Search for keywords in nearly 6 million catalog records and 40,000 finding aids for rare books, manuscripts, images, media and artifacts at member institutions. (Circulating collections are not included.)

all keywords    any keywords

Search Examples:

Keywords

medicine 1496

Wildcard Ending

optic*

Phrase

"quantum optics"

Items at Harvard University, MIT, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, the University of Maryland, the University of Sydney, the National Library of Medicine, the University of Kansas, the University of Toronto and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are currently not included in this search hub. You can explore these collections under the "Collections Descriptions" tab.

Include in Search: 
If you do not select any boxes, all collections will be included in the search. If you wish to limit your search to specific collections, check the appropriate box(es).

American Institute of Physics
American Philosophical Society
California Institute of Technology
Cedars-Sinai
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
College of Physicians of Philadelphia
Columbia University
Drexel University
Duke University
Hagley Library
Huntington Library
Johns Hopkins University Library
Library Company
Library of Congress
Linda Hall Library
New York Academy of Medicine
Newberry Library
The Rockefeller Archive Center
Science History Institute
Smithsonian Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Oklahoma
University of Pennsylvania
Wagner Free Institute of Science
Wellcome Collection
Yale University

 

Isis Current Bibliography

of secondary sources, provided by the History of Science Society

 
 

 

We have compiled a list of digital collections and resources from our member institutions. We will continue to update this list as we receive more information.

 
 

California Institute of Technology

Major research collections available remotely:

Reference inquiries: archives@caltech.edu

 

College of Physicians of Philadelphia

Digital image library: https://www.cppdigitallibrary.org/

S. Weir Mitchell papers: https://mitchell.cppdigitallibrary.org/s/mitchell/page/intro

The College of Physicians is a partner with the Medical Heritage Library, which has a significant collection of digitzed material: http://www.medicalheritage.org/search-2/

 

Duke University

Duke Digital Collections: https://repository.duke.edu/dc

Instruction/Digital Activities & Assignments: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/instruction

Contact for research assistance: AskRL@duke.edu

 

 

Hagley Museum and Library

Finding aids: https://findingaids.hagley.org/xtf/

Digital archives: https://digital.hagley.org/

Digital exhibits: https://www.hagley.org/research/digital-exhibits

Oral history collections: https://digital.hagley.org/oralhistory?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=1e4410717a82cc925873&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0

Newsletter: https://www.hagley.org/research/research-news-events/news/all-news

Scholars' projects: https://www.hagley.org/research/news/scholar-projects

Stories from the Stacks podcast: https://www.hagley.org/research/programs/stories-stacks

Millrace podcast: https://www.hagley.org/millrace

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpQPQhnwuLEyoJ1LanZi2cA

 

Harvard University

Harvard Digital Collections: Linking to over 6 million items from Harvard’s collections.

Curiosity: curated guides to selected digitized collections at Harvard.

Colonial North America project: link to approximately 650,000 digitized pages related to 17th and 18th century North American holdings at Harvard.

Biodiversity Heritage Library, with a direct link to the Botany Libraries’ contributions and the Ernst Mayr (Museum of Comparative Zoology) Library’s contributions to the BHL.

 

Huntington Library

Research questions may be submitted to reference@huntington.org

 

Library Company of Philadelphia

Collections search: https://digital.librarycompany.org/discovery

Digital exhibits: https://librarycompany.org/research/exhibits/

Fireside chats: https://librarycompany.org/fireside-chats/

Talking in the Library podcast: https://librarycompany.org/talking-in-the-library/

 

Linda Hall Library

The Linda Hall Library's digital collections provide access to hundreds of rare books and periodicals exploring the history of science and technology from the 15th century to the present. Astronomy, mathematics, earth sciences, and natural history are all well-represented in the Library's online holdings. Historians of engineering will also find much to explore in the Library's collection of 19th century railroad journals and the A.B. Nichols Panama Canal Collection. The Library adds new items to its digital collections on a regular basis. Noteworthy recent additions include Samuel Morse’s journal, Thomas Edison’s instructions to operate an electric power plant, and an article on radioactivity by Marie Curie annotated in her own hand.

To begin reviewing the Linda Hall Library’s digital collections, visit http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/.  Please note that the Library is currently investing in a new content management system and would welcome visitor feedback on the organization of its online resources. For further information, email the Library’s Vice President for Research and Scholarship, Benjamin Gross (grossb@lindahall.org).

 

New York Academy of Medicine

Stay connected and access resources: https://www.nyam.org/library/stay-connected-update-resources-nyam-library/

 

Newberry Library

Digital resources: http://www.newberry.org/digital-newberry

Online collection: http://digcoll.newberry.org/#/

Contact a librarian: https://www.newberry.org/contact-librarian

 

Rockefeller Archive Center

Archival material is available to all researchers through DIMES (dimes.rockarch.org), RAC's online finding aid system.  When browsing finding aids, digitized materials will appear with a camera icon.  To a general search for digitized materials in DIMES, go to: https://dimes.rockarch.org/xtf/search

Significant online collections include:

  • A large portion of the Rockefeller Foundation officer diaries have been digitized (in DIMES, these finding aids appear, arranged alphabetically by officer's last name as FA391, FA392, FA393, FA394.)
  • The vast majority of records of the Foundation for Child Development (1898-1998) have been digitized.  Identified in DIMES as FA019.
  • The RAC created a digital history website for the centennial of the Rockefeller Foundation.  It includes essays, photographs and extensive digitized documents from RAC.  Available online at https://rockfound.rockarch.org/.
  • The RAC recently launched RE:source, RAC's storytelling platform, highlighting the history of philanthropy through RAC's collection.  Available online at: https://resource.rockarch.org/.

