Getting Started Guide: Biographical Information: Politicians

A collection of brief biographies on members of the U.S. Congress.

This directory of the U.S. Congress includes enteries dating back to 1774. It can be searched by the peron's name, position, state, party affiliation, or year in Congress. A biography is available the length of which varies depending on the person. Some individuals biographical pages include an additional bibliography section for further research and/or links to Research Collections that that cover the individual.

"Project Vote Smart, a citizen's organization, has developed a Voter's Self-Defense system to provide you with the necessary tools to self-govern effectively: abundant, accurate, unbiased and relevant information. As a national library of factual information, Project Vote Smart covers your candidates and elected officials in five basic categories: biographical information, issue positions, voting records, campaign finances and interest group ratings." The site provides a variety of resources for voters in a non-partisan format.

"This site contains lists of heads of state and heads of government (and, in certain cases, de facto leaders not occupying either of those formal positions) of all countries and territories, going back to about 1700 in most cases. Also included are the subdivisions of various countries (the links are at the bottom of the respective country entries), as well as a selection of international organizations. Recent foreign ministers of all countries are listed separately."