What’s New at Schaffer Library

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has been updated, with new content now available at http://www.oxforddnb.com. This update adds biographies for 215 men and women who shaped Britain’s past and who died in 2005.

NEW BIOGRAPHIES
The update is notable for including biographies of two British prime ministers – the Conservative politician Edward Heath (1970-74) and the Labour politician, James Callaghan (1976-9) who was defeated by Margaret Thatcher in 1979. Both figures oversaw, and failed to overcome, a decade of economic decline — a theme now much discussed in the UK media, not to mention incredibly relevant here across the pond as well.

Also added to the ODNB are the controversial royal commentator Harold Brooks-Baker, the motor manufacturer John DeLorean (best known for a doomed, and corrupt, luxury car venture in Northern Ireland, which unfortunately did not lead to advancements in time travel), and the actress Constance Cummings (Wings, 1979 and 1983).

Click here for a full list of new lives added this month.