Thousands of free pdf biographies and autobiography books. Also guides to biographies, single books with descriptions, and collective bios. Read all online; many can be downloaded.
Table of contents
Collections of Biographies and Autobiographies
Autobiographies and Biographies – Collection
More than 100,000 free online biographies, or books whose content is partly biographical. The group includes some fiction books. Use the search box at the top of the left column (on the search results page) to narrow your search.
See the Menu at the top of every page for Directories of Free Online Fiction and NonFiction Books, Magazines, and more, on 400 pages like this at Century Past
Autobiographies – Collection
Thousands of free online autobiographies at the Internet Archive. You may wish to use the “Search this Collection” box to refine the search.
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African American Biographies – Collection
Thousands of online biography books at the Internet Archive, resulting from a search for books on “African Americans – Biography”. Black history biography.
See our post on Pioneers in Illinois Tell Their Stories
Famous Women Biographies – Collection
Women’s biographies & women’s memoirs. Contemporary biography women, notable Hispanic American women, Who’s Who of American Women, Notable Black American Women, Notable Latin American Women, Modern American Women Poets, Women in American History, American Women in Science, Women in the American Revolution, Biographies of American Women, Great Women in American History free online book, American Comediennes, African American Women Playwrights, Women in the American West, Lives of 100 women artists, free online autobiography of Dominique Moceanu, biographies of Ida B. Wells, Judy Garland, biography of U.S. women’s soccer team. Famous women biographies. Autobiographies PDF.
See our Biography Dictionaries
– American History Biographies – Collection
Biography books free from the Internet Archive on the subject of American History Biography and Autobiography. Collective biographies. easy to read biographies.
See our Biographies from Ancient History
Collection of Biography Articles
Biography Articles
Collected links here at Century Past to articles about famous or interesting people, found in leading magazines and newspapers.
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Modern Guides to Biographies and Autobiographies
Notable Women in World History: A Guide to Recommended Biographies and Autobiographies
Adamson, Lynda G.
Greenwood 1998 Dewey Dec. 016
“The entries are arranged alphabetically by last name with appropriate cross-references for alternative designations. Each contains the woman’s name, key dates, occupation or avocation, and birthplace. A short biographical sketch about parents, education, general achievement, and recognition or awards follows. Women of all time periods are included. . . . Because it includes only those born outside the U.S., it complements sources on American women. Notable Women in World History is a useful addition to academic, public, and high-school libraries. It would be especially useful for women’s studies collections.” -Booklist. Famous women biographies.
See our Encyclopedia Britannica pdf free download
You may like our Collected Biography Magazine Articles
Read On … Biography: Reading Lists for Every Taste
Roche, Rick
Libraries Unlimited 2008 Dewey Dec. 016
“A readers’ advisory guide, with information about 450 biography titles, most published within the last decade, but including some classic titles as well… The book focuses on life stories written in the third person, with subjects ranging from individuals who lived in ancient times to the present-day, hailed from myriad nations, and gained fame in diverse fields.” -Publisher. Collective biographies. Autobiography Books PDF.
Vintage Reading Guides to Biographies
Index to Contemporary Biography and Criticism
Hefling, Helen and Richards, Eva
Faxon 1929 Dewey Dec. 012
The index is for collections of biography and criticism, not individual biographies or works of criticism. In addition to literary figures, the index covers persons in the arts, science, politics, and other fields. Most persons covered were born around 1850 or after. Autobiographies PDF.
See our post on Memoirs and Diaries from the Indiana Frontier
Viewpoints in Biography; an Arrangement of Books According to their Essential Interest
Tappert, Katherine
American Library Assoc. 1921 Dewey Dec. 012
Selected biographical literature, arranged according to distinct interests such as adventure, American Indians, art, etc.; brief annotations, with subject indexes.- A.L.A. Catalog 1912-1921.
See our Customs and Traditions USA books
Standard Catalog: Biography Section
Wilson, H.W.; Baker, Corinne, comp.
Wilson 1919 Dewey Dec. 012
One thousand titles of the most representative, interesting and useful biographies.- A.L.A. Catalog 1926. Children’s easy to read biographies. Autobiography Books PDF.
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Standard Catalog for Public Libraries: Biography Section
Second Edition Revised and Enlarged. About 1,150 Titles of the Most Representative, Interesting and Useful Biographies
Wilson, H.W.; Sears, Minnie Earl, comp.
Wilson 1927 Dewey Dec. 012
Free children’s biography books easy to read. Autobiographies PDF.
