General Sources - Biographies - Finding Information about Someone's Life - LibraryGuides at Chemeketa Community College

Look for Biographies in the Library Search

Add the word "biography" to the name of a person in your search, for example,

wilma mankiller biography

General Biographical Web Sites

Bio - Biography.com
The site for the TV program, "Biography." Has short biographical entries on thousands of persons.
Dead People Server
Answers the question, "Has [famous person] died?" Has dates of birth and death, and sometimes links to other biographical material.
Distinguished Women of Past and Present
Offers biographies of many women throughout history, along with links to biographies on other Web sites. This site has been archived by the Library of Congress.
SNAC (Social Networks and Archival Context)
"A free, online resource that helps users discover biographical and historical information about persons, families, and organizations that created or are documented in historical resources (primary source documents) and their connections to one another. Users can locate archival collections and related resources held at cultural heritage institutions around the world."

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"SNAC is an international cooperative including, but not limited to, archives, libraries, and museums, that is working to build a corpus of reliable descriptions of people, families, and organizations that link to and provide a contextual understanding of historical records. "

General Biographical Reference Books

American Men and Women of Science
ISBN: 9781414472034
Publication Date: 2011
Use the Search Within Publication with All editions checked off to search the series
American National Biography by John A. Garraty (Editor); Mark C. Carnes (Editor)
Call Number: REF 920.073 Am33
ISBN: 0195206355
Publication Date: 1999
Covers dead Americans.
Current Biography Yearbook by H. W. Wilson Company Staff
Call Number: REF 920 C93
ISBN: 1619254301
Publication Date: 2014-12-01
Famous people alive 1942-present. Look for the most recent Index volume to look up names.
Dictionary of National Biography by Leslie Stephen, et al.
Call Number: REF 920.042 D56
Publication Date: 1921-
Covers dead British nationals.
Dictionary of Women Worldwide
ISBN: 9780787675851
Publication Date: 2006-07-28
Brief biographies of 20,000+ women.
Dictionary of World Biography by Barry Jones
ISBN: 1760460095
Publication Date: 2016
Encyclopedia of World Biography
ISBN: 0787622214
Publication Date: 1997
Biographies of notable persons of all countries and times.
Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement by Gale Cengage Learning (Editor)
ISBN: 9781410324139
Publication Date: 2017
The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives by Arnold Markoe (Editor); Karen Markoe (Editor); Kenneth T. Jackson (Editor)
ISBN: 9780684314990
Publication Date: 1998-2006
Who Was Who in Native American History by Carl Waldman (Editor)
Call Number: REF 970.00497022 W14
ISBN: 0816017972
Publication Date: 1990
Subtitled Indians and non-Indians from Early Contacts through 1900

Biography Databases

Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window
Instructional videos, documentaries, performances, and news stories including PBS Frontline.
Films On Demand: Master Academic and Career & Technical Education Package This link opens in a new window
Educational films and documentaries on a wide variety of subjects. Please note: content produced by HBO, A&E, and BBC may not play in older browsers if the video is embedded in eLearn or other websites. If you get an error try a different browser. If the error persists, find and view the video within Films on Demand.
Gale General OneFile This link opens in a new window
Articles from popular and scholarly sources on a wide range of topics. How to Use
Gale In Context: College This link opens in a new window
Scroll down to the Browse Topics section and Click Biography to see a list of names

Each entry has symbol that indicates the content level. Topic Browsing make it easy to browse to a search on popular topics.

Librarian

Kathleen Veldhuisen

Biographies - Finding Information about Someone's Life: General Sources

Look for Biographies in the Library Search

General Biographical Web Sites

General Biographical Reference Books

Biography Databases

See Also

Librarian