Important Libraries and Archives – Worldwide

The Hannah Unit at McMaster University has compiled a list of the world’s major collections in the history of medicine and public health. Click on the entry below for detailed descriptions of holdings, hours, locations, contact information and travel grant if applicable. 

For Specialized Libraries and Archives, visit here.

Browse Grants and Fellowships here.

• Archives de l’Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris (Paris, France)
• Bakken Library and Museum (Minneapolis, USA)
• Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican City)
• Bibliothèque de l’Académie nationale de médecine (Paris, France)
• Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de Santé (Paris, France)
• Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris, France)
• British Library (London, United Kingdom)
• Chemical Heritage Foundation (Philadelphia, USA)
• Clendening History of Medicine Library, Kansas University (Kansas, USA)
• College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Historical Medical Library & Mütter Museum (Philadelphia, USA)
• Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard University (Massachusetts, USA)
• Cushing-Whitney Medical Historical Library, Yale University (Connecticut, USA)
• Lloyd Library and Museum, Historical Research Center for the Natural Health Movement (Ohio, USA)
• Musée et Bibliothèque du service de santé des armées (Paris, France)
• Museo di Storia Naturale (Florence, Italy)
• Museum Boerhaave—Dutch National Museum for the History of Science and Medicine (Leiden, The Netherlands)
• National Institutes of Health Stetten Museum (Maryland, USA)
  
• New York Academy of Medicine, (NYAM), Drs. Barry and Bobbi Coller Rare Book Reading Room (New York, USA)
• Osler Library of the History of Medicine, McGill University (Montreal, Québec, Canada)
• Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Library & Archives (Edinburgh, United Kingdom – Scotland)
  
• Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
  
• U.S. National Library of Medicine (Maryland, USA)
  
• Welch Medical Library & Historical Collection, Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, USA)
  
• Wellcome Library (London, United Kingdom)
  
• Woodward Library (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
  
• World Health Organization Library and Archives (Geneva, Switzerland)