Archival Sources

Introduction

Locating Finding Aids --  Archival Collections

"Archival sources" usually refers to unpublished personal papers or organizational records, including correspondence, diaries, annual reports and other material. Finding aids (inventories) of archival collections, many of which are available online, usually include a brief biographical/historical note on the creator (person or organization) of the collection.

The archival collections themselves are, of course, rich sources of information on the lives of physicians and nurses.

Locating Finding Aids

Major tools:

There are four collective databases for discovery of archival collections: ArchiveGrid, Archive Finder (subscription), SNAC, WorldCat (subscription versions exist, but difference is in the interface),

History of Medicine Finding Aids Consortium brings together the resources for locating items within archival collections related to the history of medicine and its allied sciences. Currently indexes more than 6000 finding aids from 44 special collections and archival repositories throughout the US.

For more on methods of searching for archival collections: Finding Manuscripts and Archival Collections

Archival Collections

  • Collections of hospital and medical society records may contain information on associated physicians
  • Military archives may include enlistment registers.
  • There are many archival collections available online but much, much more exists only in its original format within libraries and archives.

National Library of Medicine Directory of History of Medicine Collections map format- when you click on a state you see one or more research/archival collections

Guide to Library and Archival Collections of African Americans in Medicine and Biomedical Research

"Sources and references for research in nursing history", by Julie A. Fairman, (Nursing Research, 36(1):56-9, 1987) (Institutional Subscription) 

  •  includes an annotated list of repositories with nursing history collections

REMEDIA History of Medicine Site

  • New, newly available or underused archival material of interest to historians of medicine are listed occasionally in the Archive Magpie section 

"Researching the Career of a Nineteenth-Century Physician", by Claire Prechtel-Kluskens,  (Prologue, Summer 2004, Vol. 36, No. 2)

  • overview of sources in the National Archives

Local Sources

Many state and state institutions' libraries have rich special collections. Consult regional medical libraries for more specific information. For example:  

Alaska's UAA/APU Library Consortium Medicine and Health Special Collections

  • includes oral history transcripts, association records and personal papers. 

Useful overviews of archival procedures