National Biographies
National biographies are excellent places to look for deceased individuals. You will get a thorough but concise (compared to book-length) biography, analysis of major works or inventions, discussion of influences (on and by), and an excellent bibliography of primary and secondary sources on the individual. Almost every nation has a national biography; only the major ones are listed below.
- American National Biography (online)Biographical dictionary of about 17,500 notable American men and women from all eras of American history who are no longer alive. Includes illustrations and hypertext links to other web resources. Remember, also, that many women and minorities would not have been "notable" enough in their time to have records ANB can draw on.
PRINT VERSION: American National Biography, 24 vols. - JONES REF. - CT213 .A68 1999
- Australian dictionary of biography This link opens in a new windowAustralia's pre-eminent dictionary of national biography. Over 10,000 scholarly biographies of individuals who died before 1980; updated frequently. Attempts to include representatives of every social group and sphere of endeavour.
PRINT VERSION: Australian Dictionary of Biography, 16+ vols. - JONES REF - DU82 .A9
- Dictionary of Canadian Biography (Online)In English and French, this work includes Canadians who died between 1000 CE and 1930 CE.
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"the first point of reference for anyone interested in the lives of the peoples of the British Isles and their connections overseas, from the earliest times to the end of the year 2000."
PRINT VERSION: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 60+ vols. - JONES REF - DA28 .O95 2004
- World biographical information system This link opens in a new windowIndex only to biographies of over 6 million people from over 57l biographical sources. Compiles biographical articles from printed reference works published from the 16th to the 21th century. Full text of all biographies available in microform in the Jones Library.
Book-length Biographies
To search for book-length, scholarly biographies about a person, go to OneSearch's Advanced Search and enter your search terms just like this with just the same limits in Material Type and Language (especially if you only read English):
If you get no results, first make sure you have correctly spelled the person's name (especially names of kings and queens and rulers, or foreign names that may involve a double last name).
If you still find very few items or nothing, search WorldCat - which will search libraries across the United States. We can borrow books from these libraries for you. Use the 
button to Request OSOFAST to order the book. Books will take about 7 - 10 days to arrive.
Other Reliable Sources of Biographical Information
One of the better sources of biographical information are the obituaries published in major world newspapers like the New York Times or The Times (of London). The titles are links to Baylor's online, historical databases of each of these publications, which do not have current issues.
For obituaries in Russian news sources in English, search Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press.