RAC has a very extensive set of research reports submitted by RAC research stipend awardees, providing broad insight into RAC collections and their historic themes.  Available online at: http://rockarch.issuelab.org/?coverage=&author=&funder=&publisher=&wikitopic_categories=&keywords=&pubdate_start_year=1&pubdate_end_year=1&sort=&categories=

With specific questions, researchers should feel free to contact Lee R. Hiltzik, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate, who serves as RAC's coordinator with the Consortium.  Lee can be reached at: lhiltzik@rockarch.org

For general questions about archival access and use, researchers should consult https://rockarch.org/collections/access-and-request-materials/

 

University of Oklahoma

Digital collection: https://repository.ou.edu/

History of Science Portrait Collection: https://digital.libraries.ou.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/LPC

Twitter: Search@OU_Libraries & @PalmeriJoAnn

Contact for research questions: JoAnn Palmeri (palmerij@ou.edu) Research Coordinator & Librarian, History of Science Collections, OU Libraries

 

Yale University

Online resources for history of medicine research: https://guides.library.yale.edu/histmedonline

Digital collections: https://library.medicine.yale.edu/digital

Contact for research questions: Melissa Grafe, melissa.grafe@yale.edu

  • The history of homeopathic medicine in the United States is rooted in the area around Allentown, Pennsylvania, where the North American Academy of the Homeopathic Healing Art was founded in 1835 as the first school in the United States to teach homeopathic medicine. Known as the Allentown Academy, the school published sixteen issues of the Correspondenzblatt der Homoeopatischen Aerzte from 1835-1836.

  • The Library of the American Philosophical Society has received the papers of Britton Chance (1913-2010), the Eldridge Reeves Johnson Emeritus Professor of Biophysics, Physical Chemistry, and Radiologic Physics at the University of Pennsylvania. Prof. Chance was a world leader in transforming theoretical science into useful biomedical and clinical applications. He developed dozens of devices for use in biomedical research, making or facilitating the making of many important discoveries.

  • The American Society for Testing and Materials, now known as ASTM International, was founded in 1898 by a group of engineers and scientists to tackle the problem of frequent break in railroad tracks. From their work grew industry-wide standards for the steel used in rail construction. Among the society’s early founders was Charles B. Dudley who worked as a chemist for the Pennsylvania Railroad. The society once shared offices with the Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia at 1315 Spruce Street. Today, ASTM International’s headquarters are in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

  • Susan Parry (circa 1833-circa 1895) of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, taught school in Lumberville, Pennsylvania in 1849. In 1858, she graduated from the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, the first medical school in the world established to train women and offer them the M.D., which was founded in 1850. She practiced medicine in Bucks County until her death in the 1890s. There are two volumes in this collection. The first is a notebook, entitled “S.

  • Two collections containing important materials relating to the history of science, technology, and medicine were recently donated to the University of Pennsylvania. The first, the Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection of Manuscripts, focuses on medieval and renaissance works. The second, given by Dr. Daniel and Eleanor Albert, includes a noteworthy medical ephemera collection.

  • Hagley announces the addition of four new collections in the history of technology, covering the rise of shooting sports, computer developments at the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), a landmark gender equality battle at AT&T, and the formative years at Singer Manufacturing Company. The papers of the Wilmington [Delaware] Trapshooting Association, founded in 1916, include board minutes, financial ledgers, and photographs that outline the history of the club.

  • George F. Parry (1838-1886) of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was one of the first veterinarians (and probably the first from Pennsylvania) to receive professional veterinary training in the United States. He graduated from the Boston Veterinary Institute in 1859, served as a veterinary surgeon with the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Civil War, and conducted a private practice in Newtown from shortly after the war until his death at age 48. George had at least two surviving siblings: Susan Parry (1826-1890), and Helen (or Helena) Parry (1829-1854). Another sister, Rachel, died in 1825.

  • The Philadelphia General Hospital photo collection is a collaboration between the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing and the Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Image (SCETI). Featuring over a thousand images which cover the full history of the PGH nursing school, this site will serve as an invaluable research resource that highlights ​the evolution of the City of Philadelphia and the growth of the nursing profession in general.

  • The University Archives and Records Center of the University of Pennsylvania is proud to announce the online publication of Medical History at the University of Pennsylvania (http://www.archives.upenn.edu/faids/subjguides/medical_history/med_hist_intro.html). Created by Senior Archivist Joseph-James Ahern and edited by the Director of University Archives Mark Frazier Lloyd, this guide is designed to assist researchers in accessing the Archives' holdings related to Medical History.

  • Pennsylvania Saving Fund Society Howe and Lescaze Design Archive (Accession 2062) Although acquired in 1993, the blueprints, drawings, and photographs by Howe and Lescaze, designers of Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Saving Fund Society Building, are being conserved and will be available at the end of October. The PSFS Building, completed in 1932, is generally regarded as the first International Style building in the United States.