Databases for Biography

Alphabetical List of Databases | Databases with Some Full-text | Multidisciplinary Databases

Databases by Subject

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Biography

African American Biographical Database (Some Full-Text): Largest collection of electronic biographical information on African Americans, 1790-1950.
Updated bimonthly.
AncestryPlus (Full-Text): With over 1.2 billion records in over 3,000 databases, AncestryPlus is a comprehensive online source of information for conducting genealogical and local history research available. Included in AncestryPlus are the digitized images of the U.S. Federal Census from 1790 forward, the American Genealogical Biographical Index, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, and much more. An online tutorial is available.
NOTE: Available from on-campus only.
Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA): This link searches three databases: Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA), including writings from 1973 to present, this database covers visual arts in all media including traditional fine arts (painting, sculpture, drawing, prints, architecture); decorative and applied arts; material culture; photography and contemporary new media; visual arts aspects of performing arts. International Repertory of the Literature of Art (RILA) includes abstracts and indexes on all aspects of European and American art and architecture. European art is covered from late Antiquity (4th c.) to the present. American art is covered from the European discoveries (16th c.) to the present. Art reflecting the Western tradition in other parts of the world is also included. Repertoire d'Art et d'Archeolgie (RAA) includes abstracts and indexes on all aspects of European and American art and architecture. European art is covered from late Antiquity (4th c.) to 1939. American art is covered from the European discoveries (16th c.) to 1939. Art reflecting the Western tradition in other parts of the world is also included. All types of publication are covered: books, periodical articles, reviews, conference proceedings, Festschriften, collected essays, exhibition catalogues, museum publications, and doctoral dissertations.
Biography Index (Some Full-Text): Coverage includes 2700 English-language periodicals and more than 1,800 books added each year. Includes autobiographies, bibliographies, biographies, critical studies, fiction and drama, pictorial works, poetry, juvenile literature, obituaries, journals, collections of letters, book reviews, and interviews.
Coverage started: 1984. Updated monthly. (via FirstSearch)
Columbia Granger's World of Poetry (Some Full-Text): This release "includes 13,000 poems in full text, and 250,000 poetry citations, in addition to several important new features—commentaries, biographies, bibliographies, notes on form, and a glossary of prosodic terms, all written by William Harmon or written under his editorship. Also new to this release is the ability to search by author category (Asian-American, Irish, Polish, etc.)."
History Resource Center: US (Full-Text): The History Resource Center: U.S. provides integrated access to over 1,000 historical (primary) documents, more then 30,000 reference articles, and over 65 full-text journals covering themes, events, individuals and periods in U.S. history from pre-Colonial times to the present. The material also includes access to the citations for over 180 additional history journals from the Institute for Scientific Information's Arts and Humanities Citation Index.
Title List.
LexisNexis Academic (Full-Text): Access to a wide range of FULL-TEXT news, business, legal and government information sources, as well as company, country, financial, market research and industry reports, biographical and medical and health information.
List of titles. Updated daily.
LexisNexis Congressional (Full-Text): In addition to the indexing and abstracting of the CIS's Index to the Publications of the United States Congress, it provides the FULL-TEXT of Congressional hearings, committee reports, bills, selected committee prints, public laws, Congressional Record, Federal Register, U.S. Code.
LexisNexis Primary Sources in U.S. History (Full-Text): Primary and secondary materials related to Presidential Studies. Includes speeches, scholarly articles, and reference articles covering all presidents and their administrations. In addition, in-depth material such as manuscript collections are provided for selected presidents, including Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lyndon Baines Johnson. Numbered executive orders are also included, currently covering the Lincoln through Theodore Roosevelt administrations.
Updated quarterly.
Literature Resource Center (Full-Text): LRC combines biographical, bibliographical, and contextual information to deliver a complete reference/resource package on authors and their works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, and journalism). Centering on Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, and Contemporary Literary Criticism, this data set is augmented with full-text, excerpted, and commissioned critical material illuminating an oeuvre or era. In partnership with Merriam-Webster, Inc., LRC offers the Encyclopedia of Literature including over 10,000 entries for authors, works, literary landmarks, literary and critical terms, mythological and folkloric figures, fictional characters, literary movements, and prizes.
Michigan Authors and Illustrators: This "is a database of information on authors and illustrators born in Michigan, who live in Michigan, or who have written books about or set in Michigan. Each entry includes biographical information, lists of works by the person and lists of works about the person. More complete information is available for those authors and illustrators who provided information to us." A collaboration of the Michigan Association for Media in Education, the Library of Michigan and the Michigan Center for the Book.
Updated: continuously.
What Do I Read Next?: This readers' advisory database includes over 100,000 recommended titles, more than 58,000 plot summaries, and awards information from 562 awards, all to help users uncover new reading adventures, find long-remembered favorites, and discover award-winning titles. Search by genre, subject, author, title, series, locale, and more.
Who's Who on the Web (Full-Text): Over 1 million biographies taken from 20 Marquis Who's Who print titles. Updates to biographies made daily, and new biographies added daily.
NOTE: Up to two users at a time. Try again later if you cannot connect.
World Almanacs (Full-Text): The World Almanacs database includes the contents of: The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1998; The World Almanac of the U.S.A.; The World Almanac of U.S.; Politics; The World Almanac for Kids.
Updated annually. (via FirstSearch)

