Bibliographic control is the context in which authority control develops and distinguishes itself. Within the allowed limits I’ll draw a concise evolutive profile of authority control in the last forty years considering various aspects: theoric analysis, rules and standards, implementations, relating to the technological innovation of the catalogue and to the changing context in which libraries work. For the sake of brevity and simplification, I’ll refer above all to personal authors, but the paper intends to comprehend – with the due adaptations – also corporate bodies and titles. I note three stages: the beginning one (Sixties), the development one (Seventies and Eighties) and the turning-point one (Nineties).