Research Guides: ENTR 3P98: Family Business: Biographical Sources

Biographical Information Sources

Canadian Sources

These sources can help you verify basic biographical details on key members of your famous business family.

Free Online Sources:

The Canadian Encyclopedia
Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
Biographies of persons who died between the years 1000 and 1930 or whose last known date of activity falls within these years. New biographies for those who died between 1931-1940 are added each week.

Library Databases & Resources:

Contemporary Canadian Biographies (via CPI.Q)
Contains biographies of important Canadians from a variety of fields. Published from 1997 to 2012. Use the Search Within Publication option (under Tools) to find a biography by name.

I Know That Name! by Mark Kearney; Randy Ray Covers more than 100 famous Canadians and the busineses they founded that achieved national or regional importance. Each profile is 2-4 pages long.
Call Number: Read this online
Publication Date: 2002

U.S. & International Sources

Consult these sources in order to verify basic biographical details on key members of your famous business family

Biography.com
The World's Billionaires (Forbes.com)
America's 200 Richest Families (Forbes.com)
Biographie-Portal
Contains more than 100,000 scholarly biographies of persons from all social backgrounds and nearly all period of German, Austrian, and Swiss History. Note: indexes German-language sources.

Dictionary of World Biography, 6th edition by Barry Jones
Call Number: Read this online
Publication Date: 2019

Library Databases & Resources:

Encyclopedia of the History of American Management by Morgen Witzel - "includes over 250 in-depth entries tracing the development of management thinking and business culture in North America".
-Entries contain concise biographical details, a critical analysis of the thinkers' doctrines and ideas, and a bibliography including the subject's major works and a helpful listing of minor works
Call Number: Read this online
Publication Date: 2005

Sources for Family Histories & Obituaries

Finding biographical details on your Famous Family

If you are lucky, there might be a family history or biographical sketches on the company's website, so try looking there first. If not, then one option is to look for a published family tree or other genealogical information.

Familysearch: Search Historical Records
- This is a free genealogy web site, but you must register for an account in order to use it.
- You can search for family histories and search in public records (births, marriages, deaths) as well as Census records.
People (Geni.com)
- This is a free genealogical website.
- You can view basic profiles without registering, but complete profiles may only be viewed by registered users.

Finding Obituaries

Obituaries can provide valuable details on a founder's family including parents, siblings, spouses, and children.

Current and Historical Newspaper Databases

Newspaper databases often include published obituaries of famous business people.

Library News Databases
Link to the Library's A-Z Databases: News listing of subscription and open access newspaper databases.