Skip to Main Content

History of Medicine: Finding Primary Sources

Provides and overview of resources for studying the history of medicine at Fordham.

Using This Page

Here are some tips when searching for primary sources:

If you are looking for a specific manuscript or book, some items may be listed in the library catalog. If Fordham has access to the item, the catalog should provide an online access link or information to find the item in print (i.e. The Diaries of George Washington, 1748-1799 is available in the stacks in print).

Keep in mind how language was used at the time as well as variations on spelling when selecting search terms.

The process for searching for primary sources can be a unique journey depending on your topic or research question. For research help, contact one of the librarians assigned to this guide to get help via e-mail or request a research consultation.

Digital Archives on the History of Medicine

Wellcome Library - Digital Collections
Offering access to rare books, manuscripts, archives, films and images on the history of medicine from the earliest times to the present. Use limiters to see online items only or search by format type (book, image, manuscript, etc).

Medical Heritage Library
A digitization collaborative of American and British institutions offering open access archival content on the history of medicine and society.

U.S. National Library of Medicine, History of Medicine Division
Direct link to digital collection of biomedical resources including books, still images, videos, and maps in the public domain.

Digital Archives and Collections in the History of Medicine
The History of Medicine and Medical Humanities Research Web Portal at McMaster University curates a master list of digital collections from the medieval period onwards.

New York Academy of Medicine
Digitized materials from New York Academy of Medicine's rare book and historical collections.

Biodiversity Heritage Library
The world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives offering access to content from the 15th-21st centuries.

Anatomia Collection
Digital collection of over 4,500 full-page plates and other illustrations from the rare book collection at University of Toronto Libraries.

Research Help

Not finding the information you need?

Chat live with a librarian to get some help.

Resources Related to Witchcraft

Salem Witch Trials Archive and Transcription Project
An electronic collection of primary source materials relating to the Salem witch trials of 1692 and a new transcription of the court records.

Digital Witchcraft Collection
An online selection of 104 of the English language books from the Witchcraft Collection at Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at Cornell University Library.

Malleus Maleficarum by Christopher S. Mackay (editor and translator)
Cambridge University Press, 2006
[RH Stacks] BF1569 .I57 2006 V.1&2

Books, Pamphlets, Legal Proceedings, Registers, etc.

Gale Primary Sources Platform Search (Not Included in GRC) This link opens in a new window
Simultaneous search of the following Gale databases: American Historical Periodicals (Series 1-5), British Library 19th Century Newspapers, Eighteenth Century Collections, The Making of Modern Law, and U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978.

Medieval and Early Modern Sources Online This link opens in a new window
Digitized books and manuscripts principally from the major collections of government records of England, Ireland, and Scotland concerning economic, political, legal, and ecclesiastical history, such as treasury accounts, chronicles, papal registers, etc.

The Trial Pamphlets Collection at the Cornell University Law Library
Contemporary accounts of trials that involved prominent citizens or that dealt with controversial or lurid topics from 1600s to 1800s.

London Lives 1690 to 1800
A fully searchable edition of 240,000 manuscripts from eight archives and fifteen datasets on the lives of everyday Londoners.

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913
Searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.

Colonial North America - Digital Collections from Harvard Library
This growing collection provides a deeper look at several topics—such as food, medicine, slavery and more relating to 17th and 18th-century North America.

Periodicals, Books, Pamphlets

Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans Digital Edition This link opens in a new window
New Interface 1/4/24. From Readex. Books, pamphlets, and broadsides published during the 17th and 18th centuries from the bibliography by Charles Evans and Roger Bristol's Supplement.

Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker This link opens in a new window
New interface 1/4/24. From Readex. Books, pamphlets, and broadsides published during the early 19th century from the bibliography by Ralph R. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker.

Early English Books Online, 1473-1700 This link opens in a new window
This collection contains more than 125,000 books and pamphlets printed in English.

Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Full text of 180,000 books published from 1700 to 1799. Transitioning to a new platform. Not all Browse functions working.

American Periodicals (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Full text of over 1,500 journals published between 1740 and 1940.

American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 1-5 (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Provides digital access to the most comprehensive collection of American American magazines and journals beginning in 1691.

HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Global partnership of major research institutions and libraries including over 6 million public domain books and serials.

Newspapers at Fordham

America's Historical Newspapers, Early American Series 1-5 (1690-1922) This link opens in a new window
Database of American newspapers from Colonial times until the advent of Prohibition

British Library Newspapers, 1800-1900 (Parts I & II) This link opens in a new window
Collection of 69 newspapers from early tabloids to radical papers from the British Library.

Resources at New York Public Library

The following databases are available online if you have a library card with the New York Public Library:

British Library Newspapers
Full-text digital archive of over 160 historic national, regional, and home country newspapers from the British Isles from 1732 to 1950.

17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers
Early English newspapers from London, the British Isles, and British colonies including newsbooks, acts of Parliament, addresses, broadsides, pamphlets, and proclamations.

Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive
Access requires a library card at New York Public Library. Several million cross-searchable pages of books, serials, supreme court records and briefs, and key manuscript collections from the United States, Great Britain, and France concerning debates of slavery and abolition, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the Institution of Slavery, and the Age of Emancipation.

Medieval Manuscripts

BiblioPhilly - Bibliotheca Philadelphiensis
The online home for the medieval manuscript digitization project of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL).

Digitised Manuscripts at the British Library
View digital copies of manuscripts and archives in the British Library’s collections including descriptions of their contents.

The France and England Project : Medieval Manuscripts between 700 and 1200
A partnership between the British Library and the National Library of France (BnF) funded by the Polonsky Foundation.

Reference & Instruction Department

Reference & Instruction Department
Fordham University Libraries

Walsh Library ♦ Rose Hill Campus ♦ 718-817-3586
Quinn Library ♦ Lincoln Center Campus ♦ 212-636-6050
Fordham Westchester Library ♦ Fordham Westchester Campus ♦ 914-367-3061
library@fordham.edu ♦ text 71-TXTX-1284 ♦ Ask a Librarian (Chat)