Biographies

Accounts of persons' lives written by another.

Sub-headings:

Artists & Architects

Authors

Entertainers

Musicians & Composers

Politicians & Rulers

Scientists & Inventors

Resources in this category:

African American History
http://afgen.com/history.html

This site on African-American history contains the text of significant speeches. There's also biographical information about famous African-Americans.

American Women's History: A Research Guide
http://frank.mtsu.edu/~kmiddlet/history/women.html

"American Women's History is designed to assist serious researchers, such as history professors, independent scholars, graduate students, and possibly upper-division undergraduates. Librarians who assist these researchers may also want to become familiar with the guide. American Women's History provides citations to print and Internet reference sources, as well as to selected large primary source collections. The guide also provides information about the tools researchers can use to find additional books, articles, dissertations, and primary sources."

Biographical Dictionary
http://www.s9.com/biography/

"This dictionary covers more than 28,000 notable men and women who have shaped our world from ancient times to the present day. The dictionary can be searched by birth years, death years, positions held, professions, literary and artistic works, achievements, and other keywords."

Biography
http://www.biography.com/

Offical site of A&E's Biography television series. Includes the searchble text of 15,000 entries from The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia.

biography-center
http://www.biography-center.com/

A searchable, multi-lingual biographical directory. This site indexes and provides links to biographies available from other Web sites.

Black History: Biographies
http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/index.htm

The Thompson-Gale Group has created a free online resource containing biographies of famous African Americans. Information includes extensive biographical sketches, hypertext links that allow for cross-referencing amongst related individuals, and a short list of further resources to consult.

Buscabiografias
http://buscabiografias.com/

Spanish-language resource for biographies of famous people from all over the world, from the past and present. Includes royalty and world leaders, writers, actors, musicians and singers, artists, athletes, philosophers, and scientists.

Canadian Olympians
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/olympians/index-e.html

See pictures of Canadian Olympians from the mid-1900s through 2000. Search for pictures by sport, athlete, year, or medal.

Current Biography Excerpts
http://www.hwwilson.com/currentbio/cbonline.html

Looking for a biography of your favorite athlete? This site probably has it. It has short biographies for lots of athletes in lots of different sports.

Dead or Alive?
http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf

This site tracks whether famous people are still alive or not. On March 9, 2004, the site listed 6765 famous and semi-famous people from a wide range of backgrounds.

Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/

"This website contains over 3,000 biographies of New Zealanders who have 'made their mark' on this country. It does not include people who are alive."

Distinguished Women of Past and Present
http://www.DistinguishedWomen.com/

"This site has biographies of women who contributed to our culture in many different ways. There are writers, educators, scientists, heads of state, politicians, civil rights crusaders, artists, entertainers and others. "

Drop Me Off in Harlem: Faces of the Renaissance
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/exploring/harlem/facesmai...

"What happens when creative and intellectual minds, wealthy patrons, and fervent activists live in the same place? Discover how prominent figures in Harlem influenced, challenged, and supported one another in the period between 1917 and 1935. Investigate how their collective and individual voices reflected and shaped what we now call the Harlem Renaissance." Site inlcudes information about Harlem, biographical information on actors, musicians, and other notable individuals, and multimedia materials related to their lives and work.

The Encyclopædia Britannica Guide to Black History
http://search.eb.com/blackhistory/

Major features include a timeline of important events, brief biographies of famous African-Americans, articles on Events and Institutions and Eras in Black History. Includes a study guide for teachers and students, a bibliography, and film clips and audio recordings. Also contains a separate section on the Harlem Renaissance.

Famous Adoptees and Foster Children
http://www.dil.aber.ac.uk/dils/Research/RFocus9/staf_rrf.htm

"Biographical directory of influential and famous persons who were adopted or spent time being raised by people other than their biological parents."

Find a Grave
http://www.findagrave.com/

Information about "Where everybody who was anybody is buried..." Includes photos. It's searchable by name, location, birthdates and death dates, and "claim to fame."

The First Ladies of the United States
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/index.html

A White House Historical Association site with pictures and biographies of the U.S. First Ladies, from Martha Washington to Laura Bush.

Gerald Gardner: The History of Wicca
http://www.geraldgardner.com/

"Witchcraft Today proved to be the first nonfiction book on Wicca ever published, and its author, Gerald Gardner, is debatably the first to ever practice Wicca in a recognizably modern form.... This website has been built to address... questions surrounding Gardner's life. I've been collecting information on Gardner since 1997, and I am about to embark on a period of intense study and writing that should hopefully yield a number of well-documented essays that I intend to publish here in PDF format. I also intend to include an archive of some of the rare documents and publications that I have gathered on Wicca's history. This is the first time that much of this material has been put online."

Hall of Black Achievement Gallery
http://www.bridgew.edu/HOBA/gallery.cfm

Features page-long illustrated biographies of prominent historical African-Americans, with hypertext links to online resources for further information.

