Home - Biographical Research - LibGuides @ USC at University of South Carolina

Getting Started

These resources are great starting points because they can take you directly to information about your person or identify information from a wide range of sources. Pay attention to how you search. Typing the last name first is usually a good idea. Sometimes sources may use initials or full names or there could be variant spellings. Allow for all possibilities in your searching.

From the Electronic Resources page, select All Subjects and then in step two Biographies to see all the biographical databases.

Check the listings of the vertical files in the South Caroliniana Library. Some of the lists are available online: People in SC Vertical files, African American History in South Carolina, Art & Artists in South Carolina (materials housed off-site), Religion/Churches .

Biography in Context

Offers full text of biographies from printed sources. You can also generate lists of people based on occupation, nationality, ethnicity, gender, and birth or death years.
Credo Reference
Includes Who Was Who in America, Who's Who in American, Notable American Women and other biographical reference works.
Biography Reference Bank
Includes coverage of "Current Biography" and "World Authors" series, periodicals coverage of "Biography Index," and the specialist biographical content of "Junior Authors & Illustrators."
African American Biographical Database
Content from "Black Biographical Dictionaries 1790-1950." Can generate a list of people based on geographical area, occupation, religion, gender, and a range of birth and death dates. More than 29,000 entries.
African American Studies Center
Offers over 6,000 biographies. Can browse or search by birth and death dates or places, sex, activity or profession, era and categories.
Black Thought and Culture
contains 1,297 sources with 1,098 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans. Browse Subjects then click link to Persons
Current Biography Illustrated
Content of the printed monthly magazine "Current Biography" in a searchable, electronic format.
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Searchable collection of reference books and encyclopedias in electronic format. Titles cover arts, biography, business, environment, history, literature, medicine, multicultural studies, science, and social science.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
People connected to the British Isles and British history.
Oxford Reference Online
Would tend to expect briefer entries, but convenient searching at your fingertips.
Marquis Who's Who on the Web
Use limited to on campus only and one user at a time. Brief biographies. Can search by occupation, gender, birth and death information, educational background, political affiliation, and religion.
Women and Social Movements in the United States 1600-2000
Database of primary source material, but does include some biographical sources.
Biography and Geneology Master Index
Identifies reference books with biographical entries.
Biography Index Past and Present
Identifies articles and books back to 1946.
Google Scholar
Especially if your person is obscure, you could get some leads through articles and books.