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[health, heritage] Contagion: Historical Views of Disease and Epidemics

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/ Scout Special Edition - May 22nd, 2008 Contagion: Historical Views of Disease and Epidemics [pdf] http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/

With this rather remarkable collection, the dedicated staff members at Harvard University Library’s Open Collections Program have brought together Philadelphia’s yellow fever epidemic of 1793, London’s Great Plague of 1665, and six other notable epidemics from world history. The collection provides general background information on diseases and epidemics worldwide, and as previously suggested, is organized around significant “episodes” of such diseases. Visitors to the collection will find historical pamphlets, serials, books, and manuscripts totaling over 500,000 pages. The “General Materials” area is worth a look as it provides access to brief overviews of important concepts such as germ theory, public health, vaccination, medical geography, and humoral theory. Overall, it’s a tremendous set of offerings, and visitors with a penchant for the history of medicine, public health, or diseases will find that this site is well worth many visits. Also, visitors can share resources on the site via Google Bookmarks and Facebook. [KMG] This collection brings a unique set of resources to Internet users and can be applied to classes from epidemiology to public policy to social history. The site is easy to navigate and provides not only digitized copies of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, and maps, but it also provides supplemental explanatory pages. This addition of supplemental material, which introduces related topics, is what truly makes this site indispensable for instructors, or anyone interested in the history of disease and instructors of a multitude of other subjects. Scout staff loved this site for its quality content, ease of use, and its supplemental educational materials.