This is the beginning of a new year. What a great time to be involved in genealogy research!
Biography in Context is a database published by Gale.
Biography in Context is a database that contains biographies of contemporary and historical figures. I was intrigued as soon as I heard the word ‘biography’ and wondered if this database would be an asset for genealogical research.
It is available through some libraries, allowing you to log in with your library card. School, public and academic libraries might subscribe to it. Users should reach out to their library to see if they subscribe.
Using Abraham Lincoln as an example, I was able to see this entry for him.
This is some of the information that is available for Abraham Lincoln.
I tried my family last names hoping to get lucky, and low and behold, I found a cousin, who is a noted writer.
This database does not seem to contain much on politicians but does include notable people like Michael Jackson (11 biographies, and images, news, audio, magazines, videos, and academic journals).
Gene Simmons from KISS has a considerable entry. Johnny Carson has a considerable profile. There was considerable information about Donald Trump and a lesser amount of information available about Hilary Clinton (remember, it is not a political database).
There is a lot to check out if your family member was notable.
Gale has other resources of interest to genealogists. Gale Genealogy Connect is designed to help with the “how to” behind genealogy research and to complement popular fact, date and people-based genealogy resources already on the market. They also offer Biography & Genealogy Master Index and a “Genealogy Basics” course through our Gale Courses platform.
In addition, genealogists have looked to some of our historical digital collections for help with genealogy research, including Archives Unbound: County and Regional Histories & Atlases (available for 8 states), and all of our digital historical newspaper collections (specifically the British Library Newspapers parts 1-5 , the Times Digital Archive and 19th Century U. S. Newspapers).
Also, the Gale genealogy blog contains information about how these resources can help genealogists in their research.
Biographies are another way to get information on notable ancestors in your family tree. Do you have an ancestor of note? Were you able to find information in Biography In Context?
