Begin Here | Basic Resources | | Hard-to-find

Preface

Trustworthy biographical data is a cornerstone of research, whether one needs to place a person in historical and cultural context, verify dates and birthplace, or introduce a speaker to an audience. This research guide collects resources in various formats which are accessible through the Fordham Library Catalog. Included are hints for tracking hard-to-find people (or, what to do before calling a private detective).

Find the library resources listed below efficiently by using this strategy: on the Basic Search screen of the Fordham Library Catalog enter the desired title as an “exact phrase”. Example: American National Biography (title/exact phrase) results in “American National Biography” ( reference book at Rose Hill and Lincoln Center ) as well as “American National Biography Online” ( URL to EBook online).

The Fordham Library Catalog gives current holdings information for all formats. As more of the older library subscriptions change from print to electronic access, variations in title may occur. However a title search in the Catalog will lead to a citation with notes that indicate the actual title currently in use.

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First, determine the standard spelling of a person’s name, and the birthdate or general time period in which the person has lived. (Hint: web search engines are not reliable for this.) Spelling and dates can be verified at the Reference Desk:

Merriam-Websters Biographical Dictionary. 1995. (LC RH) Ref CT103.M47

Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia. 1998. (LC RH Ref CT103.C26

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Note: For up-to-date online availability to any of these resources use the Fordham Library Catalog as suggested in the Preface above.

Databases

 At the Fordham Library Catalog - Databases & Indexes page, locate the currently available database services listed under Biography.

Dictionaries/ Encyclopedias/ Guides

ARBA Guide to Biographical Resources1986-1997. Libraries Unlimited, 1998. (RH) RefCT103.A82

American National Biography. Online, and (LC, RH) RefCT213.A68

Britannica Book of the Year/ online as Encyclopaedia Britannica Online (Britannica.com) and (LC RH MM)RefAE5.B754

Current Biography. NY: Wilson 1940- (LC RH MM) Ref CT100.C8: also Current Biography International and online availabilities.

Dictionary of American Biography. NY: Scribner 1928- (LC RH MM) Ref E176.D563; Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives 1998- (LC RH) Ref CT213.S37 expands the DAB to place selected individuals in their historical context. Photographs of each person.

Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources. Detroit: Gale 1970- (LC RH MM) Ref HF5353.E52. The biography section contains suggested sources for persons currently active in business.

Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale 1998. (LC RH) Ref CT103.E56

New York Times Obituaries Index. 1858-1978. (LC RH) Ref CT213.N47. This Index guides searches of NYTimes microfilm and the historical NYTimes databases.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. NY: Oxford 2004. (RH) RefDA28.O95 and EBooks online. Updates the Dictionary of American Biography.

 Riverside Dictionary of Biography. Boston: Houghton Mifflin 2005. (RH) Ref CT103.R49. Identifies 20,000 international persons from ancient to present day. Some short quotations and portraits. Entry is by name most frequently used, e.g. William Sydney Porter is listed as Henry, O.

Ethnicity/ Geographic Sources

African American Lives. NY: Oxford 2004 (RH) Ref E185.96 A48

American Decades. Detroit: Gale 1994- (LC RH) Ref E169.12 A42. Within each volume covering a ten year period, the section “Headline Makers” is useful for business people.

Dictionary of Hispanic Biography. NY: Gale 1996. (RH) Ref CT1343.D53.

Distinguished Asian Americans. Westport CT: Greenwood 1999. (LC RH) Ref E184.O6 D57 and online EBook.

Encyclopedia of Ireland. New Haven CT: Yale 2003 (LC RH MM) Ref DA906.E52. Comprehensive, with good illustrations.

Encyclopedia of Life Writing: Autobiographical and Biographical Forms. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001. (LC RH) Ref PR7566.B56 E63. A handsome two volume set with massive index.

Encyclopedia of Louisville. Lexington KY: University Press 2001. (RH) Ref F4599.L89 E54. An example of the regional encyclopedia collections in the library. This one lists Col. Sanders and other prominent Kentuckians.

Notable Native Americans. NY: Gale 1995. (LC RH) Ref E89.N67. Indexes by tribal group, occupation and tribal role.

Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. NY: Oxford 2001. (LC RH) Ref DT58.O94; also online. Use this regional encyclopedia for a biography of Cleopatra.

Women Building Chicago 1790-1990. Bloomington: Indiana University Press 2001. (LC RH) Ref HQ1439.C47 W66. A volume organized around the lives of a selected group that illuminates the history of a city as well.

Biography Resources by Career, Affiliation

Each profession/occupation/membership group organizes biographical information in standard reference sources. From the Library Home Page select Research Guides in the appropriate subject to find biographies of persons in that area. Here are examples of collected biographies in selected professional fields:

Artists of the World (Allgemeines Kunstlerlexicon). Munich: Saur, 1992- (LC RH) Ref N40.A63. Artists and artisans from all historical periods and regions are covered. In English and German.

Dictionary of Art. NY: Grove, 1996- (LC RH MM) Ref N31 D5). A multi-volume set with artists from all periods and countries.

Great Athletes. Pasadena: Salem, 2002 (RH) Ref GV697.A1G68. Indexed by name, sport, country; with photos, glossary, awards. Halls of Fame, and a timeline.

Contemporary Authors. Detroit: Gale. (LC RH MM) Ref PS2.C6 and online.

