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Getting Started

Getting to the databases & formulating your search

Tips for finding print biographies

Search our library catalog or WorldCat using the subject term "biography."

Combine this term with a person's name or event. For example, biography and Benjamin Franklin or "biography" and "civil rights movement."

General Print Resources

American National Biography
Call Number: Ref 920.073 Am5122

Entries are alphabetical, but there are also indexes arranged by profession and state.
Dictionary of National Biography
Call Number: Ref 920.042 D554

This set covers all time periods of Great Britain.
Current Biography Yearbook
Call Number: Ref 920 C936

Consult the annual and ten-year indexes in the back of each volume.
Biography Index
Call Number: Index Shelves

Indexes biographical information found in articles and books. People are also indexed by occupation and profession.
Who's Who
Call Number: Ref 920.042 W621
Directory of American Scholars
Call Number: Ref 923.773 D597

Artists and Authors

Contemporary Artists
Call Number: Ref 709.2 C761 1996
Contemporary Authors
Call Number: Ref 920.1 C761
Dictionary of Art
Call Number: Ref 703 D554

34 volumes

Ethnic Figures

African American Lives
Call Number: Ref 920.009296 Af258
African American National Biography
Call Number: Ref 920 Af258

8 volumes
American Indian Biographies
Call Number: Ref 920 Am512
Notable Black American Men
Call Number: Ref 920.71 N899
Notable Black American Women
Call Number: Ref 920.72 N8992

2 volumes
Notable Latino Americans
Call Number: Ref 920 M511

Musicians

Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Call Number: Ref 780.3 G964 2006

10 volumes
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Call Number: Ref 780.3 N532 2000

29 volumes

Scientists

New Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Call Number: Ref 509.22 N532

8 volumes
American Men and Women of Science
Call Number: Ref 925 Am512

Last Updated: Feb 17, 2018 3:57 PM
URL: https://libraryguides.etown.edu/GettingStartedResearch
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Subjects: Library