LibGuides: History: Primary Sources by Era or Topic: History of medicine

History of Medicine: Primary source collections

Medical Services and Warfare
1850s-1930s
Primary sources from Crimean War, the American Civil War and the First World War tell the story of medical advances during warfare, including the outbreak of the influenza epidemic in 1918 and the discovery of penicillin in 1927.
Popular Medicine in America
1800-1900
Advertising pamphlets, trade cards, posters and promotional work by commercial manufacturers of medical aids revealing trends such as phrenology, herbal medicine and hydrotherapy.
Sex & Sexuality
1800s-2010s
Archival research collections exploring changing attitudes towards human sexuality, gender identities and sexual behaviors and investigating the breadth and complexity of human sexual understanding through the work of leading sexologists, sex researchers, organizations and personal accounts.
Please be aware that this resource contains material of a sexually explicit nature. Includes official records of pressure groups and community organizations, anonymous qualitative surveys, diaries, correspondence, periodicals, photographs, erotic fiction and visual erotica, papers of sexologists, newsletters, reports, pamphlets and ephemera.
Environmental History
Good for: Exploring the history of the environment, public policy and social activism aimed at conservation.
Contains: Primary sources in manuscript collections from activists and advocacy organizations, plus records from government agencies.
Dates Covered: 1870-early 1990s.
Global Issues Library: Environmental Issues Online
Good for: Researching the history of environmental issues like climate change, water and air pollution, biodiversity, conservation, agriculture, deforestation and more.
Contains: Archival collections, published works, government information and historical documentary films
Dates covered: 1900-current
Environmental Issues Online brings together multimedia materials (text, archival, primary sources, video and audio) around key environmental challenges, including climate change, water/air pollution, biodiversity, conservation, agriculture, deforestation and more. The database is curated around specific environmental issues and events from the 20th and 21st centuries. Reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of the field of Environmental Studies, content is drawn from discipline perspectives including: Anthropology, Diplomacy, Ecology, Economics, Geography, History, Law, Medicine, Politics & Policy, Sociology, and Photography.

Online texts and images

Anatomia
Medical illustrations from printed works, 1522-1867.
Antiqua Medicina: From Homer to Vesalius
Exhibit on Greek, Roman and Byzantine documents and practices.
Artifacts from the history of medicine
Duke digital collection of images of medical tools and equipment
Base de Datos Gráfica de la Historia de la Medicina Española
College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library
Images and exhibits from their collection
Contagion: Historical views of diseases and epidemics
The collection provides general background information on diseases and epidemics worldwide, and is organized around significant “episodes” of contagious disease. Materials include digitized copies of books, serials, pamphlets, incunabula, and manuscripts — a total of more than 500,000 pages from Harvard university's collections.
Historical Images in Medicine
Duke University has digitized over 3,000 photographs, illustrations, engravings, and bookplates from the history of the health and life sciences
Historical Medical Poster Collection
Digitized from Yale
Influenza Encyclopedia
Digital collection of archival, primary, and interpretive materials related to the history of the 1918-1919 influenza epidemic in the U.S. (Univ. of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine)
London’s Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
Annual reports produced by the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) of a district which set out the work done by public health and sanitary officers.
Medical heritage library
The MHL’s growing collection of digitized medical rare books, pamphlets, journals, and films number in the tens of thousands, with representative works from each of the past six centuries, all of which are available through the Internet Archive.
Medical History of British India, 1850-1920
Official publications varying from short reports to multi-volume histories related to disease, public health and medical research.
Medicine and Madison Avenue
Duke University collection of advertising related to medicine.
NLM Medicine in the Americas digital library
Original works demonstrating the evolution of American medicine from colonial frontier outposts of the 17th century to research hospitals of the 20th century. 1610-1920.
NLM Native Voices project
Concepts of health and wellness in some Native American communities
NLM oral histories
National Library of Medicine's Archives and Modern Manuscript Program's (AMMP) Oral History Collections cover a broad range of topics, people and institutions from throughout the medical and health sciences, 1960-present.
Osler Library Prints Collection
Visual documents related to the history of medicine, predominantly prints with some photographs, drawings, posters, and cartoons.
Rockefeller Foundation: Public Health
Seeing is Believing (NYPL)
200 years of medical illustration. Illustrations were essential in spreading new scientific and medical ideas and it was often the case that new developments in the sciences were accompanied by corresponding developments in illustrative techniques.
Truth tobacco industry documents
An archive of 14 million documents created by tobacco companies about their advertising, manufacturing, marketing, scientific research and political activities, hosted by the UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management.
US Army medicine books and documents
U.S.Army Medical Department Office of Medical History
Wellcome Collection
Who named it?
Dictionary of disease or anatomical conditions named after people. Includes biography of the persons the condition was named after.

History: Primary Sources by Era or Topic

History of Medicine: Primary source collections

Online texts and images

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