Reference Library of American Women

Four deluxe volumes profiling 650 famous American and international women — from today's headlines and throughout history.

Writing desk with biography volumes, antique portrait frames, and a fountain pen — Biographical essays of about 800 words give each figure substantial treatment.

About the Series

The four-volume Reference Library of American Women, the companion set to the Reference Library of American Men, is a wonderful resource for learning about famous American women, both of today and in history. The series features contemporary and historic figures across a wide range of occupations and fields of endeavor. Included are such renowned figures as poet Maya Angelou, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and artist Maya Ying Lin, alongside important historic figures including Queen Elizabeth I, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, Pocahontas, Marie Antoinette, and Marie Curie.

Biographical essays of about 800 words offer substantial treatment of each subject and are arranged alphabetically across the four volumes. The set also features numerous portraits and a historical chronology of the people, places, and events that changed women's history, with three indexes identifying figures by name, nationality, and field of endeavor.

Topics Covered

Women's rights and the long road to the vote — women's contributions to the arts, business, education, journalism, religion, and science — sexism and bias — pioneering firsts in every field — international figures who shaped world history.

Volume by Volume

Volume 1: Biographies of Famous Women (A–F)
Volume 2: Biographies of Famous Women (G–M)
Volume 3: Biographies of Famous Women (N–Z)
Volume 4: Biographies of Famous Women (International)

In the Classroom and Library

This is a remarkable resource for Women's History Month lesson plans — and, used as our lesson plans guide suggests, for biography projects that run all year. The chronology makes an excellent timeline exercise, and the indexes let students find scientists, jurists, artists, or athletes in seconds. Free companion material is available from the National Women's History Museum, whose digital exhibits pair naturally with the printed essays.

The selection philosophy matters as much as the count. Editor Jennifer Mossman's roster deliberately mixes household names with women whose work outran their fame — scientists whose discoveries carried others' names, reformers whose campaigns became law decades later. The result is a set that rewards browsing: a student who arrives looking for one famous figure leaves having met three she had never heard of, which is precisely how reference books are supposed to work.

Reading Pathways

The alphabetical arrangement hides several excellent thematic reading routes. The firsts route traces pioneering women through the indexes — first female physicians, jurists, aviators, legislators — and builds naturally into a timeline project using the set's historical chronology. The fields route uses the field-of-endeavor index to assemble cohorts: a student interested in science can pull Marie Curie, Rachel Carson, and their peers into a single comparative essay. The international route, through Volume 4, sets American figures alongside world figures and works well for world-history classrooms.

Because each essay runs about 800 words with sources, the set also serves as a model text for student writing: assign one essay as a mentor text, then have students draft an entry of their own in the same capsule-plus-narrative format described on our research database page.

Reference Details

Format: 4 deluxe hardcover volumes; appendix, bibliography, glossary, index
Length: Approximately 1,320 pages; numerous portraits
Editor: Jennifer Mossman
ISBN: 0-7876-3864-1 (0787638641)
Reading level: Middle and high school; teacher resource for elementary grades

To find this set in a library near you, search WorldCat by title or ISBN. See also the rest of the series guide or the complete 31-volume collection.