Important Figures in the History of Medicine

• Profiles in Science: National Library of Medicine – Contains the archival collections of prominent scientists, physicians, and others who have made significant contributions to science and medicine
• Alfred Russel Wallace Online – The complete writings of 19th century British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace
• Archives for Women in Medicine: Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School – letters, photographs, research records, and other materials documenting the ongoing evolution of women’s contributions in medicine
• Charcot Collection: Jubilotheque – The papers of 19th century French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot
• Codebreakers: The Makers of Modern Genetics: Wellcome Digital Collections – The papers of 22 scientists and organizations relating to genetics research and biochemistry from the years 1863 to 2008.
• Digital Collections: Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory Library and Archives – original correspondence, laboratory notes, photographs, manuscripts, reprints, lectures, and oral history interviews of numerous notable scientists, including Nobel laureates
• Giard Collection: Jubiltheque – The papers of 19th century French zoologist Alfred Giard
• Harvey Cushing Photograph Collection: Cushing-Whitney Medical Library, Yale University – The images span Cushing’s life from his boyhood in Cleveland Ohio, his college days at Yale, his surgical work at Johns Hopkins under William Halsted, his leadership of a surgical unit in World War I, his success in establishing neurosurgery as a medical specialty at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, to his final years at the Yale School of Medicine
• Joseph Hooker Collection: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – The personal and scientific correspondence of Joseph Hooker, 19th century naturalist and explorer who pioneered the discipline of geographical botany
• Livingstone Online – Correspondence and documents of explorer Dr. David Livingstone
• Nathaniel Wallich Collection: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – The plant drawings, specimens, and correspondence of 19th century surgeon and botanist Nathaniel Wallich.
• Newton Papers: Cambridge Digital Library – The mathematical and scientific manuscripts of Sir Isaac Newton
• Oral Histories: National Institutes of Health Office of History  – Transcripts of interviews with researchers at the National Institutes of Health
• Panopticon Lavoisier – Virtual museum of the works of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794), including digitized manuscripts, laboratory apparatus, library, bibliography, iconography.
• Peter Parker Papers: Cushing-Whitney Medical Library, Yale University – The personal papers of medical missionary and diplomat to China, Peter Parker.
• Rare Book Collection: The Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology – digitized copies of rare historic books on anesthesiology
• Sciences and Machines: Scientific and Technological Development Since 1800: The European Library – Images, documents, and videos
• Scottish Science Hall of Fame: National Library of Scotland – Transcripts of letters, papers, and published works about or by 10 great Scottish scientists.
• Sir Han Sloane’s Correspondence Online – Summaries and transcriptions of the correspondence of 18th century physician, botanist, and collector Sir Hans Sloane.
• The Discovery and Early Development of Insulin: University of Toronto Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library – Documents the initial period of the discovery and development of insulin, 1920-1925, at the University of Toronto. Over seven thousand page images reproducing original documents, from laboratory notebooks and charts, correspondence, writings, and published papers to photographs, awards, clippings, scrapbooks, printed ephemera and artifacts.
• The John W. Pender Collection of the Living History of Anesthesiology: The Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology – collection of oral history interviews with pioneers and leaders in the field of anesthesiology
• The Mackie Family History of Neuroscience Collection: University of Calgary Libraries and Cultural Resources – Selected works from the collection’s nearly 2500 books and journal articles spanning over 350 years in the development of neuroscience
• Turning the Pages Online: National Library of Medicine – digitized images of rare and historic books in the history of medicine including the first summary of the genetic code created by Marshall Nirenberg on January 18, 1965

Charles Darwin

• Charles Darwin Letters: UBC Library Digital Collections – Two groups of letters detailing Charles Darwin’s research
• Darwin Manuscripts Project: American Museum of Natural History – Large collection of full colour, high resolution images of transcribed Darwin manuscripts
• Darwin Manuscripts: Cambridge Digital Library – Contains nearly the entire extant collection of Darwin’s working scientific papers
• Darwin Online – Contains at least one exemplar of every known Darwin publication as well as Charles Darwin’s private papers and manuscripts
• Darwin Project – full texts of more than 7,500 of Charles Darwin’s letters
• Darwin-Hooker Letters: Cambridge Digital Library – Roughly 1,200 pieces of correspondence between Charles Darwin and Joseph Dalton Hooker between 1843 and 1882

John Snow

• John Snow Archive and Research Companion – The writings, publications, and presentations of English physician and epidemiologist, John Snow
• John Snow: UCLA Department of Epidemiology – This website dedicated to the life of English physician and epidemiologist John Snow contains John Snow’s writings as well as epidemiological maps, including Snow’s map of the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak

Florence Nightingale

• Florence Nightingale Letters Collection: University of Illinois at Chicago University Library – Collection of 9 letters written by and to Florence Nightingale
• Florence Nightingale Letters: Clendening History of Medicine Library at the University of Kansas – includes 39 letters, with more letters coming soon
• Florence Nightingale Letters: UBC Library Digital Collections – Collection of 203 letters
• Florence Nightingale Museum – The online catalogue includes images of documents as well as objects with descriptions from the life of Florence Nightingale.
• The Florence Nightingale Digitization Project: An International Digital Collaborative (The Florence Nightingale Museum, Boston University, The Royal College of Nursing, Wellcome Library) – A collaborative database consisting currently of almost 1900 letters handwritten or narrated by Florence Nightingale.  The letters cover topics such as patient care, hospital design, infection control and many other subjects

William Osler

• Celebrating the Contributions of William Osler, 1849-1919: The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions – an online collection of photographs, full text reproductions of some works and letters, plus some biographical information
• The William Osler Photo Collection: Osler Library of the History of Medicine, McGill University – chronicles Sir William Osler’s life from his childhood in the Canadian wilderness to his medical education at McGill University, his innovative days as a doctor and teacher in Canada and the United States, and the final years of his life in Oxford, England
• Works of Sir William Osler: The Texas Medical Center Library Digital Commons – A collection of many of Sir William Osler’s works published in journals or monographs from 1881 – 1919

Robert Boyle

• Boyle Papers Online: Birkbeck, University of London  – Images of the core volumes of the papers of Robert Boyle, considered one of the founders of modern science
• The Workdiaries of Robert Boyle: The Centre for Editing Lives and Letters  – written between 1647 and 1691, they provide a vivid record of observation and experimentation by one of founding fathers of modern science