History of the Health Sciences -- Resource Guide: Access to Primary Resources
Access to Primary Sources
Listed here are sources that index and/or include works written during the time period being studied (primary sources). However, many of the works listed below also index secondary sources as well. Similarly, the section on secondary sources includes some works that index primary sources. For complete coverage, both lists should be consulted.
Books
- Morton's medical bibliography : an annotated check-list of texts illustrating the history of medicine (Garrison and Morton)Edited by Jeremy M. Norman. An annotated listing of the most important primary sources in the history of the health sciences. Arranged by broad topics and indexed by subject and author.
- Source book of medical history. [1960, c1942]Excerpts, including English translations, from the most important works in the history of medicine.
- IndexCat (1880-1961)Index Catalogue of the Surgeon General's Office. Monographs, journal articles, dissertations, theses, pamphlets, and reports (cataloged and uncataloged) are indexed in the subject catalog, Index-Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office. The Index-Catalogue indexes journal articles written from 1800 to approximately 1932. Monographs and other materials are indexed from antiquity through 1950.
See also NLM's FAQ: IndexCat Questions.
The printed Index-Catalogue is available at the Hardin Library.
- Heirs of Hippocrates This link opens in a new windowUniversity of Iowa. 1990.
Annotated catalog of the most notable works in the John Martin Rare Book Room. Over 2300 entries. - Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800 This link opens in a new windowOnline version of the microfiche set Early American Imprints, 1639-1800. Resource for aspects of life in 17th- and 18th-century America, e.g., agriculture, auctions, foreign affairs, diplomacy, literature, music, religion, the Revolutionary War, temperance, and witchcraft.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new windowDigital images of every page of 150,000 books published during the 18th Century. Full-text searching of approximately 33,000,000 pages.
- EEBO: Early English Books Online This link opens in a new windowFrom the first book published in English through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare this collection contains over 100,000 titles listed in Pollard and Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640) and Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700) and Thomason Tracts and their revised edition.
- The History of Nursing: an index to the microfiche collection[located, Information Commons East, 2nd floor]
These three volumes and the full-text microfiche collection they index, provide access to a wealth of both primary and secondary research. Vol. 1 indexes the Adelaide Nutting Historical Nursing Collection, which is primarily a monographic collection but includes reports, pamphlets, programs, and manuscripts. Vol. 2 indexes the Archives of the Department of Nursing Educations of the Teachers College of Columbia University. Vol. 3 is a supplement to the Archives and also indexes over 650 photographs and images of nursing education leaders and nursing activities from the 1880's to the 1970's. - A Bibliography of nursing literature 1859-1960 [and continuing]With an historical introduction; edited and compiled by Alice M. C. Thompson. Intended as a guide to the first 100+ years of nursing literature, beginning with Nightingale's Notes on Nursing published in 1859.
Periodical Literature
- American Periodical Series Online 1740-1940 This link opens in a new windowOver 1,100 periodicals that first began publishing between 1740 and 1900, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines, and many other historically significant periodicals. Coverage 1740-1940.
- British Periodicals This link opens in a new windowIncludes British Periodicals Collection I and British Periodicals Collection II. British Periodicals Collection I consists of more than 160 journals that comprise the UMI microfilm collection Early British Periodicals, the equivalent of 5,238 printed volumes containing approximately 3.1 million pages. Covers literature, philosophy, history, science, the fine arts and the social sciences. British Periodicals Collection II consist of more than 300 journals from the UMI microfilm collections English Literary Periodicals and British Periodicals in the Creative Arts together with additional titles, amounting to almost 3 million pages. Covers literature, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.
- C19, The Nineteenth Century Index This link opens in a new windowProvides integrated bibliographic coverage of over over 1.3 million books and official publications, and 10 million articles published in over 2,000 journals, magazines and newspapers.
- Index to Early American Periodicals This link opens in a new windowThese two (of three) 'Indexes to Early American Periodicals' cover 1700 - 1799 and 1800 - 1850 and are thought to include all known periodical publications that had their inception and ending during this time period. The actual periodicals are on microfilm in three microfilm collections of the same names (often referred to as APS I and APS II).
- Readers' Guide Retrospective This link opens in a new windowA comprehensive index to the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States. This database is available through WilsonWeb and covers the time period from 1890-1982. (Formerly on WilsonWeb)
- Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, 1824-1900 This link opens in a new windowWellesley is an index to the authorship of articles, and to the articles written by each contributor, along with brief biographical and vocational details. Citations of evidence are provided to support attributions of authorship. 45 monthly and quarterly titles are included, covering the period from the beginning of the Westminster Review in 1824 to the end of the century.
Newspapers
- 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers This link opens in a new windowThis database consists of the British Library's collection of the newspapers and news pamphlets gathered by Reverend Charles Burney. Although the majority is published in London, there are some English provincial, Irish and Scottish papers, as well as a handful of examples from the American colonies. It includes over 1,000 pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks and newspapers from the 17th and 18th centuries.
- 19th Century British Newspapers, (aka British Newspapers) This link opens in a new window
This database features British newspapers from the 19th century selected by the British Library's editorial board. Many of the newspapers are available in complete runs, and all are searchable full-text. Access includes British Library Newspapers, Part I: 1800-1900, British Library Newspapers, Part II: 1800-1900, British Library Newspapers, Part III: 1741-1950, British Library Newspapers, Part IV: 1732-1950 and British Library Newspapers, Part V: 1746-1950
- 19th Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new windowFull-text content and images from a range of urban and rural newspapers throughout the U.S., with an emphasis on such topics as the American Civil War, African-American culture, Western migration and Antebellum-era life.
- Chicago Defender, 1909-1975 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Black Newspapers Collection) This link opens in a new windowThis database provides full page and article images with searchable full text.
- Early American Newspapers, Series 1-3 and 6-7 This link opens in a new windowFor searching and browsing American newspapers published in the 17th,18th, 19th and 20th centuries, Early American Newspapers, 1690-1922 is the most comprehensive online resource available. This expanding collection offers fully searchable digital facsimiles of more than 1,500 titles from all 50 states. With eyewitness reporting, editorials, legislative information, letters, poetry, advertisements, matrimony and death notices and more, Early American Newspapers provides a chronicle of the evolution of American history, culture and daily life across three centuries.
- New York Times, 1851-2019 (Proquest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowFull-text access to the New York Times from 1851 (New York Daily Times) to 2019.
- Times Digital Archive, 1785-2007 This link opens in a new windowResearchers can search through the complete digital edition of The Times (London), using keyword searching and hit-term highlighting to retrieve full facsimile images of either a specific article or a complete page. The entire newspaper is captured, with all articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos divided into categories to facilitate searching. Current issues of The Times can be found here.
Damien Ihrig

319 335-9154
Curator, John Martin Rare Book Room