American National Biography Online

Abstract

American National Biography Online. New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., 2000. Price: annual subscription, details available from your regional network or www.anb.org/orderinginfo.html. Dynamic: of or pertaining to force action or operation; active is a definition taken from the recently issued Oxford English Dictionary that best describes the essential element of two recently issued online reference works: the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and the American National Biography (ANB). Both of these works are produced by the dynamic Oxford University Press. One of the many marvels of digital technology is that it allows the text or work to be continually in progress. This quality or state of being is fundamental to many reference works, particularly dictionaries and biographical sources. A dictionary is constantly changing to reflect the dynamism of language and culture, and a biographical source is never static until an entry is closed through the fact and record of a death. Of the two sources, we will first consider the ANB and its significance the catalog of reference works. Important biographical sources have preceded the ANB; the Dictionary of American Biography (DAB) is one. However, recent scholarship recognizes, as stated the preface of ANB, that ... while the value of a national biographical reference work has endured, the character of such an undertaking has changed considerably since the DAB was (foreword). The DAB was published between 1926 and 1937 under the auspices and authority of the American Council of Learned Societies. In 1986, the need for an entirely new biographical work was recognized by John A. Garraty, Gouverneur Morris Professor of History at Columbia University, and the editor of supplements 4-8 of the DAB. Professor Garraty argued that because the supplements covered more recent periods of American history they could not serve to update the roughly fifteen thousand articles the original, nor could they conveniently include the many important figures such as Sojourner Truth, Scott Joplin, Charles Guiteau, and Martha Washington who had been left out of the (foreword). Thus, Garraty and fellow general editor Mark C. Carnes, professor of history at Barnard College, and the ACLS gathered grants from the Rockfeller Foundation and the NEH and began the work at hand. The Oxford University Press gave its support and this venture of public and private resources is a now a national humanities treasure. The ANB was first issued 1999 as a twenty four volume print work. Subjects were selected from numerous reference works as well as dissertations, books, and biographical essays written recent decades. Advisors included scholars, directors of state historical societies, and presidents of all national scholarly societies. The work was awarded the ALA best reference work of 1999. The online work, issued spring 2000, is a pleasure to search. The screen has lovely design: good use of space, color, lines, and links, making a very polished product. The search engine design allows full-text words/phrase searching and searches by subject name, birth/death date, occupation or realm of renown, and gender. Hyperlinks connect with subjects within the ANB and select Web sites outside the ANB. Content includes 17,435 (at last count) original biographies; 125 or more new biographies added every three months (including articles on recently deceased notables as well as figures from the past who were not subjects the print); nearly 2,000 illustrations from the Library of Congress; regular updates to bibliographies and regular updates to the biographies that incorporate new facts and new interpretations. …