Outreach News

NLM’s Links to the Past

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is the world's largest biomedical research library. As such it carries enormous responsibilities in many areas. One of the more interesting responsibilities to history buffs is the gathering, maintenance and provision of access to an amazing history of medicine collection.

The History of Medicine Division [HMD] provides access to approximately 59,000 items that cover the historical aspects of medicine as well as the social. The collection is diverse and extensive, including:

• All book-length material in NLM printed before 1914.
• All journals prior to 1871.
• Thousands of pamphlets and dissertations.
• Western manuscripts prior to 1600.
• Modern Manuscripts Collection (includes over 250 oral histories).
• Prints & Photographs Collection (includes caricatures, and other graphic arts in a variety of media).
• Historical Audiovisual Collection (includes materials produced between 1917 – 1970).
• A collection of Arabic and Persian medical manuscripts.
• Reprints of over 1,300 important Chinese medical works, dating from the pre-Han dynasty.
  

Special Projects

This division also takes part in specialized projects such as the Profiles in Science® web site that makes the archival collections of pioneering biomedical scientists of the 20th century available. For example, if you’d like to read the personal correspondence of Linus Pauling, two time Nobel Prize winner, it is available on this site. The Profiles in Science® web site is accessible at http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/.

Exhibits are also put together by the HMD focusing on certain areas of biomedical science. Images from the various collections are compiled to create fascinating tours through medicine’s history. One of the most popular was the 1998 exhibit of Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature. Current exhibits and images from past exhibits are available on the web site at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/exhibit_pub.html.

Image Database

One of the most interesting responsibilities of the HMD is the maintenance and growth of the Images of History of Medicine (IHM) database. Looking for an image of the 9th Infantry's wheelchair brigade? You could find a photo in the database. Need depictions of the plague from the 17th century? That is available as well.

Over 60,000 images from NLM's historical prints and photographs collection make up this highly specialized database. The images are primarily from periods prior to the 20th century. There are various ways of searching the IHM database. Keyword searches look for your typed term in the item's description and can be limited to title, subject or author. A Browse feature is also included in alphabetic order. To search the IHM database, visit: http://wwwihm.nlm.nih.gov/. The HMD collection is open to the public Monday - Friday, 8:30 - 5:00 pm, except on federal holidays.

To find out if NLM has a particular item in its History of Medicine collection please call the UAMS Library’s Reference Desk at 686-6734. We will be happy to help you.

Also, if you have an interest in the medical history of Arkansas, the UAMS Library houses an extensive Historical Research Center and Archives. To view items in our collection, please contact Margaret Johnson at 686-6733.