Background & Context/Biography
Use encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks to get a general overview of a specific topic. Search HOLLIS Advanced Search for your topic and encyclopedias OR dictionaries as a subject. Example:
General
Cultural diversity in health and illness, by Rachel E. Spector, New York : Appleton-Century-Crofts [Publisher varies]
1st ed. 1979; 2nd ed. 1985; 3rd ed. 1991; 4th ed. 1996; 5th ed. 2000; 6th ed. 2004; 7th ed. 2009
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The Edinburgh Companion to the Politics of American Health, ed. by Martin Halliwell. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2022] 1 online resource ( 656 p.) HOLLIS Record
Encyclopedia of public health, edited by Lester Breslow. New York : Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. 4 v.
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Internet Archive Full Text: Vol. 1 (A-C) – Vol. 2 (D-K) – Vol. 3 (L-R) – Vol. 4 (S-Z)
Handbook of urban health : populations, methods, and practice,ed. by Sandro Galea and David Vlahov New York : Springer, 2005, 599 p.
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Internet Archive Full Text: Copy 1 --- Copy 2
Encyclopedia of public health, ed. by Wilhelm Kirch. New York : Springer, 2008. 2 v.
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Internet Archive Full Text: Vol. 1 (A-H) – Vol. 2 (I-Z)
International encyclopedia of public health, ed. by Kris Heggenhougen and Stella Quah. Amsterdam; Boston: Elsevier, 2008. 6 v.
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The Gale encyclopedia of environmental health, ed. by Jacqueline L. Longe. Detroit : Gale, Cengage Learning, 2013, 2 volumes HOLLIS Record
Internet Archive Full Text Vol.1 (A-L) -- Vol. 2 (M-Z)
Routledge handbook of the medical humanities, ed. by Alan Bleakley. London: Routledge, 2020, 443 pages
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Cambridge historical dictionary of disease (Harvard Login), ed. by Kenneth F. Kiple. Cambridge; NY: Cambridge University Press, 2003, 412 p.
Cambridge world history of human disease (Harvard Login) ed. by Kenneth F. Kiple et al. Cambridge; NY: Cambridge University Press, 1993, 1176 p.
A companion to medical anthropology, edited by Merrill Singer, Pamela I. Erickson, César E. Abadía-Barrero. 2nd edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2022, 470 pages
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Online Version
McGrew, Roderick E., and McGrew, Margaret P. 1985. Encyclopedia of Medical History. New York: McGraw-Hill.
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Health and illness : a cross-cultural encyclopedia, by David Levinson, Laura Gaccione. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 1997, 253 p.
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Asian Americans
Encyclopedia of Asian American issues today, ed. by Edith Wen-Chu Chen and Grace J. Yoo. Santa Barbara, Calif. : Greenwood Press,2010. 2 v
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Volume 1, Chapter 4; Health
Handbook of Asian American Health. by Grace J. Yoo , Mai-Nhung Ye, and Alan Y Oda.. Springer, 2014
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Black Americans
Handbook of African American health, ed. by Robert L. Hampton, Thomas P. Gullotta, Raymond L. Crowel. NY: Guilford Press, 2010, 612 pages
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Textbook of Black-related diseases, edited by Richard Allen Williams. New York : McGraw-Hill, [1975], 805 p.
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Health and medical care of African-Americans, by Wornie L. Reed, William Darity, Sr., and Noma L. Roberson. Westport, Conn.: Auburn House, 1993, 159 p.
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Handbook of Black American health : the mosaic of conditions, issues, policies, and prospects, ed. by Ivor Lensworth Livingston. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1994, 453 p.
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Hispanic Americans
"Disease, Medicine and Health." by Adrian Lopez Denis and Diego Armus in The Oxford Handbook of Latin American History. Oxford University press, 2010.
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Native Americans
Encyclopedia of Native American healing, by William S. Lyon. New York : W.W. Norton, 1996, 373 pages
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Federal health administration in the United States, by Robert D. Leigh. New York and London, Harper & Brothers, 1927, 687 pages.
HathiTrust Full Text
Chapter IX:. National Medical Care of the Indians pp. 216-247
--About Robert Devore Leigh
See: Guide to American Medical Biography
American men of science; a biographical directory, 1906- . [title varies: American men & women of science, 1971- ].
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Internet Archive Full Text (1905-1970)
Internet Archive Full Text (1971-2009) Open Year on left to select your year)
Index to editions 1/14:
Cabot Science Q141 .A471 1983 CUM. Index 1-14
Widener WID-LC Q141 .A474 (At beginning)
Widener | S 120.15.5 (shelved before 14th ed.)
Internet Archive Full TextIndexed by Biography and Genealogy Master Index (BGMI) from 12th ed. (1971/73) to present.
Dictionary of scientific biography and New Dictionary of Scientific Biography offer biographical sketches on deceased scientists, including excellent lists of primary and secondary literature. Volume 16 includes a general index and a list of scientists by field. Volumes 17 & 18 are supplements containing scientists left out of the main series and those dying between 1970 and 1981. New Dictionary of Scientific Biography contains new articles about scientists dying after 1950 and earlier figures omitted from the original Dictionary together with articles updating entries in the original.
