American national biography online This link opens in a new windowCovers more than 18 000 individuals who fit all the following criteria: American (lived within what is now the United States), deceased (with enough time having passed since the individual's death to allow for critical evaluation), influenced American history or culture broadly (not just a locally influential individual), sufficient research materials exist on this individual to create a solid biographical essay. Essays are written by scholars and include a bibliography (including an indication of where a person's archives are located), links to reliable online resources, and links to cross-referenced individuals. Additionally, there are links to thematically related essays from the "Oxford Companion to United States History" to help place the individual in the larger trends and issues of his time. Drawing again on the "Oxford Companion to United States History " there are links to articles in 12 broad research topics to help focus a paper or research on an individual or an era. ANB may be searched by name, by keyword (any occurrence of it), or click on the "Search" tab to conduct an advanced search by gender, profession, birthplace, and other features. Oxford UP.