Single Biography Books with Descriptions
Individual biographies and autobiographies are divided up among a number of webpages, per the list below. Click page headings to go there.
Free PDF Biography Books Online – A & B
Aaron, “Hank”
Adams, Charles Francis
Adams, Henry
Adams, John, U.S. President
Adams, Abigail Smith
Adams, John Quincy, U.S. President
Adams, Samuel
Addams, Jane
Agassiz, Louis
Ailes, Roger
Alcott, Louisa May
Alexander the Great
Alfred the Great, King of England
Ambrose, Stephen
Andersen, Hans Christian
Angelou, Maya
Anthony, Susan B.
Antin, Mary
Appleseed, Johnny
Audubon, John James
Austen, Jane
Barnum, Phineas Taylor “P.T.”
Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston
Barton, Clara Harlowe
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Belafonte, Harry
Benny, Jack
Benton, Thomas Hart
Bernhardt, Sarah
Berra, Lawrence Peter “Yogi”
Bird, Larry
Bismarck, Otto von
Black Elk
Black Hawk
Blake, William
Bloch, Robert
Bly, Nellie (Seaman, Elizabeth)
Bochkareva, Maria Leontievna (Frolkova)
Bolton, Sarah Knowles
Bombeck, Erma
Bonaparte, Napoleon (Napoleon I)
Boone, Daniel
Booth, Catherine Mumford
Borgia, Lucrezia
Bourdain, Anthony
Brahms, Johannes
Bronte, Charlotte
Bronte, Emily
Bronte, Anne
Brooke, James, Rajah of Sarawak
Browning, Robert
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett
Bryan, William Jennings
Buffalo Bill (Cody, William Frederick)
Bush, Barbara Pierce
Bush, George Herbert Walker, U.S. President
Bush, Laura Lane
Biography Books and Autobiography PDF – C
Caesar, Gaius Julius
Calhoun, John Caldwell
Calvin, John
Cantacuzène, Julia Dent Grant (Princess Cantacuzène)
Carlyle, Thomas
Carmichael, Hoagy
Carnegie, Andrew
Carroll, Lewis
Carson, Christopher
Cartier, Jacques
Cary, Alice
Cary, Phoebe
Cass, Lewis
Caterina da Siena, Saint
Cavour, Camillo Benso, Conte di
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de
Champlain, Samuel de
Chapman, John (Johnny Appleseed)
Charlemagne
Chase, Salmon Portland
Chaucer, Geoffrey
Chopin, Fryderyk
Clark, George Rogers
Clarke, Mrs. Caroline Cowles
Clay, Henry
Clemenceau, Georges
Clemens, Samuel Langhorne (Mark Twain)
Clinton, Hilary Rodham
Cobb, Ty
Cobden, Richard
Cody, William Frederick (Buffalo Bill)
Coffin, Levi
Cohen, Rose Gollup
Columbus, Christopher
Cook, James
Cooper, James Fenimore
Coughlin, Father Charles
Crane Gartz, Kate
Cromwell, Oliver
Cumming, Kate
Curie, Marie Sklodowska
Curie, Pierre
Custer, George Armstrong
See our post on Pioneer Life on the Michigan Frontier in Diaries & Memoirs
Biography Books PDF – D, E & F
Daly, Augustin
Dante (Alighieri, Dante)
Darwin, Charles Robert
Davies, William Henry
Davis, Jefferson
Davis, Miles
Dean, James
Debs, Eugene
Deutsch, Leo
Dewey, George
Dewey, Thomas E.
Dickens, Charles
Diderot, Denis
Disraeli, Benjamin
Dostoevsky, Fedor
Douglas, Stephen A.
Douglass, Frederick
Du Bois, W.E.B.
