Disability History Resources: Biography

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In order to access ODNB, please follow the link above. If you are accessing remotely, you may be prompted to enter your SSO credentials. You will then be taken to the ODNB homepage, and you should see a message “University of Oxford” displayed above the login box. At this point you will have gained access to full text articles, and there is no need to log in on the ODNB homepage. In order to access the articles from the search results, you will need to click on their titles. If you still have experienced problems with ODNB, please clear your cache and cookies, as previous unsuccessful login attempts may be interfering with the current session, and then follow the above instructions again. The recent issues with ODNB's new interface have been flagged with the OUP.

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After twelve years' work, involving over 10,000 people, writing and editing 60 million words to produce a 60 volume book, and a website with over 100,000 pages, the Oxford DNB was published on 23 September 2004.

An illustrated collection of 50,000 specially written biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of Britain's past, from the fourth century BC to the year 2000. Remarkable people in any walk of life who were connected with the British Isles - excluding living people. It includes not just the great and good, but people who have left a mark for any reason, good, bad, or bizarre.

Who’s Who, published annually since 1849 and the first biographical book of its kind, is among the world’s most recognised and respected works of reference. It contains over 33,000 short biographies, continually updated, of living noteworthy and influential individuals, from all walks of life, worldwide. Approximately one thousand new entries are added every year.

Each biographee supplies the original information for their entry and is then sent an annual proof for updating. Our editors also monitor the press and other sources of reference for day-to-day changes and additions. The information contained in a Who’s Who entry is essentially autobiographical, its integrity and accuracy ensured by constant independent research.

In 1920 the first volume of Who Was Who was published, providing a wealth of material for researchers without easy access to the earlier individual volumes of Who's Who. This first edition was composed of the entries of those who had died between 1897 and 1915 with the date of death added to each. Subsequent volumes of Who Was Who — there are now eleven — cover the years from 1916 to 2005. Published originally at ten-year intervals, and now every five years, each new edition provides an opportunity for revision and correction where necessary, using many sources of reference. However, as no account is taken of the many changes that may have been made to an entry during a life, serious researchers may, on occasion, wish to consult the individual volumes of Who’s Who to obtain a fuller picture.

Who Was Who has proved invaluable in identifying not only those who shaped the events of their time but others, now forgotten, who were familiar names to the journalists and diarists who recorded the events of the day. An essential tool for researchers is the companion volume, A Cumulated Index to Who Was Who 1897-2000. Until its publication, a name could be found only by knowing, or guessing at, the date of death, so that the

The landmark American National Biography offers portraits of more than 17,400 men and women -- from all eras and walks of life -- whose lives have shaped the nation. More than a decade in preparation, the American National Biography is the first biographical resource of this scope to be published in more than sixty years.

Published in 24 volumes in 1999, the American National Biography won instant acclaim as the new authority in American biographies. Winner of the American Library Association's Dartmouth Medal as the best reference work of the year, the ANB now serves readers in thousands of school, public, and academic libraries around the world.

The publication of the online edition makes the ANB even more useful as a dynamic source of information -- updated quarterly, with hundreds of new entries each year and revisions of previously published entries to enhance their accuracy and currency. The ANB Online features thousands of illustrations, more than 80,000 hyperlinked cross-references, links to select web sites, and powerful search capabilities.

The American National Biography is published by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies.

WBIS Online is the most comprehensive biographical database available, providing short biographical information on 4.2 million people with a historical coverage from the 8th century BC to the present. Included are 4.56 million digital facsimile articles from biographical reference works on 3.2 million people worldwide.

NOTE: WBIS allows for an unlimited number of simultaneous users institution-wide.

Bibliographical Archives we have access to:

• American Biographical Archive I-II
• Archives Biographiques Françaises I-II (French)
• Archivio Biografico Italiano I-II (Italian)
• Archivo Biográfico de España, Portugal e Iberoamérica I-II (Spanish & Portuguese)
• Baltisches Biographisches Archiv
• Biografisch Archief van de Benelux I
• British Biographical Archive I-II
• Deutsches Biographisches Archiv I-II (German)
• Russisches Biographisches Archiv
• Scandinavian Biographical Archive I
• World Biographical Index