If you are looking for inspiration of background details of people to flesh out your story or details of relatives, you may find inspiration on these sites.
United States
To find your American ancestors, the American Dictionary of Biography is available online through Archive.org.
England
The Dictionary of National Biography (or DNB) is a biographical reference for deceased persons notable in British history. This website gives you access to the first edition which was published in 63 volumes from 1885 through 1900.
The current edition is available online only by subscription from Oxford University Press.
Australia
The Australian Dictionary of Biography is Australia's pre-eminent dictionary of national biography. In it, you will find concise, informative and fascinating descriptions of the lives of significant and representative persons in Australian history
Ireland
For those with an Irish background, the Irish Dictionary of Biography provides a similar resource.
Canada
The Dictionary of Canadian biography (Dictionnaire biographique du Canada), is a dual-language resource providing biographies of key Canadian figures.
General
Archive.org is a non-profit online library that provides access to millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. For example, you could access the Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, free for 1 hour.
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