Edison, Thomas Alva
Edwards, Jonathan
Eggleston, Edward
Elizabeth, Queen of England
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Isabella d’Este, Consort of Giovanni Francesco II
Evans, Robley Dunglison
Farragut, David Glasgow
Ferber, Edna
Fink, Mike
Ford, Betty
Ford, Gerald R., U.S. President
Ford, Henry
Francis of Assisi, Saint
Franklin, Aretha
Franklin, Benjamin
Franklin, John
Fraser, Mary Crawford
Frederick the Great, King of Prussia
Friedan, Betty
Fulton, Robert
Biography Books and Autobiographies PDF – G & H
Gale, Zona
Galileo
Gallatin, Albert
Gambetta, Leon Michel
Garfield, James A., U.S. President
Garrison, William Lloyd
Garvey, Marcus
Gauguin, Paul
George, Henry
Geronimo, Apache Chief
Gladstone, William Ewart
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Goldsmith, Oliver
Goodman, Benny
Gordon, Charles George
Grant, Ulysses Simpson, U. S. President
Grey, Zane
Grissom, Virgil “Gus”
Guevara, Ernesto “Che”
Hale, Edward Everett
Hamilton, Alexander
Hannibal
Hardie, James Keir
Harding, Warren G., U.S. President
Hardy, Thomas
Harris, Townsend
Harrison, Benjamin, U.S. President
Harrison, William Henry, U.S. President
Harte, Bret
Haviland, Laura
Hawthorne, Nathaniel
Hayes, Rutherford B., U.S. President
Hefner, Hugh
Hegermann-Lindencrone, Lillie de
Hemingway, Ernest
Henry the Navigator
Henry, Patrick
Herman, Woody
Hickok, “Wild Bill”
Hill, Lucy Ann
Hoffa, James
Holmes, Oliver Wendell
Homer, Winslow
Houdini, Harry
House, Edward Mandell
Houston, Samuel
Howe, Julia (Ward)
Hugo, Victor
Hurston, Zora Neale
Hyndman, Henry Mayers
Biography and Autobiography Books PDF – I, J, K & L
Iacocca, Lee
Ibsen, Henrik
Irving, Washington
Isabella d’Este
Iswolsky, Alexander Petrovich
Jackson, Andrew, U.S. President
Jackson, Thomas Jonathan
James, William
Jaures, Jean
Jay, John
Jeanne d’Arc, Saint (Joan of Arc)
Jefferson, Thomas, U. S. President
Johnson, James Weldon
Johnson, William
Jones, John Paul
Kartini, Raden Adjeng
Keats, John
Keller, Helen Adams
Kellogg, Clara Louise
Kennan, George
Kenton, Simon
Kevorkian, Jack
King, Martin Luther
Kropotkin, Pyotr, Prince
Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul, Marquise de
Lardner, Ring
Laurier, Wilfrid
Lee, Robert Edward
LeMay, Curtis
Leopold, Aldo
Letterman, David
Liberace
Lincoln, Abraham, U. S. President
Lincoln, Mary Ann Todd
Liszt, Franz
Livermore, Mary Ashton
Livingstone, David
Lloyd George, David
Lombardi, Vince
London, Jack
Louis, Joe
Loyola, Ignacio de, St
Luther, Martin
Free Autobiography Books PDF and Biographies – M, N & O
MacDonald, John Alexander
Machiavelli, Niccolo
Madison, Dolley Payne
Madison, James Jr., U.S. President
Madonna
Magellan, Ferdinand
Mann, Horace
Marquette, Jacques
Marshall, John
Martin, Dean
Marx, Karl
Mather, Cotton
McCarthy, Joseph
McKinley, William, U. S. President
McQueen, Steve
Catherine de Medicis, Queen of Henry II, King of France
Meir, Golda
Melville, Herman
Milton, John
Monroe, James, U. S. President
Moody, Anne
Morgan, James Morris
Morris, Gouverneur
Morris, William
Morrison, Toni
Morse, Samuel Finley Breese
Mozart, Johann Wolfgang Amadeus
Muir, John
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French
Napoleon III, Emperor of the French
Nehru, Jawaharlal
Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Viscount
Ness, Eliot
Newman, John Henry, Cardinal
Nicklaus, Jack
Nightingale, Florence
Nixon, Richard Milhous, U.S. President
Oakley, Annie
O’Connell, Daniel
O’Keeffe, Georgia
Owen, Robert
Owens, Jesse
Biographies and Autobiographies PDF – P, Q & R
Page, Larry
Paine, Ralph Delahaye
Paine, Thomas
Parkman, Francis
Pasteur, Louis
Patrick, Saint
St. Vincent de Paul
Pauley, Jane
Penn, William
Pennell, Elizabeth Robins
Pepys, Samuel
Perry, Oliver Hazard
Peter I, the Great, Emperor of Russia
Petrarca, Francesco
Pitt, William,
Pizarro, Francisco
Poe, Edgar Allan
Pontiac, Odawa Indian Chief
Porter, Cole
Post, Marjorie Merriweather
Prince, Erik
Pryor, Sara Agnes (Rice)
Pumpelly, Raphael
Pyle, Ernest “Ernie”
Raleigh, Sir Walter
Randolph, John
Ravage, Marcus Eli
Reagan, Ronald, U.S. President
Redmond, John Edward
Reed, Anna Stevens
Rehnquist, William H.