The HistoryMakers
http://www.thehistorymakers.com/

"The HistoryMakers is a national, 501(c)(3) non-profit educational institution committed to preserving, developing and providing easy access to an internationally recognized, archival collection of thousands of African American video oral histories." "The HistoryMakers represents the single largest archival project of its kind in the world, outdistancing the existing video oral history collections of New York’s Schomburg Library and the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum. The HistoryMakers is unique among these other collections of African American heritage, because of its massive scope." Persons profiled include artists, politicians, sports figures, scientists, entertainers, and much more.

100 Greatest Female Athletes
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/siforwomen/top_100/1/

Sports Illustrated for Women provides biographies of 100 of "the century's greatest sportswomen".

KiteCD
http://members.aol.com/kitecd/

Educational resources and links for homeschoolers, parents, and teachers. Includes areas on history and people, activities, education links, a monthly calendar, and U.S. presidents. Also has feature sections on snow, kites, popcorn, famous people, and historical events.

The List of Popes
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm

Provides a biography of all 265 Popes of the Roman Catholic Church from 32 AD to the present. Includes a detailed entry for Pope John Paul II with links to online speeches and writings.

Memorable Canadians / Canadiens et Canadiennes inoubliables
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/8/2/index-e.html

"Memorable Canadians is the new Web-based biographical index available through National Library of Canada's Web site. You can now search a growing database of over 200 eminent Canadian personalities using any of four efficient indexes: name, subject, endeavour and electronic resource. Memorable Canadians provides quick and direct access to biographical information on important Canadians who have contributed to the Canadian cultural landscape."

National First Ladies Library
http://www.firstladies.org/

"As the first and only facility of its kind, the National First Ladies' Library will serve as a unique, national resource for patrons from school children to scholars. As a national archive devoted to educating people about the contributions of First Ladies and other important women in history, the Library's holdings will fill an informational void that has long frustrated academicians and armchair history buffs alike." A great resource for discovering print materials by and about the First Ladies of the United States. Click on "National First Ladies' Library Bibliography" for bibliographies of resources on each individual First Lady, and the First Ladies in general.

Nobel Peace Prize Winners
http://www.almaz.com/nobel/peace/

A listing of Nobel Peace Prize winners and what they won for. Provides links to other sites about the winners, when available.

The Nobel Prize Internet Archive
http://www.almaz.com/

Impressive collection of information about all of the past Nobel Laureates, organized by prize and year, or searchable. Entries include brief biographical information plus links to related Internet sites.

Nom de Guerre - The Real People's Real Name Resource of Pseudonyms
http://go.to/realnames#

This site contains "the definitive" list of the real and/or full names for hundreds of celebrities, historical figures, writers, and fictional and non-fictional characters. Entries are listed alphabetically by pseudonym, and some contain brief biographical information. You might be surprised to find out who does not go by their real name.

PeopleSpot.com
http://www.peoplespot.com/

"PeopleSpot.com simplifies the search for the best and most useful information about people on the Web. We hope that our site will enable you to quickly and easily connect with others, reunite with friends and family, find people who share your interests, learn about notable individuals, discover ways to help others and much more... From PeopleSpot.com, tap into biographies, vital records, population and demographic statistics, e-mail, phone, reverse and professional directories, newsgroups, chat rooms, family and military networks, missing person data, genealogy resources and much more. "

Plane Writing
http://www.xs4all.nl/~blago/planewriting/

"Flying used to fire the imagination in a major way and heroes were made of this. Those early pilots were unmistakebly remarkable people, did not one but several remarkable things, and best of all, they wrote about it. Then, in the age of rockets, they became suddenly out-dated, archaic, forgotten. Their dusty biographies, leftovers from another era's enthusiasm, paint a wonderful picture of pre-fifties flying and living! The quotes and scraps of stories here are a personal selection from these texts."

Their Stamp on History
http://www.stamponhistory.com/

"Their Stamp on History is an educational site exploring the lives of important historical people through their pictures on postage stamps. It's meant to be used as a resource for stamp collectors, students, teachers, parents, and anyone interested in the lives of unique people. The site is designed to be easily usable for reference, but also easy to surf randomly through, picking out the bits and pieces that you find most interesting." Each entry includes a picture of the postage stamp, along with its face value, a description of its text, and its current (1999) value. Links to information about that person and, sometimes, full biographies are also included. Stamps are indexed by name and by occupational category.

Who's Alive and Who's Dead
http://www.whosaliveandwhosdead.com/

"The site that helps you keep track of which famous people have died and which are still alive! The people listed in Who's Alive and Who's Dead are grouped according to the accomplishments for which they are best known. That makes it easy to find the cast list of your favorite TV show or rock group. Or, you can easily get a list of famous athletes who played your favorite sport. Politicians are here too, along with authors, cartoonists, astronauts, and a bit of everything else."

Women in Sports
http://www.makeithappen.com/wis/

Biographies of female athletes indexed by sport or by name; biographies of women in the sports field.