Finding Biographical Sources
A research guide for biography is available.
A biographical dictionary of French censors, 1742-1789, by William Hanley. Ferney-Voltaire, France: Centre international d'étude du XVIIIe siècle, 2005-
Widener | WID-LC | Z658.F7 H36 2005x
--Vol. 1. A-B only
Römische Inquisition und Indexkongregation. Grundlagenforschung 1701-1813, ed. by Hubert Wolf. Paderborn; Ferdinand Schöningh, 2009-2011. 3 v. in 5.
-- Vol. I. Römische Bücherverbote; Edition der Bandi von Inquisition und Indexkongregation 1701-1813
-- Vol. II. Systematisches Repertorium zur Buchzensur 1701-1813. [1]. Inquisition ; [2]. Indexkongregation
-- Vol. III. Prosopographie von Römischer Inquisition und Indexkongregation 1701-1813. [1]. A-L ; [2]. M-Z
Register 1701-1813
Link to HOLLIS record
Widener WID-LC BX1750 .R66 2009
Römische Inquisition und Indexkongregation. Grundlagenforschung 1814-1917, ed. by Hubert Wolf. Paderborn; Ferdinand Schöningh, 2005.
-- Einleitung 1814-1917 (Includes English version)
-- Vol. I. Römische Bücherverbote; Edition der Bandi von Inquisition und Indexkongregation 1814-1917, by auf der Basis von Vorarbeiten
-- Vol. II. Systematisches Repertorium zur Buchzensur 1814-1917. [1]. Inquisition; [2]. Indexkongregation
-- Vol. III. Prosopographie von Römischer Inquisition und Indexkongregation 1814-1917. [1]. A-K ; [2]. L-Z
Vol. IV. Register 1814-1917
Link to HOLLIS record
Widener WID-LC BX1751.R66 2005x
Dictionary of Literary Biography offers biographical-critical essays on authors. Includes references for interviews, critical writings. Coverage is international, with emphasis on English and American. Indexed in Literary Index.
Lamont REF.ROOM PN451 .D5 1978x (Lamont holds selected volumes.)
Widener RR3129 (Widener holds the complete set.)
Biography and Genealogy Master Index (BGMI) indexes thousands of English-language biographical dictionaries and other compendia. Not full text; one must do HOLLIS searches for retrieved sources.
World Biographical Information System includes online full text of thousands of biographical dictionaries, published from the 16th to the 20th century, accessible by name of biographee and other criteria, including occupation.
United States
American National Biography Online is the standard source for U.S. historical biography with over 17,000 individual entries.
Great Britain
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is the standard source for British historical biography.
British Biography (Research guide)
Germany
Deutsche biographische Enzyklopädie online Online version is more up-to-date than print. Print version:
Widener: RR 1786.5
English version:
Dictionary of German biography. München: K.G. Saur, 2001-2006. 10 v.
Widener: WID-LC CT759 .D4813 2001x
Includes about 61,000 paragraph-length biographies of deceased individuals from Charlemagne to the 20th century from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and other German-speaking countries, including non-German residents. Short entries keyed to other biographical dictionaries in 13 page list in front of each volume. Also longer on major figures which contain primary and secondary source lists. Secondary sources mainly German; English and other scholarship largely absent.
Two major German-language sources, both with longer articles than the DBE and available full text online, are:
Allgemeine deutsche Biographie. ADB. 56 v.
Widener RR 1786.2.2
Neue deutsche Biographie. NDB. 23 v.
Widener | RR 1786.4
ADB covers early times to the end of the 19th century. As there are supplementary sections in many volumes, it is essential that the index (v. 56 or online) be used for the print version.
NDB (A-Stader has been published) not intended to supersede its predecessor ADB although many of the same names appear in it, along with persons who have died since the older work was published and some additional names from earlier periods.
Biographie Portal is a joint index of:
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB)
Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB)
Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815-1950 (ÖBL)
Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS)
Datenbank Schriftstellerinnen in Deutschland provides biographical and bibliographical information on German women writers and translators from 1945-.
Women writers of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland : an annotated bio-bibliographical guide, ed. by Elke Frederiksen. NY: Greenwood Press, 1989, 323 p.
Schlesinger | Harvard Depository | 016.83 F852w
Widener | Harvard Depository | PT167.Z99 W66 x, 1989
Contemporaries of Erasmus: a biographical register of the Renaissance and Reformation includes over 1900 biographical sketches of persons, especially intellectuals, educators, religious reformers, and political figures, mentioned in correspondence or works of Erasmus (1466-1536). “Editorial Notes” section is important for effective use. Sources accompany each article. Strongest on French, Dutch, and Germans.
