FAQs
For information about the American National Biography Online (the ANB), including its history and how often it’s updated, please visit our About page.
For help using the ANB, including how to log in, search, and browse, please visit our Help pages.
Click on a question to be taken straight to the answer. If you cannot find an answer to your question, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
About the ANB
- Is the ANB free, or do I need a subscription to access it?
- How can I see the newest content published online?
- What's the difference between the American National Biography and the Dictionary of American Biography?
- I would like to suggest a new article or an edit to an existing article. What should I do?
- What are your policies around the use of artificial intelligence?
How to use the ANB
- Do Boolean operators and other search helpers work?
- How can I perform an advanced search?
- Why do the filtering options on my search or browse results keep changing?
- Can I print content, or save it as a PDF?
- How much material can I legally print or save to PDF?
Technical and access questions
- Which browsers should I use?
- Will my screen-reader software work?
- What is your policy on third party data mining?
About the ANB
Is the ANB free, or do I need a subscription to access it?
Yes, in order to access the content on the ANB you, or your library, must purchase access to the content. Find out how to subscribe.
How can I see the newest content published online?
You can click this link to see recently published articles.
What's the difference between the American National Biography and the Dictionary of American Biography?
The original Dictionary of American Biography (DAB) was published by Charles Scribner's Sons between 1927 and 1936; the last supplement was published in 1985 and includes people who died no later than 1980. While the DAB has been an essential resource, historical scholarship has advanced considerably in the last sixty years. In publishing the American National Biography (ANB), Oxford University Press and the American Council of Learned Societies have produced a new work that incorporates the vast amount of new historical research that has emerged since World War II.
The DAB covers approximately 19,000 subjects; of these 10,000 are in the ANB as completely new biographies with the latest factual information and interpretations; the bibliographies that follow each article are also new. The ANB features over 7,000 figures not in any volume of the DAB – most of them people who died after 1980.
I would like to suggest a new article or an edit to an existing article. What should I do?
We welcome our readers’ feedback! Please contact us with as much detail as possible, and the editorial team will review your suggestion. Please note that the ANB only includes individuals who have already died.
What are your policies around the use of artificial intelligence?
We do not permit our authors to use generative AI to write content or create images, unless they are being used to discuss or to illustrate artificial intelligence, and are clearly cited or credited. See Author Use of Generative AI for more information.
How to use the ANB
Do Boolean operators and other search helpers work?
Yes. Common searching commands, such as double quotes or parentheses around search terms, * wildcard, and Boolean operators AND/OR/NOT, will work when searching.
How can I perform an advanced search?
Advanced search options are available in the left sidebar of search or browse results list. You can run a quick search, select a browse category, or click the magnifying glass icon in the quick search bar to browse the entire site first to access these options. For more information about narrowing search and browse results, see our Help page.
Why do the filtering options on my search or browse results keep changing?
Many of these filters are dynamic, and only appear when matching articles are present in the results list. For more on searching, see our Quick search section on the help page.
Can I print content, or save it as a PDF?
Yes. You can print and save individual articles to which you have access. To generate a PDF of an individual article, simply click on the "PDF" icon link at the top right of the article text, then download the PDF using your web browser. To print an article hover over the “share” icon and choose “Print” from the list that appears. Please note that copyright restrictions apply.
Find out more about the article page in our Help section.
How much material can I legally print or save to PDF?
You are limited by copyright restrictions to the amount of information you can print and download. It is very important that you read our Privacy Policy and Legal Notice, which includes information on downloading PDFs.
Technical and access questions
The ANB is designed to display and function correctly on the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and MS Edge.
How accessible is the ANB? For example, will my screen-reader software work with it?
To help achieve our objective of excellence in research, scholarship and education and as part of our commitment to serving our customers and users, Oxford University Press is striving to make its products accessible to and inclusive of all our users, including those with visual, hearing, cognitive, or motor impairments. Visit the Accessibility page to find out more.
What is your policy on third party data mining?
OUP recognizes the research benefit of Text and Data Mining (TDM) across a variety of research fields. As such, we are happy to accommodate TDM for non-commercial use.