Introduction to Historical Research : Biographical Information

he online version has many strengths, including being searchable full text and by birthplace, gender, birth/death dates, and occupations and realms of renown. Entries are also indexed within five special collections: Black History, Women's History, Asian Pacific-American Heritage, Hispanic Heritage, and American Indian Heritage. More than 2500 illustrations, lacking in the print, are available in the online version. Of special note is the inclusion of the contents of the Oxford Companion to United States History Encyclopedia, which allows for cross-references and adds context to the biographical entries.

In addition, the articles are supplemented with recent citations from Biography Index. The profiles and obituaries are searchable by name, profession, place of origin, gender, race/ethnicity, date of birth or death, and keyword.

All 38,600 names in the original DNB have been included, but the majority have been completely rewritten in the light of new research. Each entry contains bibliographic information on material used to write the biography, details of a person's archives, a list of photographs or other illustrations, and (where available) an assessment of the subject's personal wealth at or near the time of death.