Library Guides: Biographies: Home

Finding Biographies in the Library Catalog

Search Discover@MU using the person's name and the word biography. (e.g. steve jobs biography)
Limit your search results to UM books

American National Biography
A biographical dictionary of about 17,500 individuals significant to American history, from the earliest recorded European exploration to the 21st century. These are print books.
Discovery Collection
Thousands of overview essays, critical analyses, biographies, primary sources, creative works and multimedia elements comprise the Discovering Collection comprehensive online reference resource.

Gale eBooks
A database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
Can be linked to Google or Microsoft account to quickly save entries.
Date Coverage: Varies
Maximum Users: Unlimited
Truncation: Truncation: *; Wildcard:?
Literary Index
A master index to the major literature products published by Gale. It combines and cross-references author names, including pseudonyms and variant names, and listings for several titles into one source.
Date Coverage: Varies by title.
Maximum Users: Unlimited
Truncation: Truncation: * Wildcard: ?
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Provides British biographical information and bibliographies of additional biographical sources from the 4th century BC to the 21st century. It is updated 3 times each year.
1 simultaneous user
Print version is available in the Ellis Library reference section at DA28 .O95 2004.
Original 19th century edition is freely available online through the Hathi Trust Digital Library at http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001598808

Biographical Dictionary
Brief entries for over 28,000 people. Searchable by name, birth years, death years, positions held, professions, literary and artistic works. Wiki format.
Biography.com
Short biographies of over 25,000 people provided by the A & E Television network. Includes related web links.
Biography Center
Provides web links to over 4000 biographies.
InfoPlease Biographies
BBC Historical Figures
Worldwide biographies provided by the British Broadcasting Company.
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present
Provides biographical data on past and present congressmen.
POTUS Presidents of the United States
Provides biographical data on U.S. Presidents.
Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments
Produced by the CIA.
National Women's Hall of Fame
Biographies of American Women.
The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences