History of Medicine Division, NLM

Online Services

Online Images from the History of Medicine (a searchable database of nearly 60,000 images from the prints and photographs collection)
Online Exhibitions
- New Frontiers in Health Communication (Brochure Prepared for the Sesquicentennial of the NLM, 1986)
- Origins of the National Institutes of Health (The Flags and Organizations Under Which It Has Served) (1991)
- Cesarean Section -- A Brief History (1993)
- Paracelsus, Five Hundred Years; Three American Exhibits (in collaboration with the Libraries of Hahnemann University and the Washington University School of Medicine, 1993)
- THE ART OF MEDICINE at the 21st Century [Work by May Lesser] (1994)
- PEREZ ON MEDICINE: The Whimsical Art of Jose Perez (1994)
- Images from the History of the Public Health Service (1994)
- Planned for the future:
  - "If you knew the conditions ...;" Health Care to Native Americans (1994)
  - Islamic Culture and the Medical Arts (Arabic and Persian manuscripts from the NLM collection; 1994)
  - Ellis Island; America's Immigration Cornerstone (in collaboration with the U.S. Public Health Service, 1993)
  - Many other past and future exhibitions (watch this spot!)

General Description

The Library's resources for historical scholarship in the medical and related sciences are among the richest of any institution in the world. Collected over many years, they include rarities and exhaustive materials for the support of studies in the history of human health and disease.

Collections

The History of Medicine Division (HMD) holds:

All of the Library's material printed before 1914, and thousands of later pamphlets and dissertations, totaling some 600,000 pieces. About 70,000 of these were printed before 1801; some 550 before 1501.
Ninety early western manuscripts (before 1600) and microfilm copies of about 600 manuscripts held by European libraries.
Modern manuscripts numbering an estimated 1,000,000 items, including about 200 oral history memoirs.
Prints and photographs, including portraits, pictures of institutions, caricatures, genre scenes, and fine graphic art in a variety of media, illustrating social and historical aspects of medicine, totaling about 57,000 items.
Audiovisuals, including films, videocassette slide-tape programs, film strips, and audiocassettes numbering about 3000 titles produced between 1917 and 1970.
Special collections of Arabic and oriental medical literature.

Services

All HMD material is available for use within the Library, except for certain modern manuscripts under temporary donor-imposed restrictions. Most is also available in one form or another for use outside the Library. Generally, however, it will be necessary for investigators to visit the Library if they wish to undertake extensive research in the collections.

Printed works: These may generally be borrowed by libraries in the United States through the Regional Medical Library Network, usually as microfilm or other photocopy. Individuals should submit interlibrary loan requests through the library of their choice.

Manuscripts: These materials are not lent outside the Library in the original. Early manuscripts may ordinarily be copied on microfilm. More recent collections, because of their size, copyright, and possible donor restrictions, usually cannot be copied in their entirety. Each request is considered individually. Those interested should write to the Curator of Manuscripts.

Prints and Photographs: Though the Library does not lend material from the Prints and Photographs Collection, photographic prints and slides may be ordered for a fee as a special service. Patrons who cannot visit the Library may write to the Curator of Prints and Photographs stating their needs, and HMD will attempt to provide them with lists of available pictures on their subjects of interest. Requests should be defined as carefully and narrowly as possible. Slides and photographs of title pages, illustrations, and other special pages in books may also be ordered.

Audiovisuals: Most audiovisual titles are available through interlibrary loan. Arrangements may be made in some cases for the production and purchase of copies. Because of the variety and complexity of technology used to view these audiovisuals, on-site viewing is best arranged in advance.

Reference Service: HMD provides limited reference service in response to specific questions about the Library's holdings or other aspects of medical history. Questions involving significant research time cannot be answered, nor can extensive bibliographies on medico-historical topics be prepared. Citations to material published since 1964 may be found in the Library's annual Bibliography of the History of Medicine. Citations to works published since 1970 may also be searched in HISTLINE" (History of Medicine Online), a database available through NLM's MEDLARS" system.

Finding Guides

Most of HMD's monograph and serial titles, as well as most modern manuscript collections, may be searched in NLM's online catalog, CATLINE, and also in RLIN and OCLC. However, HMD's extensive collections of 19th and 20th century pamphlets and dissertations, and certain other specialized collections, are not available in online databases. Card catalogs for many of HMD's holdingsÃ„printed, manuscript, and pictorialÃ„are available for use at the Library. In addition, guides to much of this material have been published. The NLM Catalog on microfiche is created from CATLINE and therefore has the same limitations noted above. HMD is in the process of creating a videodisc with automated records of its picture collection. The RLIN system also contains records for a small portion of it.

Several specialized catalogs are also useful guides to HMD materials acquired prior to the date of publication:

Dorothy M. Schullian, A Catalogue of Incunabula and Manuscripts in the Army Medical Library (1950)

Richard J. Durling, A Catalogue of Sixteenth Century Printed Books in the National Library of Medicine (1967)

Peter Krivatsy, A Catalogue of Incunabula and Sixteenth Century Printed Books in the National Library of Medicine, First Supplement (1971) and A Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Printed Books in the National Library of Medicine (1989)

For works printed between 1701 and 1800, except dissertations, see:

John B. Blake, A Short Title Catalogue of Eighteenth Century Printed Books in the National Library of Medicine (1979)

For searching many HMD materials, especially pamphlets, dissertations, and journal articles from the 19th and 20th centuries, this title is still invaluable:

Index-Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office, U.S. Army (61 volumes in 5 series, 1880-1961). The National Library of Medicine was formerly the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office.

The National Union Catalog Pre-1956 Imprints is useful for some purposes, but absence of an NLM record in NUC should not be taken as evidence that the Library does not own the title.

The ninety NLM European manuscripts written before the seventeenth century are listed in:

Early Western Manuscripts in the National Library of Medicine: A Short-Title List (1989) by Elizabeth Tunis. (Free copies are available by writing to the address below.)

Additional information about some of the manuscripts may be found in:

Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts (1937) by Seymour De Ricci and W.J. Wilson and its Supplement (1962) by C.U. Faye and W.H. Bond.

Many are described more fully in Schullian's Catalogue, which also includes a section on HMD's Arabic, Persian, and related manuscripts, prepared by Francis E. Sommer.

Cataloging data for modern manuscripts are reported to and published in:

The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections.

For additional information write to:

History of Medicine Division
National Library of Medicine
Bethesda, Maryland 20894
Phone: (301) 496-5405
FAX: (301) 402-0872

Parent document within HyperDOC hierarchy
HyperDOC home page

NLM HyperDOC / History of Medicine Division / August 1994