Research Guides: History of the Health Sciences: Other Collections

Online Resources from Other Institutions

We've created a small collection of online resources from History of Medicine/Health Sciences libraries, archives, special collections, and museums. While these are great resources to peruse and become inspired, please take care when using photographs from these sites. Many institutions have policies in place for their works, so when in doubt, check with them.

Blogs

Blogs are a great way to get quick information on artifacts and images. When starting a new project, browsing blogs can help you to find something you've never seen before, but want to learn more about. These blogs include background information that may jumpstart your research.

Health Sciences Library Special Collections Blog at UNC-Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's health sciences collection has a tumblr page. It's updated almost daily, and includes scans of books, pictures of artifacts, and historical background information to get you started on your research.
Mount Sinai Archives Blog
Founded in 1852, Mount Sinai is one of the oldest teaching hospitals in the US. With over 150 years of hospital history, the Mount Sinai Archives is very busy collecting, preserving, and displaying its resources. Updated every few weeks, this blog includes detailed descriptions of photographs, scans, and artifacts.
The Blog of Archives & Special Collections at Columbia University
Blog is updated by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library Archives and Special Collections librarians, at Columbia University. New content is added a few times a month. Many postings include information on newly digitized resources, many of which are available online for non-affiliated students (that's you!).
Dittrick Museum of Medical History Blog
The Dittrick Museum of Medical History was founded in 1898 in Cleveland, Ohio. The museum houses a wide range of artifacts, images, and rare books pertaining topics such as: Early Medical practice and Education, Laboratory Medicine, Hospital Medicine, and more. The museum blog, which is updated a few times a month, serves as a mini-online exhibit showcase. Each post includes a collection of photographs of artifacts, images, or scans from books, as well as background information for the viewer.

Digital Collections

These institutions made impressive amounts of their collection available to unaffiliated users. Digital collections allow you to experience historical images, renderings, texts, and letters. Additionally in these collections you may also find photographs of artifacts. Utilizing these collections will allow you to investigate resources that may not included in UW-Madison's collection. As always, be sure to read policies of each institution for reproduction and acknowledgement information.

Historical Medical Library of the College of Physicians Philadelphia
This library boasts an extensive digital collection, including over 1,900 images, over 1,500 scanned documents, as well as online exhibits. This page also links to the Medical Heritage Library blog, which often spotlights an image and describes the artifact.
Northwestern University Special Collections- Digital Hub
Northwestern University is piloting a digital collection titled the “Digital Hub.” Currently it is in beta, and so there are limited resources available. Hopefully, more resources will be uploaded shortly. In addition to scholarly research, some photographs are included in this collection. Those are located in “Photos from the Vault.”
Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine- On View
On View describes itself as “Curated content from the Center for the History of Medicine's extraordinary collections.” It is part of the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, which is an alliance between the Boston Medical Library and Harvard Medical School. The Center contains oral histories, images, online exhibits, and more that are available for all to view. Helpfully, citation information is available for each artifact.
American Medical Association Digital Archives
Includes digitized Historical Monographs, Transactions, Digest of Actions, and House of Delegates Proceedings from the American Medical Association.
Clendening History of Medicine Library and Museum
Digitized documents are available here. Among other artifacts, Florence Nightingale Letters, a collection of Japanese Medical Prints, Chinese Public Health Posters can be found through Digital Clendening. Helpfully, the homepage of Digital Clendening also includes information on how to legally use the collection.
Amistad Research Center- Digital Projects
The Amistad Research center has digitized a lot of content so off site researchers can utilize their rich and dynamic resources. The above link takes you to the main page of the digital collection, here you can see a more detailed list of the collection. The Social Framework: Photographs by Marion Palfi, 1945-1960, in particular contains images of hospitals.
Lillian & Clarence Chapelle Medical Archives- Digital Archives:
Description of the collection from the Archives homepage: "The historic images collection, featuring photographs and some illustrations, of faculty, buildings, special events, and activities related to the NYU School of Medicine, the NYU Medical Center, Bellevue Hospital and the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, among others. The images in the digital image collection represent a small percentage of the Archives' photographic collections, which date from the late 19th century to present."
source: https://archives.med.nyu.edu/islandora/object/islandora%3Aroot
Health Sciences Library Special collections- UNC-Chapel Hill
The Health Sciences Library at UNC-Chapel Hill continues to digitize historical journals, pamphlets, and books, archival collections, as well as contemporary health-related materials. These resources are available for all to use. The library has digitized documents pertaining to North Carolina in particular as well as resources that are useful for a wider geographic spectrum.

Photo Collections

These photograph collections give a snapshot of artifacts and books, but they do not include much (if any) background information. Nonetheless, they are quick to browse and may include beneficial resources for your research.

Lane Medical Library Special Collections-Stanford University
Stanford Medical History Center photostream on Flickr. This stream includes images of Stanford medical facilities as well as snapshots of physicians, nurses, and examination rooms.
Becker Medical Library- Image Gallery
Located Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the Becker Medical Library houses medical archives and rare books. Checkout their website: https://becker.wustl.edu/resources/arb, for online exhibits, oral histories, and images. When you’re at the image gallery, clicking one of the three large images will link you to a full online index.
Duke University- History of Medicine Collections
Though updated sporadically, this Flickr stream contains a mixture of images from Duke’s collection as well as event photos. The photographs that are included are of beautiful artifacts and illustrations pertaining to anatomy.

Oral Histories

American Academy of Pediatrics- Pediatric History Center
The Pediatric History Center is committed to recording the oral history of pediatrics. Trained volunteers interview pediatricians in order to document the development of the profession. Profiles of the interviewees as well as transcripts of their interviews are available online.
Becker Medical Library - Oral histories
This site includes oral histories of Washington University St. Louis School of Medicine figures. You can listen to the interview or read the transcript.

Library Research Guides - University of Wisconsin Ebling Library

History of the Health Sciences : Other Collections

Online Resources from Other Institutions

Blogs

Digital Collections

Photo Collections

Oral Histories