Multidisciplinary Databases

ArticleFirst (Some Full-Text): Indexes 12,500 journals in science, technology, medicine, social science, business, the humanities, and popular culture and allows browsing of contents pages.
List of periodical titles. Coverage started: 1990. Updated daily. (via FirstSearch)
Associations Unlimited (Full-Text): Contains information for approximately 444,000 international and U.S. national, regional, state, and local nonprofit membership organizations in all fields, including IRS data on U.S. 501(c) nonprofit organizations. For some 2,500 major U.S. national associations, provides full-text association materials such as brochures, pamphlets, and membership application forms.
Blackwell Synergy (Some Full-Text): Blackwell Synergy holds the content for about 740 Blackwell Publishing journals, the majority of which are published on behalf of international scholarly and professional societies. While citations and abstracts for all articles can be searched and displayed, full-text is available only for articles from the 135 journals to which EMU subscribes.
List of EMU subscription titles. Coverage: varies with title.
Books in Print (via Bowker) (Some Full-Text): Descriptions of over 4.4 million books, 337,000 videos, and 157,000 audiobooks (new and forthcoming); 1.3 million out of print titles; 763,000 full-text reviews from 12 sources.
Updated weekly.
Detroit News & 4 Other Michigan Newspapers (Full-Text): In addition to the Detroit News (1999- ), other Michigan newspapers included are the Battle Creek Enquirer (May 2002- ), Grand Rapids Press (2002- ), Lansing State Journal (1999- ), Port Huron Times Herald (1999- ).
Note: After connecting to database, click on "America's Newspapers".
Dissertation Abstracts: Index of doctoral dissertation accepted at accredited institutions.
Coverage started: 1861. Updated monthly. (via FirstSearch)
Eastern Michigan University Theses and Dissertations (Full-Text): Site offers the full-text (in PDF format) of many EMU theses and dissertations mostly published after 1996. Search by keyword in title or abstract, author name, or advisor name.
Electric Library Elementary (K-6) (Full-Text): Geared to children in grades K-6, contains the full-text of selected articles from: about 30 magazines (e.g., Jack & Jill, Ranger Rick, Highlights for Children, Time for Kids, Entertainment Weekly); about 10 newspapers; about 50 books (e.g., Alaska Purchase, Battle of the Alamo, Gold Rush of 1849); as well as maps and pictures.
List of titles. Periodical coverage started: 1992. Updated daily.
Electronic Collections Online (ECO) (Some Full-Text): Index to the contents of over 2700 journals in a variety of subject areas. EMU is paying for access to online full-text for 664 of the titles. Articles are presented in page image formats (predominately PDF) that include all original content and images. The interface supports cross-journal searching and browsing within selected journals. Users can view bibliographic information for all journals and view full-text articles from journals to which their institution subscribes. Adobe's free Acrobat PDF viewer and CatchWord's free RealPage viewer are required to view the full-text articles.
List of titles available full-text to EMU community. List of all titles available. Coverage started: 1995, but varies by journal. Updated daily. (via FirstSearch)
Expanded Academic ASAP (Some Full-Text): This multidisciplinary database indexes about 3,200 mostly academic titles and offers full-text from about 2,000 of the titles.
List of periodical titles. Coverage started: 1980. Updated daily.
Facts.com (Full-Text): Answer questions about events, issues, statistics, and people of the last 20 years with selected content from seven databases, including Facts On File World News Digest, Issues and Controversies On File, Today's Science On File, Editorials On File, Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, Reuters On-Line News Service, and World Almanac and Book of Facts. Delivers additional special features including maps, photographs, historic documents, and overviews of key issues, newsmakers and events.
