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History of Disease

Librarian for the Health Sciences

Susan Kaplan Jacobs

New York University
Bobst Library, Room 908
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2432
E-mail: susan.jacobs@nyu.edu

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Research Assistance

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Searching for journal articles in the health sciences by topic? Link to a list of databases in health and life sciences: http://library.nyu.edu/research/rg1.html
  • Searching for books and journals by title? Start with a library catalog:
    • BobCat [Bobst and consortia holdings]
    • MedCat [holdings of NYU Medical Library]

Tutorials


Citing Your Sources

Internet Links

The following metasites concerning the history of disease may be useful for starting your research:

Finding Information in Books

Background information for the history of disease is often found in general works such as the following:
  • Cayton, M. K. et. al., eds. (1993). Encyclopedia of American Social History. New York: Scribner.
    Call Number: REF1 HN57 .E58 1993
    See especially Volume 3, Part XIII: Science, Medicine and Technology.
     
  • Harding, A. S. (2000). Milestones in Health and Medicine. Phoenix: Oryx Press.
    Call Number: REF9 R133 .H36 2000
     
  • Hunter, Donald (1975). The Diseases of Occupations. 5th ed. London: English Universities Press.
    Call Number: RC964.H8 1975
     
  • Kiple, K. F., ed. (1993). The Cambridge World History of Human Disease. New York: Cambridge University Press. 
    Call Number: REF9 R131 .C233 1993
     
  • Porter, R. (2001). The Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
    Call Number:  R131 .C232 2001
     
  • Porter, R., Bynum, W. F. (1993). Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine. London ; New York: Routledge.
    Call Number: REF9 R133 .E5 1993,  vols 1 and 2, and Stacks Copy R133 .E5 1993, vols 1 and 2
     
  • Ramazzini, B. (1964). Diseases of Workers. Translated from the Latin text De morbis artificum, of 1713, by Wilmer Cave Wright. New York: Hafner Pub. Co.
    Call Number: RC964.R283 1964
     
  • Stearns, P. N., ed. (2001). Encyclopedia of European Social History From 1350 to 2000.
    Call Number: REF1 HN 373 .E63 2001
    See especially Volume 2: Health and Disease, Doctors and Medicine; and Volume 3: Social Problems and Social Reform
You can find additional materials by searching the library catalog BobCat http://www.bobcat.nyu.edu/ by subject under the appropriate Library of Congress Subject Heading. The following  terms can be used in searching for the history of disease:

SUBJECT(S):

    Medicine -- History
    Disease -- History
    Epidemics
    Medical geography
    Epidemiology

More specific keywords or subject terms may also be searched:

SUBJECT(S):

    Smallpox
    AIDS (Disease)
    Tuberculosis

Some of the subdivisions listed under these subject headings include:

    --Economic Aspects --Law & legislation
    --Epidemiology --Moral & ethical aspects
    --Government policy --Treatment
    --History --geographic areas can also be specified, (e.g., Tuberculosis--Great Britain)

Searching Databases for Articles by Topic**

Use databases to search for journal articles about a topic. You may also find links to the full text of articles. For the history of disease, start with the following databases:
  • America: History and Life 1964-present
    Citations, with abstracts in English, to social science and humanities literature on all aspects of U.S. and Canadian history, culture, and current affairs from prehistoric times to the present.

  • CINAHL Plus  (the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health) Covers the literature of nursing and allied health  for 3,802 journals with indexing back to 1937 for some journals; includes History of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Dental Hygiene.  Use the subheading /history with a topic for the historical aspects of any topic, such as:  tuberculosis/history

  • Health and Wellness Resource Center   1980-present
    Integrates the full text and images of respected nursing, allied health, and medical journals; consumer health magazines; vnewsletters; pamphlets; newspaper articles; topical overviews; and reference books into an easy-to-use database. Do a keyword search or search by Library of Congress subject headings e.g., Smallpox--history

  • Historical Abstracts
    1954-present
    Abstracts and citations indexing over 2,000 journals, books, and dissertations. Covers world history (except the U.S. and Canada) since 1450.

  • History of Science, Technology and Medicine 1975 to present
    The definitive international bibliography for the history of science, technology, and medicine and its influence on culture from pre-history to the present.

  • Medline/PubMed 1966-present
    The premier biomedical database indexing over 3600 journals, produced by the National Library of Medicine. For the history of disease, do a search for articles by topic, then limit the search to the historical aspects:

    e.g., The search statement: tuberculosis/history [for articles on tuberculosis, limited to history] OR do a search, then use the LIMIT feature to limit your search to the article type "historical article."


  • Periodical Abstracts 1986-present
    A multi-disciplinary resource, especially useful for research on contemporary topics or for the beginning stages of a research project. Offers citations from a wide range of English language academic journals, news magazines, and newspapers.


    **Note: The use of certain databases and information services is restricted to NYU students and faculty using NetID and password.
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