Information about Marquis Who's Who

Marquis Who's Who, owned by Reed Publishing Incorporated, is the American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographical sketches of influential persons. The books are usually titled Who's Who in... followed by some subject, such as Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Who's Who in the World, and so on. Marquis Who's Who books are often found in the reference section of local libraries as well as used for research by universities on their websites, such as Northwestern's and Harvard's.^[1][2]

"Who's Who in America", its publication, is a registered trademark of Reed Publishing. The New York Times referred to the 60th edition of Who's Who in America as "a librarian's Vanity Fair" and an "authoritative tool and valid portrait of [American] society". ^[3]

Marquis states in the Preface that Who's Who in America, "endeavores to profile the leaders of American society; those men and women who are influencing their nation's development".^[4]

Entries in Marquis Who's Who books list career and personal data for each Biographee, including birth date and place, names of parents and family members, education, writings and creative works, civic activities, awards, political affiliation, religion, and addresses.

Marquis offers some features associated with the vanity press business models, such as selling merchandise to persons selected as biographees, although this is not a criterion for being listed.^[5]

History

Founded by Albert Nelson Marquis (pronounced as IPA: /ˈmɑːrkwɨs/), the first edition of the publication contained concise biographies of over 8,500 "distinguished Americans". Albert Marquis wrote that the book's objective was to "chronicle the lives of individuals whose achievements and contributions to society make them subjects of widespread reference interest and inquiry."<ref name= "Preface" />

Today, the company publishes over a dozen different series with information on more than a million individuals; Who's Who in America contains over one hundred thousand entries. Their website states that, since 1899, Who's Who in America has chronicled the lives and careers of America's most noteworthy men and women. ^[6]

Other Who's Who publications

The title "Who's Who" is in the public domain, and thousands of "Who's Who" compilations of varying scope and quality have been published by various authors and publishers. International Who's Who (UK), Palgrave (UK) and WBIS Online, are also respected names. Some of the other publishers are vanity publications, where the inclusion criterion is the biographee's willingness to buy the book, and the business model consists in selling books directly to the biographees.

Publications

General publications

• Who's Who in America
• Who's Who in the World
• Who's Who of Emerging Leaders
• Who's Who of American Women
• Who's Who Professional Publications
• Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare
• Who's Who in Science and Engineering
• Who's Who in Finance and Business
• Who's Who in American Law
• Who's Who in American Politics
• Who's Who in American Art
• Who's Who in American Education

Regional publications

• Who's Who in the South and Southwest
• Who's Who in the East
• Who's Who in the Midwest
• Who's Who in the West
• Who's Who in Asia

Historical series

• Who Was Who in America
• Who's Who in 20th Century America

Selection process

Marquis Who's Who states that selection of individuals for listing in its publications "is based on reference value. Individuals become eligible for listing by virtue of their positions and/or noteworthy achievements that have proved to be of significant value to society. An individual's desire to be listed is not sufficient reason for inclusion. Similarly, wealth or social position are not criteria. Purchase of the book is never a factor in the selection of biographees".<ref name= "Preface" />

Tucker Carlson, in an article entitled "The Hall of Lame" that appeared in Forbes Magazine in 1999, wrote that the selection process is neither rigorous nor meaningful, and self nominators and thousands of people not particularly notable are included, such as bowling coaches, teachers and landscape architects. Carlson also writes that Marquis makes money selling addresses to direct mail marketers.^[7]

Marquis calls its selection criteria "stringent" and says that biographical data on candidates for listing are reviewed by its editors to confirm that its requirements are met. Once selected, a biographical draft is sent to biographees for prepublication checking. In cases where notable individuals decline to submit biographical data, Marquis compiles information itself.<ref name= "Preface" />

See also

• Who's Who (UK)

References

External links

• Marquis Who's Who Online
• Marquis selection criteria
• Forbes 2006 lists refer to Marquis