Coverage started: 1940. Updated weekly.
FactSearch (Some Full-Text): Contains full-text statistical statements on current social, economic, political, and environmental public policy issues. Entries come from more than 1,000 print sources as well as a wide range of Web-based resources.
List of publication titles. Coverage started: 1984. Updated quarterly. (via FirstSearch)
GenderWatch (Full-Text): GenderWatch (GW) is a full-text collection of international journals, magazines, newsletters, regional publications, special reports, and conference proceedings that focus on how gender impacts on a broad spectrum of subject areas.
List of titles. Coverage started: 1970.
General Reference Center Gold (Some Full-Text): An index to the contents of about 1000 periodicals, with about 60% available with full-text.
List of periodical titles. Coverage started: 1980. Updated monthly.
NOTE: There is a delay when adding new issues of certain titles to the database. List of embargoed titles and their database inclusion delays.
InfoTrac Custom Full-Text Newspapers (Full-Text): Includes the full-text of articles from the last 365 days of the New York Times. Other newspapers from around the United States as well as Australia, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Mexico have varying full-text coverage dates.
List of newspapers and coverage dates.
InfoTrac OneFile (Some Full-Text): This multidisciplinary database indexes nearly 8,000 titles and includes more than 4,200 full-text titles. It includes indexing of The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Christian Science Monitor; full-text from 89 wire services covering agriculture, general news, broadcast news, government, business press releases, industry topics, sports and current events from all over the world; and indexing and some full-text from general interest magazines; refereed academic journals; business publications; technology periodicals; plus specialty titles in law, health care and computers.
List of titles. Coverage started: 1980. Updated daily.
InfoTrac Student Edition (Some Full-Text): This database is comprised of a variety of full-text sources that support the curriculum needs of secondary school students. It offers 330+ indexed and 270 full-text periodical titles, more than 40,000 full-text newspaper articles, 14 full-text reference books, 500 historical images and more than 300 full-color maps.
List of titles. Coverage started: 1985. Updated daily.
Ingenta (Some Full-Text): Search and browse the contents of over 27,000 periodicals. Full text of some articles available via EMU Library subscriptions.
Periodical titles. Coverage started: 1985. Updated daily.
Issues & Controversies @ FACTS.com (Full-Text): This full text reference database "presents and enhances the full backfile of Issues and Controversies on File, which has probed more than 250 controversial topics in the news since its debut in September 1995. Chronologies, illustrations, maps, tables, sidebars, bibliographies and contact information augment the balanced, accurate coverage of current and historical events."
JSTOR (Full-Text): Complete text of the backfiles of about 600 core scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, and the social sciences.
List of full text periodicals by title and discipline.
Kluwer Online (Full-Text): Complete contents of about 265 Kluwer journals in subjects including sciences, social sciences, technology, and humanities.
List of full text titles and start dates.
netLibrary (eBooks) (Full-Text): eBooks are electronic versions of printed books. Through this service we now have access to about 14,000 copyrighted books in addition to about 4,000 public domain titles.
Complete list of titles is available as two Excel spreadsheets: eBooks Michigan and MEL Ebooks
New York Times (June 1980- ) (Full-Text): Text-only articles from June 1980. When connected, click the word 'Sources' on the top right menu, type 'new york times' (without the quotes) in the Source List search box, click the 'Find Title' button, click 'Search This Title' below 'New York Times, The'. In the search dialog box that appears, fill in your search terms. (In Step Four, you might want to expand the time frame of your search beyond six months.)
