http://www.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/
From the University of Pennsylvania. Fun site -- biographies, crossword puzzle, interactive quiz, learning activities.
Library of Congress
Eight women who came to the front: Journalists, photographers and broadcasters during World War II.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/wcf/wcf0001.html
Bios plus primary documents from the collections of the Library of Congress
National Women’s Hall of Fame (Seneca, N.Y.) http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewAll
Brief bios and bibliographies of the 207 women in the Hall of Fame.
National Women’s History Project
http://www.nwhp.org/
Brief bios provided. See the list on the main page, or click the banner “2005 National Women’s History Honorees”
Thompson-Gale Biographies of Women
http://www.gale.com/free_resources/whm/bio/
About 70 extensive bios, mostly 19 th and 20 th century
Women in American History from the Encyclopedia Britannica
http://search.eb.com/women/modernamerica01.html
View a timeline and read about notable women of each period.
Reference books--
Biographical Dictionary of Congressional Women Ref. JK 1012 .F57 (1999)
Bios of 200 women
Black Women in America Ref. E185.86 .B542
Articles about almost 500 African American women of note.
Contemporary Women Poets Ref. PS 151 .C67 (1998)
Over 200 poets profiled.
Encyclopedia of Women in American History Ref. HQ 1410 .E53 (2002)
Three volumes divided by era.
Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers Ref. HQ 1236 .R29 (2001)
International in scope, this 2 volume gem focuses on the 19th and 20th centuries. The table of contents allows the reader to select an entry according to country or to cause. Authoritative entries provide bibliographies.
Notable American Women Ref. CT 3260 .N57
Scholarly articles on 1800 women from American History, each with an extensive bibliography of additional sources. NOTE: this source is also available online in Credo Reference
Notable Black American Women Ref. E185.96 .N68
Substantial signed biographies of 500 subjects born 1730-1958.
Notable Hispanic American Women Ref. E184.575 N68
Entries about nearly 300 individuals, all but a few of whom are living.
Who's Who of American Women Ref. E 176 .W647
Brief sketches of living women of achievement.
Deaf
Deaf Biographies: Website from the Rochester Institute of Technology
List of biographies and autobiographies compiled by RIT. Once you identify a resource, check local holdings for availability.
Deaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences REF. HV 2373 .L36
Entries on about 35 internationally-known actors and artists.
Great Deaf Americans REF. HV 2534 .A3 M66
Over 70 entries on actors, athletes, entrepreneurs, deaf advocates and more.
Image of Maya Angelou from http://www.mayaangelou.com/