Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Thomas of Lancaster,
this day of immediate and readily available information, the
arrival of major new reference sources can sometimes be obscured.
That should not be the case with a resource recently made available
by the Library, the Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography.
The first edition, as researchers know, is a reference landmark
and the new edition continues this tradition. The ODNB will provide
Boston College researchers with a high quality resource for biographical
information that also includes detailed social, political, and
There is a major difference this time around: at Boston College
the new ODNB will be an online only resource.
What are the specifics?
- Twelve years in gestation.
- 10,000 specialists worldwide involved (including
several from Boston College)
- All 36,500 biographies from the original are included
and over 70% were completely rewritten and the others revised.
- 13,500 new lives added, including 3,000 new biographies
- 100,000 online “pages” and 62 million
- Updated 3x/year online.
- Searchable by date, field of interest/occupation,
place of birth, baptism, death, burial, education, and religious
- Browse alphabetically or by date.
- Highlight any word in the text and have it searched.
- Link out to the National Register of Archives, American
National Biography, and the National Portrait Gallery
to the more than 10,000 portrait illustrations.
The ODNB continues the tradition of the original by including
biographies of deceased individuals. Now current through 2001,
it includes individuals from all walks of life. Moreover, the
new edition includes more women, business and labour leaders,
those born abroad who spent a considerable time in Britain (Karl
Marx, for example), brief visitors who were important commentators
on British life (Voltaire, for example), Britons who lived in
Europe, more than 500 Americans from the first settlement to
independence (Washington and Franklin who were not in the first
edition of the DNB), and twentieth-century subjects from the
fields of sport, entertainment (see John
Lennon and Keith
science, and Britain’s expanding ethnic community. Finally,
the ODNB simply brims over with esoteric information. Read about
the man who patented the windshield wiper or the “moving
The ODNB also includes several Thematic
pull together many lives. Some examples are:
- Head of Government in Ireland (1919 – 2001)
- Musical Chart Toppers
- Nobel Prize Winners
- Poets Laureate
- Consorts of the Monarchs of England (943? – 1707 & 1707 – 2001)
- Roman England
- Edmond Halley and Early Modern Astronomy
The entries are easy to print or e-mail. Clear citation information
is provided as is the list of resources used and the extent of
available archives. The online updating is also a significant
feature of the ODNB.
In fact a January 2005 update has already occurred and 195 biographies
were added, including Douglas Adams, George Harrison, Edward
Snow, Quintin Hogg, and Mary Whitehouse. These new biographies
will only appear online.
of Reference and Instructional Services