Reid, Whitelaw
Resnik, Judith
Reuther, Walter
Rhodes, Cecil John
Richards, Caroline Cowles
Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal
Rickenbacker, Eddie
Riel, Louis
Riis, Jacob August
Ringling Brothers
Robespierre, Maximilien Marie Isidore de
Rogers, Roy
Romney, George
Roosevelt, Theodore, U.S. President
Ross, Diana
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel
Rossetti, Christina Georgina
Rousseau, Jean Jacques
Ruskin, John
Biography Books PDF and Autobiographies – S
Samuels, Captain Samuel
Savonarola, Girolamo
Schubert, Franz Peter
Schurz, Carl
Schuyler, Catherine (Van Rensselaer)
Sedgwick, Catharine M.
Sevigne, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de
Seward, William H.
Shackleton, Sir Ernest Henry
Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper
Shaw, Anna Howard
Shaw, George Bernard
Sherman, William Tecumseh
Skinner, Burrhus Frederic
Slessor, Mary Mitchell
Smith, Adam
Smith, John
Smith, Joseph Jr.
Spencer, Herbert
Stanley, Henry Morton
Steinbrenner, George
Steinem, Gloria
Steiner, Edward Alfred
Stevens, Thaddeus
Stillman, William James
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Straus, Oscar Solomon
Strindberg, August
Mary Stuart, Queen of the Scots
Sullivan, Louis Henry
Sumner, Charles
Swedenborg, Emanuel
Autobiographies PDF and Biographies PDF – T, U & V
Taft, William Howard, U.S. President
Talon, Jean
Taylor, Marshall “Major”
Tecumseh
Thomas, Augustus
Thoreau, Henry David
Thurston, Lucy G.
Titian, Vecelli
Tolstoy, Leo
Torquemada, Tomas de
Tracy, Spencer
Trudeau, Edward Livingston
Truth, Sojourner
Tubman, Harriet
Twain, Mark (Clemens, Samuel Langhorne)
Vaka, Demetra (Mrs. Kenneth Brown)
Van Buren, Martin, U.S. President
Venizelos, Eleftherios
Verlaine, Paul Marie
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain
Villiers, Frederic
St. Vincent de Paul
Voltaire, Francois Marie Arouet de
Vonnegut, Kurt
Free Autobiography PDF Books and Biographies – W, X, Y & Z
Waddington, Mary Alsop King
Wagner, Richard
Walker, Madam C. J.
Wallace, Lew
Ward, Mary Augusta
Warner, Jack
Warwick, Richard Neville, Earl of
Washington, Booker T.
Washington, George, U.S. President
Washington, Martha Dandridge
Waterbury, Maria
Watson, Jeannette Grace
Webster, Daniel
Wellesley, Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington
Wells, Ida B.
Wesley, John
Westinghouse, George
Whitman, Walt
Willard, Frances
William, the Conqueror, King of England
Williams, Roger
Wilson, Woodrow, U.S. President
Winslow, Anna Green
Winthrop, John
Wister, Sarah
Wolsey, Thomas, Cardinal
Woolf, Virginia
Wright Brothers
Wright, Frank Lloyd
Wycliffe, John
X, Malcolm
Yeats, William Butler
Younghusband, Sir George John
Collective Biography Books
Collective Biographies are listed by authors’ names, rather than by subjects’ names.
