Alcove 9: An Annotated List of Reference Websites

Biography

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present
Online search facility for the Web version of the Biographical Directory of the American Congress (LCCN 98-640105). Entries can be searched by name, state, and position (Senator, Representative, Speaker of the House, etc.). The database is not browseable; terms must be typed into the search engine for any entries to be viewed. "Value-added" features for the online version include photographs, expanded bibliographies, and information about collections of primary source materials for some entries. Web version developed by the Senate Historical Office and the Legislative Resource Center of the House of Representatives.

Find A Grave
An index to where prominent individuals are buried; searchable by name, location, birth/death date, and profession. There is also a "non-famous grave search" for those trying to find grave sites of ancestors. Advertising-supported.

Gale Group Literary Index.
This indexes several Gale publications, including Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, and the literary criticism series, e.g. Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism.

Internet Public Library: Biographies
Annotated links to numerous Internet biographical sites.

Legacy.com
Online source for obituaries and death notices, hosting these services for the Internet editions of a large number of U.S. newspapers. Users can search by name and limit results by state, date, and newspaper; they can also browse current obituaries and death notices by state (a clickable map) and then by newspaper title. The database includes recent Associated Press obituaries of prominent persons.

Who’s Alive and Who’s Dead
Keeps track of which famous people have died and which are still alive. Organized by profession; most entries include very brief notes on such topics as cause of death. The site includes extensive list of links to related biographical web sites. Frames-based.