biographical sources

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Biographical SourcesGetting up close and personal . . .

2The genre

• biography– A carefully researched, relatively full narrative

account of the life of a specific person or closely related group of people, written by another. The biographer selects the most interesting and important events with the intention of elucidating the character and personality of the biographee and placing the subject’s life in social, cultural, and historical context. An authorized biography, written with the consent and sometimes the cooperation of its subject, may be less critical than an unauthorized biography.

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3But is it the truth?

http://www.jstor.org/stable/27796076

4Types of biographical sources

http://www.upiselib.net/biogphy.html

5Retrospective sources:Distinguished, but extinguished

• American National Biography– The landmark American National

Biography offers portraits of more than 18,700 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.

http://www.anb.org/

6Biographical dictionaries

• What is a biographical dictionary?– All biographical dictionaries consist of an

alphabetical arrangement of surnames containing the critical dates and events associated with the named individuals included in the dictionary. Biographical dictionaries can be compiled along general lines or restricted to specific occupations, professions (Artists, Musicians etc), or some other characteristics that the contents of a given dictionary share (dictionaries of women for instance or winners of Nobel prizes).

7Who’s who-type sources

• Who’s Who– Who’s Who (or “Who is Who”) is the title of a number of

reference publications, generally containing concise biographical information on a particular group of people.

– The title “Who’s Who” is in the public domain, and thousands of Who’s Who compilations of varying scope and quality have been published by various authors and publishers. The oldest and best known is the annual British publication Who’s Who, a reference work on contemporary prominent people. However, many publications using the title are vanity publications, where the inclusion criterion is the biographee's willingness to buy the book, with the business model consisting of selling books directly to the biographees. These are widely considered to be scams.

8The original

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http://www.ukwhoswho.com

9The main US publisher of Who’s Who dictionaries

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– The family of Marquis Who’s Who publications presents unmatched coverage of the lives of today's leaders and achievers from both the United States and around the world, and from every significant field of endeavor. Librarians, students, researchers, corporate executives, journalists, personnel recruiters, and many others rely on Marquis Who’s Who every day for in-depth biographical information they can use with confidence.

http://www.marquiswhoswho.com/

10Online Biographical Dictionaries

• – S9.com is a Wikipedia type system and

everyone can edit biographies or even create their own.

11http://www.biography.com/

12Backdrops:

- These are full sized backdrops, just scale them up!

- Can be Copy-Pasted out of Templates for use anywhere!

www.animationfactory.com