The Basic Search is available on the homepage of the World Biographical Information System Online.
The Basic Search allows you to search for names or parts of names by entering these into the available search field. If more than one term is entered, the terms are automatically combined with AND.
Example: The entry Washington George searches for all entries containing the terms Washington AND George, eg "Abbott, George Washington", "Read, George Washington", "Washington, George" etc.
By using quotation marks you can carry out a phrase search. This means that the result has to correspond exactly to the phrase entered into the search field.
Example: Searching for the phrase "Washington George" finds biographical entries on "Washington, George", "Washington, George Corbin" etc, but not entries on "Abbott, George Washington", "Read, George Washington" etc.
Preset is the search through all Biographical Archives. You can limit your search to one or more Biographical Archives by clicking on the respective Archive name in the selection box. If you want to select more than one Biographical Archive for your search, please hold the Ctrl key while making your selection.
Select " Search" and you will receive a results list. From the results list you can view the biographical entries. Access to digitized biographical articles is available through a link in the biographical entry.
If no results are found based on your search criteria or your search criteria are too narrow, you will receive the following message: Sorry. There were no documents found that matched your search criteria. Please change your criteria and try again. Try broadening your search and see if you get the intended results.
All searches conducted from the Basic Search form are captured in the list of Previous Searches. For information on using this search history select the chapter Previous Searches.