Journal Articles

Books

Biographical Information

Images & Portraits

History of Medicine around the World

Historical Statistics

Scholarly Societies for the History of Medicine

Selected Modern Manuscript and Archival Collections at the University of Chicago Library

John Crerar Library Collection of Rare Books in the History of Science and Medicine

This guide is meant to be general a starting point to biographical research in the history of medicine, primarily within North America.

1. Indexes to the Journal literature
2. Useful resources
3. Medline search tips

• As a general rule 19th and 20th century articles are relatively more straightforward to locate then pre 19th century. The further back in time you go, the more difficult/time consuming your search of the primary literature will be. Online databases extend back only to 1958 at the moment. The establishment of an "authoritative" print index extends back to the Catalogue of the library of the Surgeon general's office(1873) while the journal article, as we know it, wasn't "born" until 1665.
• Interested in the history of scientific communication? View an online exhibition by the department of special collections at The University of Chicago Library entitled "THE SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE: From the Republic of Letters to the World Wide Web". By Joseph E. Harmon, Argonne National Laboratory and Alan G. Gross, University of Minnesota.

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Indexes to the Journal literature

• 1966- Present. Medline (PubMed or Ovid version). Limit your subject search to the subheading "history" (For example surgery/ history [MESH]) or use the MeSH browser to see what subject terms are available under "History." Coverage 1966 - present.
  
  
• 1957-1965 To ensure a comprehensive retrieval of citations published during this time use both
  1. Old Medline (Contains citations published from 1957-1965 in the Cumulated Index Medicus. Unlike MEDLINE, this file contains no abstracts nor Mesh heading (MH) field data. Use the "Jump to Collection" button to limit search results to the Old Medline file)
  2. Medline (PubMed or Ovid version)
     • Read the "MEDLINE Citations Prior to 1966" to understand why you should use both for a comprehensive search. Also read: U.S. National Library of Medicine Factsheet: "How do I identify older medical journal articles in medicine?"
       
       
• 1976 - present History of Science, Technology & Medicine Indexes books, conference proceedings and articles from over 600 journals and is international in scope.
  
  
• 1970 - present Historical Abstracts The fundamental indexing and abstracting tool for modern history. Abstracts and indexes articles and reviews appearing in 2,000 journals published worldwide, from 1954, covering world history since 1450. Includes key historical journals from nearly every country, and selective coverage of social science and humanities journals in related fields. Also see the print copy from v.1-16(1955-1970) at the Joseph Regenstein Library, Third Floor Reading Room.
  
  
• 1965 - 1993 Bibliography of the history of medicine. US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine ; Washington, D.C Crerar Lib, Reference, floor 1 Z6660.B58 The Bibliography of the History of Medicine is a printed version of the now retired HISTLINE database (HISTLINE records where added to PubMed in 2001), published in six cumulative volumes (1965-1993)
  
  
• 1954 - present. Current Work in the History of Medicine. (Wellcome bibliography for the History of Medicine). Wellcome Historical Medical Library." A monthly listing of periodical articles on the history of medicine and allied sciences. It is indexed primarily using the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) developed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and is arranged in a broad NLM subject classification."
• • 1954-1999 Crerar Reference, floor 1 Z6660.C94
  • 1991- present Wellcome Library Catalog either via the main search page, or as monthly, browseable updates.
  
  
• 1947- 1979 Excerpta medica: a complete monthly abstracting service of the world medical literature. Similar to Index Medicus but covers more of the international literature. Good coverage of the pharmaceutical sciences. Issue in numbered sections i.e. Section 3: Endocrinology etc. Crerar Lower Level Z6660.E9
  
  
• 1941- 1959 Current list of medical literature. "Privately published under the auspices of the Executive Committee of the Friends of the Army Medical Library." Earlier title: Quarterly cumulative index medicus ... Crerar Reference, floor 1 Z6660.C92
  
  
• 1916-1927. Quarterly cumulative index medicus. Chicago, American Medical Association. Earlier title: Index medicus, Quarterly cumulative index to current medical literature Later title: Current list of medical literature, Cumulated index medicus
  (1960-) Crerar Reference Z6660.Q21
  
  
• 1883 Index-Catalog of the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office (ICLSGO). Crerar Dewey Collection 017.73 S96121
  
  
• 1879-1898/1899; 1903-1927 Index medicus, a ... classified record of the current medical literature of the world. Later title: Quarterly cumulative index to current medical literature; Quarterly cumulative index medicus. Crerar Reference Z6660.I4
  