New York Times Backfile (1851-2001) (Full-Text): Every backfile issue from 1851-2001 has been digitized from cover to cover in pdf format, including news stories, editorials, photos, graphics, and advertisements.
NewsBank-NewsFile (Full-Text): Full-text news resource containing coverage of current issues and events from over 500 US and Canadian newspapers, news sources and domestic and international newswires. More than 70,000 articles selected annually provide regional, national and international perspectives and coverage of the arts, and people and professions in the news.
List of titles. Coverage started: 1991. Updated daily.
OAIster (Full-Text): "OAIster is a project of the University of Michigan Digital Library Production Services [whose] goal is to create a collection of freely available, difficult-to-access, academically-oriented digital resources that are easily searchable by anyone."
Oxford English Dictionary Online (Full-Text): "The OED Online contains the complete text of the 20-volume Second Edition, first published in 1989, together with its 3-volume Additions Series, published in 1993 (volumes 1 and 2) and 1997 (volume 3)...The OED is currently being revised, with the aim of producing a completely updated third edition by the year 2010. Draft material from the revision programme will also be published online..."
Updated quarterly.
PapersFirst: Index to papers included in every congress, conference, exposition, workshop, symposium, and meeting received at The British Library.
Coverage started: 1993. Updated 24 times per year. (via FirstSearch)
Periodical Abstracts Full-Text (Some Full-Text): Index to about 2000 general and academic journals, covering business, current affairs, economics, literature, religion, psychology, women's studies, and others.
List of periodical titles. Coverage started: 1987. Updated weekly. (via FirstSearch)
ProceedingsFirst: Index of every congress, symposium, conference, exposition, workshop and meeting received at The British Library.
coverage started: 1993. Updated 24 times per year. (via FirstSearch)
Project Muse (Full-Text): Project Muse is an online journal collection containing the full-text of 112 titles in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.
List of periodical titles. Coverage: varies with journal; often starts with 1995. Updated when new issues are available.
Readers' Guide Abstracts (Some Full-Text): Index to the contents of about 180 popular periodicals published in the U.S. and Canada.
List of periodical titles. Coverage started: 1983. Updated monthly (via FirstSearch)
Readers' Guide Retrospective (1890 - 1982): Index to the contents of popular magazines published in the U.S. and Canada.
List of periodical titles. Coverage: 1890-1982.
Union List of Periodicals: Lists the periodical holdings of thousands of libraries.
Updated semiannually. (via FirstSearch)
Wilson Select Plus (Full-Text): Index to the contents of about 1300 periodicals, all with ASCII full text online.
List of periodical titles. Coverage started: 1994. Updated weekly. (via FirstSearch)
World Almanacs (Full-Text): The World Almanacs database includes the contents of: The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1998; The World Almanac of the U.S.A.; The World Almanac of U.S.; Politics; The World Almanac for Kids.
Updated annually. (via FirstSearch)
WorldCat: WorldCat is the OCLC Online Union Catalog, containing more than 35 million records describing items owned by the Library of Congress, EMU, and about 19,000 libraries around the world; each record contains library holdings.
Coverage started: 1000 A.D. Updated daily. (via FirstSearch)

Alphabetical List of Databases | Databases with Some Full-text | Multidisciplinary Databases

Databases by Subject

Click Here to Try Limited-Time Free Trial Databases

Last Updated: July 7, 2004
Technical Contact: Keith Stanger, keith@stanger.com