Collective Biographies PDF – Authors A-F
Adams, Elmer Cleveland and Foster, Warren Dunham; Heroines of modern progress
Adams, Oscar Fay; Dictionary of American authors
Alden, Carroll Storrs and Earle, Ralph; Makers of naval tradition
Beebe, Mabel Borton; Four American naval heroes: Paul Jones, Oliver H. Perry, Admiral Farragut, Admiral Dewey
Bolton, Sarah Knowles; Famous American statesmen
Bolton, Sarah Knowles; Famous leaders among women
Bolton, Sarah Knowles; Famous voyagers and explorers
Bolton, Sarah Knowles; Lives of girls who became famous
Bradford, Gamaliel; American portraits, 1875-1900
Bradford, Gamaliel; Confederate portraits
Bradford, Gamaliel; Portraits of American women
Bradford, Gamaliel; Union portraits
Brower, Harriette Moore; Story lives of master musicians
Bruce, Henry Addington Bayley; Woman in the making of America
Bryan, Michael; Dictionary of painters and engravers
Burton, Alma Holman; Four American patriots: Patrick Henry, Andrew Jackson, Alexander Hamilton, Ulysses S. Grant
Caffin, Charles Henry; American masters of painting
Clement, Clara Erskine and Hutton, Laurence; Artists of the nineteenth century and their works
Clement, Clara Erskine and Hutton, Laurence; Painters, sculptors, architects, engravers, and their works
Dole, Nathan Haskell; Famous composers
Ellis, Ellet, Elizabeth Fries Lummis; Women of the American Revolution
Erskine, John; Leading American Novelists
Farrar, Frederick W.; Lives of the fathers; sketches of church history
Fitchett, William Henry; Nelson and his captains
Franklin, John Hope, Black Leaders of the Twentieth Century
Fraser, C. L.; Pirates
Frothingham, Jessie Peabody; Sea fighters from Drake to Farragut
Collective Biography PDF Books – Authors G-P
Greely, Adolphus Washington; Explorers and travellers
Hadow, W. H.; Studies in modern music
Halsey, Francis Whiting, ed.; Women Authors of our Day in their Homes
Harkins, E. F. and C. H. L. Johnston; Little Pilgrimages Among the Women who have Written Famous Books
Headley, Joel Tyler; Washington and his generals
Hubert, Philip G. Jr.; Inventors
Husband, Joseph; Americans by adoption
Iles, George; Leading American inventors
Johnston, Robert M.; Leading American Soldiers
Jordan, David Starr, ed.; Leading American Men of Science
La Farge, John; Great masters
Lanker, Brian and Summers, Barbara; I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women who Changed America
Laut, Agnes Christina; Pathfinders of the West
Maitland, John Alexander Fuller; Masters of German music
Mason, Daniel Gregory; From Grieg to Brahms; studies of some modern composers and their art
Masson, Thomas Lansing; Our American humorists
Mauclair, Camille; French impressionists
McCarthy, Justin; British political portraits
McCarthy, Justin; Portraits of the sixties
Metcalf, Frank Johnson; American writers and compilers of sacred music
Morgan, Henry James, ed.; Canadian men and women of the time
Morris, Charles; Heroes of progress in America
Olds, Elizabeth Fagg; Women of the Four Winds
Oliphant, Mrs M. O.; Makers of Florence; Dante, Giotto, Savonarola, and their city
Parkman, Mary Rosetta; Heroines of service
Patrick, David and Groome, F. H., eds.; Chambers’s biographical dictionary
Payne, William Morton; Leading American Essayists
Perry, Francis Melville, & Beebe, Katherine; Four American pioneers: Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clark, David Crockett, Kit Carson
Collective Biography Books PDF – Authors Q-Z
Rose, Phyllis, The Norton Book of Women’s Lives
Seawell, Molly Elliot; Twelve naval captains
Sharp, Robert Farquharson; Dictionary of English authors, biographical and bibliographical
Smiles, Samuel; Industrial Biography: Iron-workers and tool-makers
Smiles, Samuel; Lives of the engineers, with an account of their principal works
Smith, Charles Sprague; Barbizon days
Smith, Sir William; Classical dictionary of Greek and Roman biography, mythology and geography
Sparks, Jared; American biography. 12 volumes
Stephen, Sir Leslie; Studies of a biographer. 4 volumes
Stoddard, William O.; Men of business
Strachey, Giles Lytton; Eminent Victorians
Strang, Lewis C.; Famous actors of the day in America
Strang, Lewis C.; Famous actresses of the day in America
Strickland, Agnes and Kaufman, Rosalie; Queens of England
Taylor, George Robert Stirling; Modern English statesmen
Thayer, William Roscoe; Throne-makers
Trent, William P.; Southern statesmen of the old regime
Tulloch, John; Luther and other leaders of the reformation
U. S. Congress; Biographical Congressional directory
Vasari, Giorgio; Lives of seventy of the most eminent painters, sculptors and architects
Vedder, Henry C.; American writers of to-day
Warren, Arthur; London days; a book of reminiscences
Wilkinson, Spenser, ed.; From Cromwell to Wellington: twelve soldiers
Wilson, J. G. & John Fiske, eds.; Appleton’s cyclopaedia of American biography
Wilson, John Grant, ed.; Presidents of the United States
Winship, A. E.; Great American educators
Who’s Who; Who’s who in America
Who Was Who; Who was who in America
Worthington & Co.; Our Famous Women. Distinguished American Women of our Times
Worthington & Co.; Our Famous Women. American Women… in Literature, Science, Art, Music, Drama …
Youmans, William Jay, M.D.; Pioneers of science in America