LibGuides: Researching Epidemics in the Rubenstein Library: General Resources

Online Resources

Below you'll find a selection of online resources for researching the history of epidemics. These resources provide access to digitized primary sources - including full-text books, images, and archival material - from beyond Duke that may be helpful as you research the diseases featured in this guide as well as other diseases (like typhoid fever and syphilis) that are not included. These resources can also be used to research more general subjects like vaccination and historic quarantines.

Please note that this is a starting place for locating online material and you may find other helpful resources elsewhere.

Medical Heritage Library
Medical Heritage Library is a collection of digitized books and other material related to the history of medicine. These items were scanned as part of a collaboration between libraries in both the U.S. and the U.K. In addition to digital books, the site includes digitized medical journals and a large number of images.
Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics
Contagion is a project from Harvard University providing access to digitized items from their collections that relate to the history of diseases and epidemics. Both books and archival material are included. The collection can be searched in a number of useful ways including by disease, by type of publication, and by the location of an outbreak.
U.S. National Library of Medicine
The U.S. National Library of Medicine has a large collection of online resources online including books, films, archival content, and photographs that relate to the history of medicine in the U.S. The NLM is also an excellent resource for researching more modern epidemics. The NLM is also actively collecting material related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wellcome Library
The Wellcome Library, located in London, is a research library focused on the history of medicine. The library has a large collection of material available online including books, pamphlets, posters, photographs, and film and sound recordings. The collection includes more recent epidemics (like HIV/AIDS) as well as items that provide a more global perspective on disease.
North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection
This collection from the UNC-Chapel Hill Health Sciences Library provides online access to a number of health-related publications from North Carolina including the state's Board of Health reports from the 19th and 20th centuries and several state medical journals.
Global Health Events Web Archive
Collection of websites archived by the National Library of Medicine related to global health events, including the 2014 and 2016 Ebola outbreaks, Zika virus disease in 2015-2016, and the COVID-19 outbreak. Included are websites and social media of government and non-government organizations, journalists, healthcare workers, and scientists.

Newspapers and Periodicals

Newspapers and other periodicals can be an excellent resource for understanding epidemics on both a national and more local level. Here are a few resources for locating online newspapers.

Guide to Newspapers at Duke University Libraries
This guide provides an overview of newspaper resources and links to online newspaper databases. Please note that some databases are only accessible to Duke affiliates.
The Duke Chronicle
Digitized issues of Duke's student newspaper are available from 1905 to 2000.The paper can be a useful resource for understanding how disease has impacted campus life.
North Carolina Newspapers
Collection of digitized community and student newspapers from towns and schools around North Carolina. The site also includes several African-American publications from the state.

Researching Epidemics in the Rubenstein Library: General Resources

Online Resources

Newspapers and Periodicals

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