Biography & Autobiography
Musicians, authors, historical and contemporary figures across a wide field of accomplishment.
Topic Location
Louis Stokes Wing
6th Floor, Center for Local and Global History
Main Library, 1st Floor, Popular Library
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Biography & Autobiography Databases
Unless specified, the following resources are available to all in Ohio or have a library card from any public library in Ohio.
African American Heritage
ProQuest African American Heritage is a digital resource exclusively devoted to African American family history research. This collection was created in partnership with leading African American genealogists and recognized leaders in genealogical information to develop a comprehensive mix of resources, records, and tools specifically pertaining to African Americans.
CPL Cardholders only
American Slavery: A Composite Autobiography
This database contains the stories of American slaves as told by the former slaves themselves, in their own voices. Includes the complete content of more than 2,000 interviews conducted in seventeen states between 1936 and 1938 under the Federal Writers’ Project of the Work Progress Administration. Fully indexed & searchable by key word. Includes some […]
Biography Reference Bank (formerly Biographies Plus Illustrated)
More than 72,000 biographies and obituaries and more than 20,000 photographs of the subjects. Many of the biographies are enhanced with full text, abstracts, and citations. The biographies are searchable by name, profession, title, place of origin, gender, race/ethnicity, titles of works, date of birth, date of death, keyword, and presence of images.
CPL Cardholders only
Dictionary of Literary Biography
Dictionary of Literary Biography systematically presents career biographies and criticism of writers from all eras and all genres. Long published in print, the database version of Dictionary of Literary Biography offers instant searching of the entire series by a variety of search options including: author, title, subjects, birth and death dates, nationality, ethnicity, and gender. […]
CPL Cardholders only
HistoryMakers Digital Archive
Unique scholarly and educational resources for exploring African American history and culture. Large and varied scope, with interviewees from across the United States, from a variety of fields, and with memories stretching from the 1890s to the present. Rather than focus on one particular part of a person’s life or a single subject, such as […]
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