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Biography

In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in biography, which has been characterized by the writing of biographies often reflecting new themes or approaches to their subjects or utilizing new sources and archives.  The New York Public Library has collected extensively in biographies, autobiographies, collective biographies, and related materials since its inception.  The bulk of these materials is in the General Research Division, but significant collections are to be found in other departments of the Research Libraries. 

The Library holds several first and early editions of noted biographies in the English language, such as Thomas Fuller’s History of the Worthies of England,  Johnson’s Lives of the Poets,  Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson, and Lytton Strachey’s  Eminent Victorians;  these are located in the Rare Books Division and the Berg Collection. 

The General Research Division  has a strong focus on biographical materials relating to Europe and the Americas.  Researchers may utilize the catalogs by searching under individual names or by specific subjects related to geography, occupation, vocation, or institution.  This focus is inherited from the Astor Library and the Lenox Library, the predecessor libraries of The New York Public Library.  Both libraries collected extensively in biography, and an examination of the catalog of the Astor Library reveals not only individual biographies, but also collective biographies such as works on writers, political figures, and royalty.  Biographical information germane to specific collections may also be found  in more specialized divisions of the Library; for example, information about musicians is at the Lincoln Center Library, the Schomburg Center has biographical resources on blacks, the Jewish Division collects biographies on Jews, and biographical materials on artists are available in the Art and Architecture Division.  The Manuscripts Division holds primary source documents such as journals, letters, and diaries, some of which are also available in print format in other divisions of the Library.  Biographical information relating to family history and genealogy is available in the United States History, Local History, and Genealogy Division.

Indexes to biographical materials, both print and electronic, are available in the General Research Division and other divisions of the Library.  Although Biography and Genealogy Master Index is the principal index in this field, others with a more specialized focus may also be consulted.  In addition, tools such as Art Index,  Religion Index, Social Sciences Index, and others with an explicit subject focus, provide biographical information about notables in those relevant disciplines and fields.

The electronic resources of the Library provide more venues to biographical information.  The digitization of newspapers, such as The New York Times, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and The Early American Newspaper Series (that containing newspapers from the late colonial and early Federal periods), permits these materials to be searched by keyword, thereby allowing the researcher access to biographical sources.  These materials may be complemented by other digitized sources, such as Early American Imprints  (“Evans”) and  Early English Books Online, which also permit keyword searching by individual name.