World Biographical Information System includes the full text of thousands of biographical dictionaries. Worldwide in scope and includes dictionaries dating from the 17th through the 20th centuries in many languages. Divided into many "Archives" dealing with different countries or regions. For several archives, printed indexes are available in the Widener Reference Room. A few archives are only on microfiches in the Widener Reference Room. A more detailed description is available.
American National Biography is the standard American source for biographies of major figures. Can do searches of occupations and limit by date.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is the standard British source for biographies of major figures. Can do searches of occupations and limit by date: Advanced Search Options: People Search.
Biographical Indexes
Biography and Genealogy Master Index indexes numerous English-language biographical works. Look these up in HOLLIS.
For more information on finding biographies see Finding Biographical Information.
African American national biography, ed. by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. NY: Oxford University Press, 2013, 12 v.
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Online version (Continuously updated)
Searches can be focused in Advanced Search by Occupation, Era or Date, and other filters. Articles are scholarly with source lists.
ProQuest Black Studies is a vast conglomeration of primary and secondary source material
--Includes the searchable full text of about 300 biographical dictionaries and related works. Limit to the biographical material at Publication/Collection title. Look up and add to search: African American Biographical Database. There is no name-form control, so search unique last names alone (Pyrtle), and try various forms of more common names ("James Sanders" OR "Sanders James").
Indexing of these 300 works, not provided by ProQuest Black Studies, is available in print in:
Black biography, 1790-1950 : a cumulative index, ed. by Randall K. Burkett, Nancy Hall Burkett, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Alexandria : Chadwyck-Healey, 1991. 3 v.
HOLLIS Record In bookcase beside door into the Atkins Reference Room (Widener 2nd floor)
--Index entries include name (in inverted form; useful for browsing similar names), place of birth, birth/death dates, occupation, religion, gender.
--Volume 3 offers an index by occupation: "Medical Workers": pp. 344-366.
Contemporary Black biography. Vol. 1- Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1992-
LOCATION: Widener: RR 4781.41.59
Internet Archive Full Text
--Substantial articles (two to six pages), with source references. Each volume has about 70 articles. Many entries have photographs or interviews. Covers primarily (but not exclusively) living persons; about 80% are Americans. Indexed by nationality, occupation, subject, and name.
Who's who among Black Americans, 1975-1993.
Internet Archive Full Text
Who's who among African Americans
Internet Archive Full Text
General biographical sources listed in Finding Biographical Information.
William Montague Cobb’s (1904–1990 biographies of Black physicians.
Douglass, Melvin (1992). "The Legacy of William Montague Cobb, MD, PHD (1904–1990)". Journal of the National Medical Association. (10): 885–7.
Sampson, Calvin C (January 1991). "William Montague Cobb, MD, PhD 1904–1990". Journal of the National Medical Association. 83 (1): 13–14.
African American Medical Pioneers (print only), by C. H. Epps, Jr., D. G. Johnson & A. L. Vaughan. Rockville, MD: Betz Publishing Co., 1994.
Thirty-three biographical sketches; also includes tables of Black graduates of medical schools through the 1980s.
Biographical Dictionary of American Physicians of African Ancestry, 1800-1920 (print only), by Geraldine Rhoades Beckford. Cherry Hill, NJ: Africana Homestead Legacy Publishers Inc., 2011.
Gives location of practice, medical school with date, birth/death, family, and references.
Blacks in Science and Medicine (print only), by Vivian O. Samms. New York: Hemisphere Pub., 1990.
More than 1500 alphabetical biographies taken from published literature. Entries include dates, specialties, education, employment and organizations and where possible dissertation titles, publications and references in which persons were noted. Categorized list by fields or interest, e.g. firsts, pathologists, veterinarians, and science educators.
Breaking the Color line in Medicine : African Americans in Ophthalmology (print only), by Johnson, Lenworth N., and Daniels, O. C. Bobby. Thorofare, N.J.: Slack Inc, 2002.
Fifty-six biographical entries of varying length. Earliest b. 1864; most b. 1920s-1960s. Table of contents, photographs, References and index. Includes a section on the history of ophthalmology in the African American community.
Pathfinders: A History of The Progress of Colored Graduate Nurses, with Biographies of many Prominent Nurses (print only), by Adah B. Thoms. New York: Printed at Kay printing house, Inc. 1929.
Highly narrative style. Less dictionary, more history of nurses of color, focusing on educational institutions and notable graduates. Descriptions of individual nurses are often anecdotal in nature. Appendix include statistics on nurses of color employed within US health agencies (to 1929).
A Century of Black Surgeons: The U.S.A. Experience (print only), by C. H. Organ, Jr. and M. M. Kosiba, eds. 2 v. Norman, Ok: Transcript Press, 1987.
Sections on organizations and institutions important in the history of black surgeons; individual contributions; pioneers in various specialties/certifications. In some cases goes so far as to quote input specifically from family members and the individuals profiled. Appendices, suggested readings, index. More profiles and history of the field than biographical sketches. Portraits.