Finding Biographical Information

All of the components of the WBIS are indexed in the online WBIS with citations to the microfiche and the original printed book. Although most of the individual Biographical Archives are available full text online, there are a few exceptions.  To obtain the full text of items in these Archives, you must either use the microfiche in the Atkins Reference Room (Widener, 2nd floor) or look up the biographical dictionaries in HOLLIS and look at the printed books.

These exceptions are

• Arabic Islamic I, II (Harvard does not own series II; you must use the printed books)
• British III (Harvard does not own series II after Stephenson, A. or series III; you must use the printed books)
• Canadian
• Czech and Slovak
• Hungarian
• Indian
• Japanese (Includes Europeans in Japan)
• Jewish II
• Korean
• South East Asian
• South East European
• Spanish, Portuguese & Iberoamerican IV
• Turkish

The online World Biographical Information System is based on a series of national/regional microfiche collections (available in Widener's Atkins Reference Room) which often appeared in several sections (indicated below by Roman numerals). Each national/regional section, or Biographical Archive, includes articles in alphabetical order from hundreds of biographical dictionaries dating from the 17th through the 20th centuries. The individual Biographical Archives are listed below.

• African
• American I, II, III
• Arabic Islamic I, II
• Australasian
• Baltic
• Benelux I, II
• British I, II, III
• Canadian
• Chinese (Includes Europeans in China)
• Classical (Includes classicists)
• Czech and Slovak
• French I, II, III
• German I, II, III
• Greek
• Hungarian
• Indian
• Italian I, II, III, IV
• Japanese (Includes Europeans in Japan)
• Jewish
• Jewish II
• Korean
• Polish
• Polish II
• Russian/Soviet
• Scandinavian
• South East Asian
• South East European
• Spanish, Portuguese & Iberoamerican I, II, III, IV
• Turkish