International Directory of Business Biographies. St. James Press, 2005. (RH) Ref +HC29.I57

Party People: Communist Lives. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2001 (RH) HX244.5.P37. The expanding genre of biography includes life histories of persons previously considered marginal. This book, for example, focuses on the period 1920-1940 with a Who’s Who of Communists in Great Britain.

International Dictionary of Modern Dance. Detroit: St. James Press, 1998. (LC RH) Ref GV1585.I58

Inventions and Inventors. Pasadena: Salem, 2002. (RH MM) Ref T20.I59 and online. Four men are associated with the invention of the Vending Machine Slug Rejector. This and other inventions are organized by category, name and timeline from 1900 to 2000.

West’s Encyclopedia of American Law. Minneapolis: West, 1998- (RH) Ref K13.A15. Contains biographies of contributors to American law, with timeline for the subject of the biography, including general historical and life events; quotations from the subject of the biography; full case citations.

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Washington DC: Grove, 1980- (LC RH MM) Ref ML100.N48; also Grove Music Online.

Baker’s Dictionary of Music.. NY: Schirmer, 1997. (LC RH) Ref ML100.S635.

New York State Society of the Cincinnati: Biographies of Original Members and Other Continental Officers. Fishkill NY: NYS Society of the Cincinnati, 2004. (RH) Ref F118.S96. The lives of those associated with the American Revolution. Source notes for each entry; bibliography; index includes family members of the biographee.

Directory of American Philosophers. Bowling Green OH: Philosophy Documentation Center, 1963- (LC RH) Ref B848.D5

History of Science in the United States. NY: Garland, 2000. (LC RH) Ref Q 127.U6 H57; and online. Biographies of lesser known US scientists.

Catholic Almanac. Huntington IN: Our Sunday Visitor. (LC RH MM) Ref AY81.R6F8. Biographies of the Pope, Cardinals, American Bishops, and other Theological figures.

American Coverlets and their Weavers. Williamsburg VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2002. (RH) +NK8912.A53

Battles, Matthew. Widener: Biography of a Library. Cambridge MA: Harvard College Library, 2004. (RH) Ref Z733.H34B38. Some color illustrations.

Dictionary of Women Worldwide. Thomson Gale, 2007. (RH) Ref CT3202.D53. Includes mothers, daughters, sisters, sisters-in-law, etc. of men who have long been included in Who’s Who. Name variations listed.

Who’s Who: The keyword phrase, Who’s Who, can be combined with words denoting geography (e.g. who’s who in Ireland), affiliation (e.g. who’s who in Polish America), or a phrase ( e.g. who’s who in Asia’s new wealth club). Various who’s who publishers (e.g. Marquis: Chicago and Europa: London) provide electronic versions of their publications. In the library book stacks older print volumes are available. Use the “Details” box for each citation to view availability, format and location of the desired reference.

In Internet searches, enter a person’s name to find personal web sites and biographical information from a variety of sources. An online key phrase using author name and birth year ( such as Gertrude Stein 1874) is an efficient search.

In the Fordham University Library online catalog names of persons may be searched as Subject, as Word/Phrase or as Author. Combine the name of a person, or a category or occupation with words such as biography; biopic; memoir; bio-bibliography (e.g. teachers and biography; biography and businesswomen).

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Top of Page

HARD TO FIND

1. What has the elusive person written? Biographical information on authors and contributors can be found in their own publications.

2. With whom or what is the person associated? When a person is known primarily through association with a notable person (examples: Mrs. Charles Dickens; Agatha Christie’s daughter) it is helpful to search for information in the biographies of that notable person. Personal biographies which contain name indexes are especially helpful to identify ancillary relationships.

Parallel biographies which contrast two or more lives offer another dimension to biography. See Lindy Woodhead’s War Paint: Madame Helena Rubenstein and Miss Elizabeth Arden. (RH) HD9970.5.C672 R859.

For appreciation of just how hard one can work to track down an elusive subject, and how much research a biographer performs to discover the smallest truth, see Marian Mainwaring’s Mysteries of Paris (RH) PN4874.F774 M35. What happens when a mystery writer composes her own life story as detective story? P.D. James demonstrates in Time To Be In Earnest (LC RH) PR6060.A42 Z46.

A single book may combine both autobiography and biography (example: Ormond Seavey’s Becoming Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and the Life) Comparing autobiography and biography offers insight and speculation, as in Shocking Life by Elsa Schiaparelli and Shocking !, the 2004 Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition memoir of Schiaparelli’s life.

Adam Clymer in Edward M. Kennedy (1999) shares some non-traditional techniques for gathering new information about a person on whom much has already been written. Another author, John LeCarre, proposes an exemplary literary biography is Wodehouse: A Life by Robert McCrum (RH) PR6045.O54 M3.

Virginia Woolf, the daughter of Sir Leslie Stephen, editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, wrote biography, autobiography, diaries, memoirs, journals, letters, biography as fiction, imaginary biographies, and essays on life-writing, while reminding her readers that lives are changed in retrospect, that life-stories need to be retold, re-formulated by each generation; lives are subject to changes of opinion.

Samuel Johnson ( Idler no. 84, 1759) gives the concluding words to send us sneezing into the dusty archives of abandoned trunks in attics and manuscripts thrust into secret drawers: “Biography is, of the various kinds of narrative writing, that which is most eagerly read, and most easily applied to the purposes of life. …but he that sits down calmly and voluntarily to review his life for the admonition of posterity, or to amuse himself, and leaves this account unpublished, may be commonly presumed to tell the truth, since falsehood cannot appease his own mind, and fame will not be heard beneath the tomb.”

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