OHSU History of Medicine Library

Introduction to Searching for Historical Materials | Starting Points | Other Web Resources

Introduction to Searching for Historical Materials

Medical Subject Headings comprise the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary used for indexing articles, for cataloging books and other holdings, and for searching MeSH-indexed databases, including the OHSU Library Catalog and MEDLINE. The following are the main subject headings which have been assigned to materials relating to history:

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Starting Points

OHSU Library Catalog
The OHSU Library collection includes a number of monographs on historical figures and topics, indexed by author, title, and MeSH heading. For search assistance, see the section above entitled Introduction to Searching for Historical Materials. Please note that many historical materials in the OHSU Library are located in the History of Medicine Room or offsite storage and may not be immediately accessible. For more information, please see the section below entitled Using Historical Materials in the OHSU Library.

Summit Catalog
The Summit union catalog is a consolidated, merged catalog of holdings from twenty-seven libraries in Oregon and Washington and the Center for Research Libraries. It includes holdings of teh Health Sciences Library at the University of Washington. Information on Summit borrowing can be found at http://www.ohsu.edu/library/orbiscascade.shtml.

WorldCat
WorldCat includes over 35 million bibliographic records for all types of library materials, along with information about which libraries hold them. Searching WorldCat is an excellent way to find out what materials are available on a given topic; materials of interest can then be requested via interlibrary loan.

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Other Web Resources

Images from the History of Medicine
According to information on the site, "This system provides access to the nearly 60,000 images in the prints and photograph collection of the History of Medicine Division (HMD) of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). The collection includes portra its, pictures of institutions, caricatures, genre scenes, and graphic art in a variety of media, illustrating the social and historical aspects of medicine." Images may be searched or browsed by author, title, or subject keyword.

National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections
The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, affectionately known as NUCMC ("nuckmuck"), includes catalog information for manuscript collections in repositories around the United States. Records in the database describe the collection, what it documents, and the types of material available, as well as the location of the collection. To access the database, click the link above and select one of the following options: RLIN AMC File Easy Search Form (word list), RLIN AMC File Easy Search Form (left-anchored phrase), or RLIN AMC File Advanced Search Form.

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Last updated July 1, 2008 by the OHSU Library Web Managers. Please send comments, questions, and reports of problems to the Library through the customer support form.