  
• 1879 -1886 Wood's library of standard medical authors, 1879-1886 : a checklist / compiled by Philip M. Teigen. Bethesda, Md. : History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, 1985. Crerar Lower Level Z6676.W66 1985

• 1873-74 Catalogue of the library of the Surgeon general's office, United States Army. National Library of Medicine (US) Crerar Dewey Collection 017.73 S9612
  
  
• 1820-1910 American medical imprints, 1820-1910 : a checklist of publications illustrating the history and progress of medical science, medical education, and the healing arts in the United States : a preliminary contribution / Francesco Cordasco ; foreword by James Tait Goodrich. Crerar Reference, floor 1 Z6661.U6C79
  
  
• 1800-1900 Catalogue of scientific papers, 1800-1900 : subject index / Royal Society of London. International in scope. Crerar Reference, floor 1 Z7403.R88.
  
  
• 1800's 19th Century Masterfile/Poole's Plus Provides indexing to nineteenth century periodicals, books, newspapers, and government documents. Coming soon to this file: Index Medicus.
  
  
• 1700-1980 The history of the health care sciences and health care, 1700-1980 : a selective annotated bibliography / Jonathon Erlen. New York : Garland, 1984. Crerar Reference, floor 1 Z6658.E69
  
  
• 1668-1820 Early American medical imprints : a guide to works printed in the United States, 1668-1820 / by Robert B. Austin. Washington : US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, 1961. Crerar Reference, floor 1 Z6661.U6A5
  
  
• 1660-1800 Medicine in Great Britain from the Restoration to the nineteenth century, 1660-1800 : an annotated bibliography / compiled by Samuel J. Rogal. Crerar Lower Level Z6661.G7R630 1992
  
  
• 1639-1783 American medical bibliography 1639-1783 : A chronological catalogue, and critical and bibliographical study of books, pamphlets, broadsides, and articles in periodical publications relating to the medical sciences--medicine, surgery, pharmacy, dentistry, and veterinary medicine--printed in the present territory of the United States of America during British dominion and the Revolutionary War / Pref. by Lawrence C. Wroth. New York : L.C. Harper, 1962. Series: Yale University. Dept. of the History of Science and Medicine. Publication no. 40 Crerar Reference, floor 1 Z6659.G91

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Useful resources

• Having trouble verifying an old journal citation? Your reference may have been mis-cited by accident. Conversely, you might be surprised to learn how often people don't actually read the papers they cite (gasp!) and pass on incorrect information. If you can't find your author in a print index above, try the Web of Science/Science Citation Index to see what variations of your citation have published. Read the Cited Reference Searching on Web of Science guide to learn how to find these cited references. Does this sound confusing? Call the Reference Desk at 2-7715 to ask how to use this database to supplement your search for elusive citations.
  
  
• Dissertation Abstracts. Capitalize on the efforts of other student-researchers. Your topic may have already have been covered by another graduate student, but never published commercialdocly. You can read their work and follow the citations they have already discovered! DA covers dissertations accepted at accredited institutions since 1861. Titles published since 1997 are available in PDF digital format.
  
  
• Contributions to the history of medicine [by] Fielding H. Garrison. Introd. by Martin M. Cummings. New York, Hafner Pub. Co., 1966. History of medicine series. no. 27. "From the Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 1925-1935." Crerar Stacks R131.G31
  
  
• Morton's medical bibliography : an annotated check-list of texts illustrating the history of medicine (Garrison and Morton). 5th ed. / edited by Jeremy Norman. Aldershot, Hants, England : Scolar Press ; Brookfield, Vt., USA : Gower, c1991. Crerar Reference, floor 1 Z6660.8.M670 1991
  
  
• Kelly, Emerson Crosby. Encyclopedia of medical sources. Baltimore : Williams & Wilkins Co., 1948. Handy resource for tracking down medical "firsts." The author presents a compilation of the "earliest or best article" for a given topic. Crerar Reference, floor 1 Z6658.K3
  

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Medline search tips

Looking for articles about people?

1. Restrict a search to the Personal Name as Subject field [ps].
   For example: varmus h [Ps].
2. Also try limiting your search to the biography[Publication Type] filed.
   For example: biography[Publication Type] AND varmus h

Looking for a "classic article"?

1. Republished seminal articles are noted in Medline with the "Classical Article" field." For example: classical article [Publication Type] AND surgery
2. Also try limiting your search to Historical Article [for articles about past events] field.
   For example: Historical Article [pt] AND depression