Subject & Research Guides
Biographies, Memoirs and Personal Narratives

TCPL Home > Adult Reference Services > Subject & Research Guides > Biographies, Memoirs and Personal Narratives

Through the library you can find biographical information for any purpose - general reading, study, and many kinds of research, including genealogy searches. If you need help, please stop by the Reference Desk to talk with us or contact us.

• Databases
• Searching the Catalog
• Books
• Magazines
• Other formats (Audiobooks, VHS, DVDs, CDs, microfilm and microfiche)
• Internet Resources

Databases

• Ancestry Library Edition Genealogy
  ProQuest has partnered with MyFamily.com to create Ancestry® Library Edition. It covers the U.S. and the U.K., including census, vital, church, court, and immigration records, as well as record collections from Canada and other areas. This collection has more than 4,000 databases, 1.5 billion names, and covers the years 1300 - present. Note: This database is only available for use in the library.
  
• Biography Resource Center
  Provides biographical information on nearly 220,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas. It combines more than 330,000 biographies from such sources as Contemporary Authors, Encyclopedia of World Biography, Newsmakers, Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Contemporary Musicians, Historic World Leaders, Notable Twentieth-Century Scientists, Contemporary Black Biography, Religious Leaders of America, International Dictionary of Art and Artists, and Writers Directory. It also has full-text articles from more than 250 periodicals. It is augmented by the opinions and perspectives from a variety of sources, more than 20,000 images, in-depth coverage of key events, and up-to-date reporting that can be found in periodicals.
  
• Grolier Encyclopedias
  Grolier Encyclopedias include Encyclopedia Americana, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Lands and Peoples, New Book of Popular Science, and New Book of Knowledge. Older students and adults should check out "Profiles" in Encyclopedia Americana's - "Biographies of the famous, the infamous and the highly influential."
  
• Heritage Quest Online Genealogy
  Combines digital, searchable images of U.S. federal census records with the digitized version of the UMI® Genealogy & Local History collection and other valuable content.
  
• Literature Resource Center (LRC)
  LRC is a terrific source of material on the life and works of more than 90,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists and other writers. LRC provides access to biographies, bibliographies and critical analyses of authors, from every age and literary discipline.
  
• Twayne Author Series
  A browsable and searchable database for information on an author's works and a chronology of the author's life.
  
• A-to-Z Index: Magazines & Newspapers @ TCPL Online & Paper. Search this index to find titles, such as Great Neck Biographies, for material on the lives of famous persons from A.A. Milne to Zora Neale Hurston.

Searching the Catalog

You can use the Polaris online catalog to find materials at our library, as well as request them from other libraries in the Finger Lakes Library System.Search by keyword, title, author, subject, general notes, publisher, genre, series, etc. The Advanced search page lets you combine terms and set limits to your search. If you're not sure which search terms to use, try "browsing" by title, author, subject, series, or call number. Suggested subject headings for biographies, memoirs and personal narratives, as well as genealogy, are listed below. You can also search for names of persons in the fields for subject, author or title.

• Autobiography
• Genealogy
• Biography

Reference Librarians are happy to show you how to search the catalog and to suggest titles. Be sure to stop by the Reference Desk or contact us anytime you need help.

Books

Tompkins County Public Library offers you a wealth of biographical sources, including reference books, encyclopedias, Individual biographies and a local history (LH) collection. The library's main biography collection is near the back of the library, but look for "New Biographies" at the front of the library, on the "New" books shelves. Biographies in "Large Type" are located on the right hand side of the "Fiction" Room. Be sure to check the following nonfiction sections: 808's for guides on writing your own memoir and 920's for collective biographies and resources, such as:

• Preserving family histories
• Writing autobiographies
• Origins of names
• New York Times Obituaries' Index
• Who's Who
• First ladies, women's lives and world records

Look for new items on the "New Nonfiction" shelves near the front of the library. When searching the Polaris Catalog for recently acquired items, use the "Sort by" menu and select "Publication date."

The following list highlights a few titles that are available at the library. Contact a Reference Librarian if you'd like more recommendations or need help obtaining a book.

