Biographical Research

Biographical files (Find It @ Archives) Files include newsclippings and other printed material relating primarily to Harvard College students and Harvard faculty. Not all alumni are represented; there is no comprehensive list of names available. 

Everett's Harvardiana (Find It @ Archives) Scrapbooks of newspaper clippings and other material, compiled by William Abbot Everett and covering Harvard College and professional school alumni from 1642 to 1892.

Quinquennial File Cards (Find It @ Archives) These cards include information on birth and death dates and place, academic degrees received, and parentage of deceased alumni and non-graduates. Not all alumni are represented; there is no comprehensive list of names available.  

Records of the Harvard War Records Office (World War I), 1916-1927 (Find It @ Archives) Includes correspondence, personal reports of World War I service, photographs, clippings, and other material.

Records of the Harvard War Records Office (World War II), 1942-1948 (Find It @ Archives) Includes correspondence, personal reports of World War II service, and photographs. Restrictions may apply.

Sibley's Collectanea (Find It @ Archives) Part of the Papers of Harvard librarian and noted biographer John Langdon Sibley. Collectanea Biographica Harvardiana, Volumes 1-31, contains alumni biographies with additions by Harvard librarian John Langdon Sibley; manuscripts of biographical sketches, 1873-1885, and other research material about Harvard graduates from 1642 to 1885.

Sibley's Private Journal, 1846-1882, transcription John Langdon Sibley's journal is a detailed account of people, events, and daily life in Cambridge, New England, and nationally.

Student folders and transcripts, circa 1895-1934. Restrictions may apply. For questions about access to student records from less than 80 years ago, contact the Registrar at the appropriate school. See also "Student Records: The Harvard Experience" by Harley Holden. The American Archivist, Vol. 39, No. 4 (October 1976): pp. 461-467.

Tolman Index to University Records, 1636-1870 An exhaustive name and subject index, ideal for biographical research on Harvard students, faculty, administrators, and affiliates from the 17th to 19th centuries.