Samuel Johnson, author of A Dictionary of the English Language, the first major English language dictionary. For more on Johnson, see James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson.
Dictionary of American Regional English - Documents the full range and evolution of American regional vocabulary, focusing on the regional aspects of American English, documenting words, phrases, and pronunciations that vary across American regions.
Oxford English Dictionary: English Dialect Study - An overview of topics pertaining to dialects in the English language.
Survey of English Dialects - The Survey of English Dialects (SED) was a groundbreaking nationwide survey of the vernacular speech of England. From 1950 to 1961 a team of fieldworkers collected data from 313 locations across England.