Research Guides: Biographical Information: Biographical Research @ UK

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The Main Index

Biography and Genealogy Master Index (BGMI) is a database that tells you where to find information on over 13 million individuals, both living and deceased, in who's whos, encyclopedias, literary criticism, and indexes (but not in journal articles or books focusing on an individual, except through its indexing of Biography Index entries).

Biography and Genealogy Master Index (BGMI)
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To see if we own items cited in BGMI, search the InfoKat Discovery Library Catalog (e.g., search for Contemporary Authors as a title)--this will locate both paper and online materials. You can also search for the item as a database to see if we have online access.
Biography Reference Bank
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For online access to many of the articles indexed in Biography Index and other publications, search for the person in Biography Reference Bank.

Use this guide to help you find information about notable people

via Wikimedia Commons

Full-Text Resources

Below are some of the major resources that provide a way to search for biographies and then see the full-text (and images, when available) of the information about the person you found in your search. The tabs above will tell you about other resources you can use to find biographical information.

Biography Reference Bank
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Biographies from Wilson Biographies Plus Illustrated and many periodicals covered in Biography Index, including full-text articles, page images, and abstracts (including biographical profiles, feature articles, interviews, essays, book reviews, performance reviews, speeches, or obituaries). Covers over 500,000 people and includes over 36,000 images.
American National Biography
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With over 18,000 full-text biographies, many of which include illustrations. In addition 80,000 hyperlinked cross-references and links to selected websites are available. Also includes articles from The Oxford Companion to United States History to provide historical and social context.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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Contains nearly 59,000 biographies (with over 11,000 portraits) of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond, from the earliest times to the present. Excludes living people.
Gale Virtual Reference Library
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A database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. Includes many biographical sources including the Encyclopedia of World Biography.