PROSPECTUS.
National Character.
THE National Cyclo-
pedia of American
Biography has been under-
taken to provide a Biographical Record of
the New World, worthy to rank with the
great National Biographies of Europe. It
will embrace biographical sketches of all
persons prominently connected with the
history of the country; all rulers, states-
men, and soldiers; all persons note-
worthy in the church, at the bar, in liter-
ture or the arts, in science and invention,
in exploration or discovery, in commerce
or mechanics. It, in brief, will include
the name of every person in every branch of
human activity who has been identified with
American progress and civilization.
A Complete
History of the
United States.
The biographies are of
sufficient fulness to in-
clude all facts deserving
mention, and taken to-
gether they will afford a complete history
of the United States -- political, social,
commercial, and industrial.
Carefulness of
Preparation.
This Cyclopedia is
unique. The most prom-
inent writers of the day,
have been enlisted in the work of collecting
the historical biographies of the country.
Prominent men everywhere have been asked
to summarize their experience for the bene-
fit of their fellow-men, and already information,
which has never before been given to the
world.
Character
Portraits.
It is intended to make each
character-sketch a likeness
which the world will imme-
diately recognize; which will give the
underlying motive to individual endeavor,
the secret of success, the methods and the
means of progress, and the aim and aspira-
tion of thought; and which will be as
readable as a tale of ad-
venture or travel. It is
aimed, moreover, to render the Cyclopedia
educational, as well as entertaining, by
making the lives of important men illustrate
noteworthy epochs of national history.
Magnitude of
the Work.
Such a work of Histor-
ical Biography has never
before been attempted.
Previous works have either excluded the
living, or limited them to the well-known
few in the centers of activity. But it is
