Genealogy: Records & Resources
Biographies
A biography can not only give you more insight into the life of an ancestor, but can also provide more information about their relatives, friends, neighbors, and other associate. Some resources will provide brief entries with only basic information about a person; others will have longer entries with more in-depth information. This section will provide a brief overview of biographical resources available at the BPL and beyond.
TIP: Check the bibliography in a book or at the end of an entry for the resources used by the author, these can be good guides for further sources of information.
NOTE: The BPL is not responsible for the content at any of the websites linked to below. These links are provided for informational purposes only, and the websites have no affiliation with the BPL.
- The Ballplayers: A Baseball Player EncyclopediaFrom the Baseball Almanac, includes biographical info and career stats for major league ball players
- Biographical DictionaryAccepts user submissions
- Biographical Directory of the United States CongressIncludes information about all members of Congress, past and present
- BiographiesFrom Cyndi's List
- BiographyFrom A&E Networks
- National Women's History Museum- BiographiesIncludes biographies of notable women, past and present
- Obituary Daily TimesIndex of published obituaries, updated daily
- The Political GraveyardLocations of the graves of politicians. Includes cause of death, and other biographical information.
The BPL holds many biographies as well as family histories that could contain biographical information.
If you’re looking for a biography of an individual, try doing a subject search for their name. Some examples are listed below:
Junius Brutus Booth
Hugh Duffy
Deborah Sampson
For family histories, try a subject search for the family’s last name plus the word “family.” Some examples are listed below:
Adams family
Putnam family
Wheeler family
TIP: Family histories may contain entries for individuals that include brief biographies. If there isn’t a book just about the person you are researching, try searching for their family as well.
TIP: Keep in mind that some family names are common, so you may have to look through a lot of results to get the right family.
Archives can often hold collections of family or personal papers that offer insight into an ancestor’s life and may provide biographical details about them or their family members. Listed below are just a few archives that hold collections that might have useful biographical information.
NOTE: Access to items held by an archive may currently be limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Boston Athenaeum- ArchiveAlso holds institutional archives of the Anthology Society and the Boston Library Society
- Research at the MHSFrom the Massachusetts Historical Society
- Genealogical Library and Special CollectionsFrom the New England Historic Genealogical Society
Resources at the BPL
A collective biography contains multiple brief narratives about different people, usually focused on a specific region, occupation, or other characteristic. Below are links to booklists of collective biographies held by the BPL.
The databases linked to below all contain various resources that include biographical information, including family histories, encyclopedias, journal articles, and more.
- Biography and Genealogy Master Index This link opens in a new windowThis resource is now delivered through Gale Directory Library, so the interface will look different.
Indexes current, readily available reference sources, as well as the most important retrospective works that cover individuals, both living and deceased, from every field of activity and from all areas of the world. - Britannica LibraryBritannica Library gives you three sites in one: Children, Young Adults, and the Reference Center for older students and adults. A streamlined homepage enables you to access content at your reading level in an age-appropriate environment. This portal provides comprehensive encyclopedias including the Encyclopædia Britannica, thousands of magazine and journal articles, Merriam-Webster Dictionary in English/Spanish, and more.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowCredo 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.
- Gale In Context: Biography This link opens in a new windowNearly 300,000 full-text biographies gathered from Gale's award-winning reference sources and 250 periodicals specifically chosen for their renowned biographical content in a broad range of subject areas.
- Gale eBooks This link opens in a new windowIncludes more than 90 encyclopedias, plus numerous specialized reference sources covering a diversity of subjects including Arts, Biography, Business, Education, Environment, History, Law, Literature, Medicine, Multicultural Studies, Nation & World, Religion, Science, and Social Science. Some "Junior" sources included as well.
A biographical dictionary is an encyclopedia-style book containing short entries that focus solely on biographical information about the people included in it. They often have a specific focus such as a place, occupation, or other characteristic.
- Biographisches Archiv der Antike [Biographical archive of the classical world]Microfiche, primarily in German
- Black Biographical Dictionaries, 1790-19501068 microfiche; from the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University
- British and Irish Biographies, 1840-1940Microfiche collection, includes separate index.
- Harvard Class Reports(link to further information elsewhere in this guide)
- Society Directories(link to further information elsewhere in this guide)
- Who's WhoLink to BPL catalog showing holdings for the Who's Who series
A genealogical dictionary is an encyclopedia-style book containing information about families, usually for a specific place or region. Below are links to a few genealogical dictionaries held by the BPL, some of which have also been digitized.
- Colonial Families of the United States of America byCall Number: SOC SCI REF CS61 .M22 1995xISBN: 9780806314532Publication Date: 1995-01-01Subtitle: In Which Is Given the History, Genealogy, and Armorial Bearings of Colonial Families Who Settled in the American Colonies From the Time of the Settlement of Jamestown, 13th May, 1607, to the Battle of Lexington, 19th April, 1775
7 volumes - A Gazetteer of the State of Massachusetts: With Numerous Illustrations byCall Number: SOC SCI REF 2385.62Publication Date: 1890Also available online.
A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England by Call Number: SOC SCI REF F3 .S2ISBN: 9780806303093- Genealogical Notes: Or, Contributions to the Family History of Some of the First Settlers of Connecticut and Massachusetts byCall Number: SOC SCI REF F93 .G65 1969Publication Date: 1969Older edition available online.
The BPL’s Rare Books & Manuscripts collections contain numerous documents that may contain biographical information including books, letters, manuscripts, and family papers. More information is available on the BPL’s website at the links below.
Important Note: Rare Books is currently closed for renovations, and will re-open sometime in 2022. Please contact Rare Books via email at specialcollections@bpl.org with any questions about the collection.