Renaissance and Reformation, 1500-1620: a biographical dictionary which covers cultural - artistic, literary, scholarly, scientific – figures. Lists of biographees by discipline and by country, terminal bibliography, name index.
Handbuch Gelehrtenkultur der Frühen Neuzeit. Band 1: Bio-bibliographisches Repertorium offers biographical articles with lists of works, editions, and secondary sources (keyed to bibliography in front of vol.) on Renaissance and early modern (15th-early 18th centuries) scholars and intellectuals. Full text of much of the book is available in Google Books, linked from the HOLLIS record. Second volume (not yet received) is a thematic dictionary.
France
The “African Historical Dictionaries” series includes biographical sketches of colonial figures. Search in HOLLIS “African Historical Dictionaries” together with the name of your country.
French autobiographical writing 1900-1950: an annotated bibliography lists over 1800 works, indexed. For earlier autobiographies see Denis Bertholet’s “Répertoire des autobiographies publiés entre 1810 et 1885”, pp. 333-356 in Les Français par eux-mêmes, 1815-1885 which lists over 355 published autobiographies with thematic index.
Dictionnaire de biographie française offers very numerous short (paragraph-page length) articles with source lists. Covers French overseas possessions and French Flanders. In progress, covers A- Lefèvre only. For coverage of the later part of the alphabet, other sources must be used, including Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne and Nouvelle biographie generale, both for pre1870s figures (see below).
Dictionnaire des intellectuels français: les personnes, les lieux, les moments... . Most entries are biographies of about 600 public intellectuals, living and deceased, writing since the beginning of the Dreyfus Affair. Articles with short lists of works and sources. Name index. Full text in World Biographical Information System.
Qui était qui, XXe siècle: dictionnaire biographique des Français disparus ayant marqué le XXe siècle includes about 8000 brief who’s who-type entries, Covers whole 20th century, not just those who had appeared in Who's who in France.
Who's who in France (1953- ) includes French persons overseas and French-speaking peoples in African nations, etc. All text in French. Introductory section lists government officials and diplomatic corps. 1st ed. was restricted to persons living in Paris. Full text of 4th ed. (1959/60) in French biographical archive. An earlier, similar publication, Qui êtes-vous? appeared in three editions: 1908, 1909, 1924. Full text (1924 ed. only) in World Biographical Information System.
Bibliographie analytique des biographies collectives imprimes de la France contemporaine, 1789-1985 is a bibliography of collective biographies of French figures of the period 1789-1985. Three main sections: (1) general works of collective biography subdivided by period; (2) biographical works grouped by profession (with chronological and other subdivisions as appropriate); and (3) works of local and regional coverage.
Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne (widely known as Michaud) and the Nouvelle biographie generale (1853-66; widely known as Hoefer) are both enormous mid-19th century dictionaries of universal biography, especially good for French persons. They contain much not available elsewhere. Full text of Michaud available in Gallica (1870-1873 ed.) and in Google Books (1811-1862 ed.) Hoefer’s Nouvelle biographie generale available full text in Google Books.
Les grands hommes d'état de l'histoire de France
Dictionnaire des parlementaires français, comprenant tous les membres des assembles françaises et tous les ministres français depuis le l. mai 1789 jusqu'au l. mai 1889, avec leurs noms, état civil, états de services, actes politiques, votes parlementaires, etc.
--Continued by: Dictionnarie des parlementaires français; notices biographiques sur les ministres, sénateurs et députés français de 1889 à 1940.
--Continued by: Dictionnaire des parlementaires français: notices biographiques sur les parlementaires français de 1940 à 1958.
Dictionnaire de biographie française offers very numerous short (paragraph-page length) articles with source lists. Covers French overseas possessions and French Flanders. In progress, covers A- Lefèvre only. For coverage of the later part of the alphabet, other sources must be used, including Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne and Nouvelle biographie generale (Both in ADDITIONAL RESOURCES).
Les grands hommes d'état de l'histoire de France
Biographie universelle ancienne et modern (widely known as Michaud) and the Nouvelle biographie generale (1853-66; widely known as Hoefer) are both enormous mid-19th century dictionaries of universal biography, especially good for French persons. They contain much not available elsewhere. Full text of Michaud available in Gallica (1870-1873 ed.) and in Google Books (1811-1862 ed.) Hoefer’s Nouvelle biographie generale available full text in Google Books.
Dictionnaire des femmes de l'Ancienne France consists of a list of all known women who lived between the 5th and the 18th centuries. Roughly a fifth of the approximately 1400 names linked to biographies of two types: those written by current scholars and those extracted from 16th-19th century biographical dictionaries.
L’Europe des humanistes (XIVe-XVIIe siècles) gives names, dates, brief occupation and references to over 200 biographical dictionaries and other works for manuscript collectors, scholars, editors and others involved in study of the ancient authors.