U.S. History: Primary Source Collections Online

Over 1,600 pieces of ephemera, such as broadsides and pamphlets, that document the quest to make prohibition a reality during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in America. (Brown Univ. Library Center for Digital Scholarship)

Digital collection of archival, primary, and interpretive materials related to the history of the 1918-1919 influenza epidemic in the U.S. (Univ. of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine)

Numerous online books and documents pertaining to army hospitals, medical care in WWI and WWII, the Cold War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and more.

Over 200 photographs and drawings relating to the work, facilities and Civil War locales associated with the United States Sanitary Commission (USSC); forms Series XXXIII of the United States Sanitary Commission Records, 1861-1872. (New York Public Library)

Historical collections to support understanding of the global, social–history, and public–policy implications of diseases. Covers diseases such as cholera, plague, smallpox, influenza, syphilis, tuberculosis, and yellow fever. Coverage ranges widely from 1494-1923. (Harvard Univ. Library)

"Leonidas Berry, M.D. (1902–1995) devoted his life to combating segregation and what are known today as racial disparities in health. Examine photographs, publications, and correspondence that document a life of advocacy for equality and justice in health care." (National Library of Medicine)

Includes 3,000 photographs, illustrations, engravings, and bookplates related to the history of health and life sciences. (Duke Univ.)

Use the Timelines section to select a specific disease and access images and documents. (College of Physicians of Philadelphia)

More than 70,000 items spanning the 15th to the 21st century. Includes photographs, portraits, medical illustrations, and posters depicting the social and historical aspects of medicine. (National Library of Medicine)

Free online archive of biomedical books and videos. (National Library of Medicine)

Oral history interviews with Native Americans on topics of health, disease, illness, epidemics, policy, and more. Listen to the interviews, but also click on "Resources" and look under "Lesson Plans" for primary sources and multimedia. (National Library of Medicine)

Features some of Newton's most important work from the 1660s, including his college notebooks and 'Waste Book'. (Univ. of Cambridge)

Interviews with physicians, scientists, government administrators, medical librarians, and health-business executives, mostly 1960s-present, address a broad range of topics, people and institutions from throughout the medical and health sciences. (National Library of Medicine)

This collection focuses on President Harry S. Truman's fight to pass a National Health Insurance law during the second term of his presidency. The collection includes 74 documents totaling 74 pages covering the years 1945 through 1953. Supporting materials include photographs, oral history transcripts and public papers. (Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum)

Eighteen rare public health films from the WWII era, covering topics such as personal cleanliness, sexually transmitted diseases, tropical diseases, and the stress of war. All films include searchable transcripts and commentaries. All films are in the public domain and may thus be used without concerns for copyright infringement. (National Library of Medicine)

More than 3,900 journal volumes from nearly 50 state medical societies, including those for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. (Various institutional members of the members of the Medical Heritage Library, and the Internet Archive)

Some include covers only; others include selected pages of content. (U.S. National Library of Medicine)

An archive of 14 million documents created by tobacco companies about their advertising, manufacturing, marketing, scientific research and political activities. Formerly the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library; also now incorporates the British American Tobacco Documents Archive. (Univ. of California-San Francisco)

over 100,000 high resolution images including manuscripts, paintings, etchings, early photography and advertisements, on themes ranging from medical and social history to contemporary healthcare and biomedical sciences, freely available for research and reuse under Creative Commons licenses. Wellcome Library is one of the world's major resources for the study of medical history. (Wellcome Library)