• Ultimate biography : inside the lives of the world's 250 most influential people. Call Number: 920.02 Ultimate. 250 of the most important, beloved, influential, notorious, or just plain fascinating people who have ever lived. … Full of striking graphics and fun to read fact boxes, Ultimate Biography will keep you reading with its sharp, entertaining writing on subjects from Oprah Winfrey to Alexander the Great.
  
• Legends : women who have changed the world through the eyes of great women writers. Call Number: 920.72 Legends.Through essays and photographs of famous women writers discusses the most influential women of the twentieth century, including Anne Frank, Zora Neale Hurston, Georgia O'Keefe, and Marilyn Monroe.
  
• The international who's who. Call Number: REF 920 Internati 2004 Volumes for 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99 are also available in the Reference section of the library.
  
• The originals : an a-z of fiction's real-life characters. Call Number: REF 809.927 Amos. Subject: Characters and characteristics in literature.
  
• So you want to write : how to master the craft of fiction and the personal narrative . Call Number: 808.3 Piercy. What fiction and memoir writers really need to know is outlined by a bestselling author and a publisher. Topics include how to begin a piece by seducing the reader, how to create characters that embody the infinite contradictions of human behavior, and how to master the elements of plotting fiction.
  
• Writing life stories . Call Number: 808 Roorbach. From drawing a map of a remembered neighborhood, to yelling in public as a method of capturing passion on paper, Roorbach offers innovative techniques of value to writers at all stages of their craft. Much more than teaching the rudiments of autobiography, this book will help writers see their own lives more clearly, while learning that real stories are often the best ones.
  
• Ithaca Journal Obituary Index. Call Number: 920.09747. TCPL has indices for many years. They are available in the Local History sections of the library toward the back of the library or in the Cases on the West Wall. Ask a librarian at the Adult Reference desk if you need help.

Magazines

Current magazines (within the past year) are found in the north reading area of the library. Older back issues (up to 3 years) are shelved in the green storage boxes nearby. To search for and within magazines online, follow this link to the A-to-Z Index: Magazines & Newspapers @ TCPL Online & Paper.

• Current Biography. Monthly issues for the current year are available in library's periodical room. Annual bound yearbooks are available in the Reference Section. Call Number: REF 920.

Other Formats (Audiobooks, VHS, DVDs, CDs, microfilm and/or microfiche)

• Biography of the millennium - videorecording (4 videocassettes) Call Number Instructional Video 920 B (volumes 1-4) and 920 (Volumes 1-4)
• Use the Polaris online catalog to search by subject:
  Biographical films--videorecordings
  Biographical television programs
  Biography--videorecordings

Internet Resources

This list provides links to a few reliable websites for authoritative biographical information.

• African Diaspora Biography on the Internet, http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/africa/cuvl/afroambiog.html
  Columbia University Libraries' African Studies Department provides this list of African American biographical resources, including women writers, slave narratives, African American Inventors A-Z, specific individuals, as well as links to free online books and digital collections.
• Biography.com, http://www.biography.com
  A&E (Arts and Entertainment) Television Networks provides this searchable website of over "250,000 of the greatest lives, past and present."
• Internet Public Library: Biographies
  IPL provides a comprehensive, annotated index of biography sites, organized alphabetically and by subject.
• Notable People, http://lii.org/pub/htdocs/search?search=notable%20people;action=show;searchtype=keywords
  Librarians' Index to the Internet gives us this categorical list of people worth knowing about.
• Open Directory project
  General index of free, biography resources on the Web.
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, http://www.rockhall.com
  Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum provides history of rock and roll and the museum's inductees, covering music from early blues to current musical idols.

Contact Information:

• Adult Reference Services (607) 272-4556
• Youth Reference Services: (607) 272-4557 x276
• You can submit your question via the web to: Ask-A-Librarian

Do you have a suggestion or suggestion for further pathfinder topics? Let us know! Send comments or suggestions to jwheatley@tcpl.org.

Updated 12/17/07 by jw