Biography
Biography in Context
This resource gives contextual information on notable persons throughout history. Search for people based on name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates and places, gender, or keyword. Provides periodicals and multimedia.
Library E-Resources
Note: For home access to the library's e-resources, you will need your Minuteman Library card number to log in.
Massachusetts residents are eligible to use the Boston Public Library's online e-resources. You will need a BPL e-card to access these resources. If you do not already have an e-card, you can register for one at:
www.bpl.org/ecard
Access all of BPL's e-resources at:
www.bpl.org/resource
Credo Reference
Credo Reference is a giant online reference library that provides access to as many as 162 reference books, including encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, books of quotations, as well as a range of subject-specific titles all cross-referenced throughout the collection. Special features include a crossword solver and conversion calculators.
Biography and Genealogy Master Index
Comprehensive index of current and historical biographical sources containing information on living and deceased individuals of prominence from all over the world.
Library E-Resources
(from Boston Public Library)
Web Resources
Biography.com
From the Biography Channel, this site features excellent biographical information, photos, news articles, connections with other notable persons, and in some cases videos about the person.
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Provides brief biographies of current and former members of the United States Congress.
Nobel Prize Internet Archive
This site maintains biographical information on all winners in all areas of the Nobel Prize.
Notable Biographies
Especially helpful for recently famous people, this site has excellent biographical sketches detailing the person's rise to prominence. Also provides helpful bibliographical sources.
Who2 Biographies
Contains nearly 4,000 biographies and is broken into categories such as presidents, musicians, activists, artists, etc. Good starting point to get basic information on a person.
Biographies at the Maynard Public Library
Note: All biographies in the library have a call number of 92 and then the last name of the person it is written about. Collective biographies (several people included in one book or series) have a call number of 920.
Biographies are located in both the adult collection on the 2nd floor as well as in the Children's Room on the 3rd floor.
Reference Collection Resources
Current Biography Yearbook
This is a compilation of the monthly Current Biography. This is an excellent place for newly famous people or for little-known information about famous people. This is a terrific starting point for a biography paper, or to get a background on a famous person.
The library has this yearbook dating back to 2000 in the Reference Collection. A cumulative index makes easy work of locating biographies of individuals profiled from the first edition published in 1940 to today.
Please note that while our website does contain a small number of outside curated links (primarily to local, governmental, and non-profit sites covering subjects of interest to our patrons), we regret that we are unable to spend the time to fully evaluate unsolicited links that are sent to us for inclusion on our site; therefore we do not act on these recommendations.
Revised 7/10/2023 J.J.R.