Biography Path Finder
I. ENCYCLOPEDIAS
General reference encyclopedias are located at call number R031. These books contain information about famous people in United States and world history.
II. SPANISH LANGUAGE ENCYCLOPEDIAS
III.GENERAL BIOGRAPHY COLLECTION
The Reference biography collection is located at R920 – R929. If you cannot find a biography on someone or require additional information, check the following areas:
IV. RESERVED COLLECTION
The reserved collection is located near the Reference Desk. If you do not find a book that is listed in the catalog, ask a librarian for assistance. The following books are included in the reserved section.
A. African Americans – (R920 – R973)
- African American Biography (R920.73 AFR vols. 1-4)
- African American Encyclopedia (1993) -- R937.049 AFR vols. 1-8
- African American Firsts (1994) -- R920.73 POT
- African American Sports Greats (1995) -- R927.073
- Afro-American Writers 1940-1955 [DLB] (R928.073 Af855)
- Biographical Encyclopedia of The Negro Baseball Leagues (1995) -- R927.073
- Black Explorers (1996) -- R920.009 REE
- Black Firsts - 2,000 years of Extraordinary Achievement (1994) -- R909.04 BLA
- Black Leaders of the Nineteenth Century (R920.73 B56)
- Black Leaders of the Twentieth Century (R920.73 B551)
- Black Women in America (1997) -- R920.72 vols. 1-10
- The Civil Rights Struggle: Leaders in Profile (R923.073 D395c)
- Contemporary Black Biography (1992) -- R920.C7673 vols. 1-21
- Distinguished African American Scientists of the 20th Century (R925.073 DIS)
- Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History (1996) -- R973.04 ENC
- Encyclopedia of Black America (R973 En19)
- Harlem Renaissance and Beyond (R928.073 R728h) Biographies and individual bibliographies of black women writers during the Harlem Renaissance. (1917 – 1935).
B. Hispanics and Latin Americans
- Biographical Dictionary of Hispanic Literature in the U.S. (1989) --R928.0729 B52 c.1
- Dictionary of Hispanic Biography (1996) R920.046 DIC
- Hispanic Writers (1991) -- R928.046 H625
- Hispanic American Almanac (1993) -- R973.04 HIS c.1
- Latin American History and Culture (1996) -- R980.003 ENC vol. 1-5
- Notable Hispanic American Women (1993) -- R920.73 NOT c.1
- Puerto Rican Authors (1974) -- R928.0729 H554p
V. BIOGRAPHY INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET
If you are searching for the biography of a person who has recently become famous (or infamous), there may not be any information in books. The Internet may contain some biographical information. You can use any of the search engines listed below. To narrow your search and avoid getting lists of non-relevant sites, enclose the name of the person you are searching for in quotation marks and include the word biography in the search, i.e.:
The following search engines can be used to find web sites on the Internet:
Alta Vista: http://www.altavista.com/
Metacrawler: http://www.metacrawler.com/
Excite: http://www.excite.com/
Biography Web sites:
American Presidents:: http://www.americanpresidents.org/
Biography.com: http://www.biography.com/ Provides brief biographies (usually one page or less).
Famous Women
Celebrating Women’s Achievements: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/digiproj/women/ewomen.htm Famous women in Canadian history.
Civil War Women: http://odyssey.lib.duke.edu/collections/civil-war-women.html
Early Music Women Composers: http://150.252.8.92/www/iawm/pages
First Ladies of the United States Of America: http://www2.whitehouse.gov/WH/glimpse/firstladies/html/firstladies.html
National Women’s History Month: http://www.nwhp.org/month.html Tells the story behind the campaign to establish March as National Women’s History Month.
96 Years of Women in the Olympics: http://www.feminist.org/other/olympic/intro.html
Women of the Week: http://www.edc.org/WomensEquity/WOW
Women Come to the Front: http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/wcf/wcf0001.html Salutes the role of women journalists, photographers, and broadcasters during World War II. Describes the jobs that opened up for women when American men shipped out to fight in Europe and the Pacific.
Women’s History Month: http://www.feminist.org/other/wh_menu98.html This site recommends books, lists, links, and provides facts related to women’s history. Includes a salute to the historical feminist movement and access to a women’s history classroom guide.
Women’s History Resource Center 1999: http:/www.thomson.com/gale/cwh/cwhset.html Collection of biographies of more than 60 notable women, a timeline of key events in women’s history, activities from Gales Celebrating Women’s History: A Women’s History Month Resource Book, and a quiz to text your knowledge.
Women Veterans: http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb A tribute to American women who have served their country during war.
WWWomen: History: http://www.wwwomen.com/categroy/histor1.html This metadirectory about women lists sites related to women or women’s history in alphabetical order. This list is serveral pages long and provides sites on such figures as Barbara Jordan, the Greek goddess Artemis, Catherine the Great, Indira Gandhi, and Cleopatra.
Scientists and Inventors
African Americans in the Sciences: http://www.lib.lsu.edu/lib/chem/display/faces.html
Anthropology Biography Web: http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography
Invention Dimension: http://web.mit.edu/invent/www/archive_w.html
Inventors Online Museum: http://www.inventorsmuseum .com/ Includes biographies of African Americans, Women and Colonial inventors.
SACNAS Biographic project -- http://www.sacnas.org/bio/index.html Biographies of Chicano, Latino, and Native American scientists.