So far, biographical reference works, which experienced a veritable boom in the course of the long 19th century, have only been insufficiently examined in their entirety. In general, it is assumed that they followed a national destiny because their time of origin coincided with the European state-building processes. Nora Mengel's examination of the Biographical Lexicon of the Austrian Empire (BLKÖ) and the Russkij Biografičeskij Slovar' (RBS) shows for the first time that the major biographical projects of the late Habsburg and Russian Empires were based on a specifically imperial overall state consciousness. It is precisely and consistently shown how, under the guidance of the lexicographers Constantin von Wurzbach and Aleksandr A. Polovcov, this was formed and shaped from a multitude of multi-faceted lifeworlds and paths of the imperial elite and the associated narratives.