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Resource Guide for the History of Medicine and the Health Sciences

Contents:

Finding Books
Finding Journal Articles
Key Journal Titles
Handbooks and Manuals
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Associations and Organizations
Government Sites
Statistics
Major Web Sites

 

Finding Books:

When looking for books about the History of Medicine and the Health Sciences, search by subject or keyword in the NEOS Libraries' Catalogue. If you have an exact title or author that you would like to find, search by that specific field in the catalogue, otherwise do a keyword or subject heading search. Examples of relevant subject headings for the History of Medicine and the Health Sciences include:

  • medicine--history
  • history of medicine
  • [specialty]--history, i.e. neurology--history

     

If you wish to browse the stacks for books on the History of Medicine and the Health Sciences, the following Library of Congress Classification Numbers will lead you to the right area of the Scott Health Sciences Llibrary.

 

  • History of medicine: R 123+
  • History of dentistry: RK 29+
  • History of nursing: RT 11+
  • History of pharmacy: RS 61+

 

Finding Journal Articles:

To locate journal articles you need to search in either a subject database (online index) or a print bibliography for the journal literature in your field. Online indexes will provide access to journal articles published since the early-mid 1960s, while it is necessary to consult a print bibliography to access articles published before this time.

Online Subject Databases:

Once in the database, enter the key concepts that you are looking for, and combine terms you would like to find in the same article. Online search help and user guides accompany most databases. For assistance with searching, please ask reference desk staff. Key databases for the History of Medicine and the Health Sciences include:

  • Medline
    - MEDLINE (1966 to the present) covers the world's biomedical and health sciences journal literature. The type of information contained in MEDLINE ranges from the basic biomedical sciences like anatomy, physiology, biochemistry to clinical information outlining the nature and course of disease or injury, as well as its treatment. Other aspects of medicine covered by the database are: public health, health promotion, bioethics, medical education, legal aspects of medical practice, the nature of health science professions, etc. MEDLINE also contains a nursing subset and a dentistry subset, each of which indexes the major journals in these areas. To assist with history of medicine searches, MEDLINE has a subheading for History, can be limited to publication types for biography, classical article, and historical article, and has history subheadings, including centuries and historical eras.

 

  • PubMed
    - PubMed (1966 to the present) covers the world's biomedical and health sciences journal literature. The type of information contained in PubMed ranges from the basic biomedical sciences like anatomy, physiology, biochemistry to clinical information outlining the nature and course of disease or injury, as well as its treatment. Other aspects of medicine covered by the database are: public health, health promotion, bioethics, medical education, legal aspects of medical practice, the nature of health science professions, etc. PubMed also contains a nursing subset and a dentistry subset, each of which indexes the major journals in these areas. PubMed now incorporates all the history references previously available on Histline. PubMed now has a "History of Medicine" subset, under the "limits" function, allowing a search to be limited to historical articles.

 

  • Historical Abstracts
    - Historical Abstracts (1956 to the present) covers world history from 1450 to the present, excluding the United States and Canada. Coverage is very broad and takes in many areas including: medicine, religion, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, political science, the arts, law, education and geneology.

 

- America: History and Life covers all aspects of the history of Canada and the United States from prehistorical times to the present. Coverage is very broad and takes in many areas including: medicine, health and healthcare, popular culture, anthropology, folklore, sociology, cultural studies, business, the arts, law, education and genealogy. Published since 1964

 

Print Bibliographies:

  • Secondary Sources in the History of Canadian Medicine: A Bibliography. (2000)
    UA Scott Health Sci Library Reference R 461 Z9 R74 2000
  • Morton's medical bibliography : an annotated check-list of texts illustrating the history of medicine (Garrison and Morton). Morton, Leslie T. (Leslie Thomas), 1907- . 5th ed. / edited by Jeremy M. Norman.
    (1991).
    UA Scott Health Sci Library Reference R 121 Z9 G24 1991
  • The History of the Health Care Sciences and Health Care, 1700-1980: A Selective Annotated Bibliography. (1984)
    UA Scott Health Sci Library Reference R 148 Z9 E68 1984

 

Key Journal Titles:

 

The following are peer-reviewed journals held by the University of Alberta Libraries that cover the History of Medicine and the Health Sciences.

 

 

Handbooks and Manuals:

  • Dates in medicine: a chronological record of medical progress over three millenia. (2000)
    UA Scott Health Sci Library Reference R 133 D38 2000
  • A chronology of medicine and related sciences. (1997)
    UA Scott Health Sci Library R 133 M717 1997
  • The Oxford Illustrated History of Western Medicine. (1997)
    UA Scott Health Sci Library R 133 W47 1997

 

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias:

  • Encyclopedia of medical history. (1985)
    UA Scott Health Sci Library Reference R 133 M47 1985
  • Companion encyclopedia to the history of medicine. (1993)
    UA Scott Health Sci Library Reference R 133 C737 1993
  • Medical discoveries: who and when; a dictionary listing thousands of medical and related scientific discoveries. (1959)
    UA Scott Health Sci Library Reference R 131 S35 1959

 

Associations and Organizations:

Government Sites:

Statistics:

  • Historical Statistics of Canada
  • Expectations of life: a study in the demography, statistics, and history of world mortality. (1990)
    UA Scott Health Sci Library HB 1322.3 L245 1990
  • The statistical history of the United States, from colonial times until the present. (1976)
    UA Rutherford N Flr1 Reference HA 202 B94 1976
  • International historical statistics: Europe, 1750-1993. (1998)
    UA Rutherford N Flr 1 Indexes HA 1107 M68 1998

Major Web Sites:

  • Canadian Health Obituaries Index (compiled and maintained by the Osler Library, McGill University)
    An index of Canadian medical obituaries and death notices that have appeared in Canada's major medical journals since 1873.
  • A Chronology of State Medicine: Public Health, Welfare, and Related Services in Britain 1066-1999 (compiled by Michael D. Warren, Emeritus Professor of Social Medicine, University of Kent at Canterbury)
    An extensive document outlining the history of public health in Britain (pdf file).
  • Health heritage research services
    Links to dozens of medical history resources on the Web. Categories include Canadian, American, and international links, as well as links to university sites, image banks, and virtual museums.
  • History of Biomedicine (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)
    Hundreds of links to otherwise hard-to-find university publications, presentations, and departments related to the history of the health sciences.
  • History of the Health Sciences (compiled by Virginia Commonwealth University)
    A comprehensive subject hub with links to a range of resources, including databases, image banks, and discipline-specific guides.
  • History of the Health Sciences World Wide Web Links (compiled by the History of the Health Sciences Section of the Medical Library Association)
    A subject hub with many links to history of medicine resources on the Web. While the site focuses on American resources, there are also some international links.
  • Medicine and Health (part of the WWW Virtual Library for the History of Science, Technology & Medicine)
    Organized alphabetically by subject, this site's strength is its links to papers and presentations on specific topics in the history of medicine.
  • Native Health History Database (created by the Health Sciences Center Library, University of New Mexico)
    A database of articles about Native American health from 1764-1965.

 

This guide provides selected resources available through the Internet or at the University of Alberta for the History of Medicine and the Health Sciences.

Any questions, comments or suggestions about History of Medicine and the Health Sciences resources should be directed to: sandy.campbell@ualberta.ca

Last Modified: January 9, 2009.

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