Library Research Guides: ARTH/HIST 235: Epidemics in Early Modern Europe: Primary Sources

Using SuperSearch to find Primary Sources

SuperSearch can also be used to find primary sources.

Put your search terms in and, on the results page, use the filters to select content types like video, magazine articles, and government documents:

If your research is about a specific time period, scroll down to filter by time, too:

ARTstor - Pandemics and epidemics
Explore the full 'Pandemics and Epidemics' image group in Artstor.
History of Medicine Artifacts
Historical medical instruments, artifacts and other objects ranging in age from the 16th to 20th centuries.
Getty Search Gateway
The Gateway allows users to search across several of the Getty repositories, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Foundation, and the Getty Research Institute. Images may be copyrighted. See "Getty Open Content Images" under the "Public Domain Image Collections" menu to search only public domain images.
Wellcome Collection
This site provides access to over 100,000 high resolution images including manuscripts, paintings, etchings, early photography and advertisements from the historical holdings of the Wellcome Library in London. The images have been released under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence and can be used free of charge, with an acknowledgement of the original source (Wellcome Library, London).
British Library Images Online
Historic photographs, art, and maps from the British Library.
The British Museum

Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
EEBO contains searchable and browsable page images of virtually every work printed in the English-speaking world from 1473 to 1700, as well as some items printed after 1700.

Medieval Worlds
Link is to ecopy, Wellesley also holds a paper copy in the stacks.

A great number of primary sources in translation, some of which include secondary sources for further reading at the end of the entry.

WHO Historical Texts Collection
"The Rare Book Collection consists largely of documentation acquired by the OIHP on epidemics included in the International Sanitary Conventions such as: plague, cholera and yellow fever."

Only some texts in English, a few images included.

Eighteenth Century Journals This link opens in a new window
Journals printed c.1685–1835, illuminating 18th-century social, political and literary life. Topics covered include colonial life, provincial and rural affairs, the French and American revolutions, reviews of literature and fashion throughout Europe, political debates, and London coffee house gossip and discussion.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Searchable and browsable page images of every significant title printed in the United Kingdom, along with thousands of important works from the Americas, between 1701 and 1800; includes books, pamphlets, broadsides, and ephemera.
Perdita Manuscripts: Women Writers, 1500-1700 This link opens in a new window
Manuscripts of early modern women authors in the British Isles who were "lost" because their writing exists only in manuscript form.

English Broadside Ballad Archive
Hundreds of digitized English ballads from collections around the world.
Old Bailey Online
Online records of London's central criminal court, 1674-1913. Includes punishment summaries, trial accounts, advertisements, and more.
Hathi Trust
HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.

Wellcome Collection
This site provides access to over 100,000 high resolution images including manuscripts, paintings, etchings, early photography and advertisements from the historical holdings of the Wellcome Library in London. The images have been released under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence and can be used free of charge, with an acknowledgement of the original source (Wellcome Library, London).
EuroDocs
Rich array of digitized material organized by country, then chronologically
EuroDocs- UK Plague and Pestilence
UK specific texts

Age of Exploration This link opens in a new window
Featuring manuscript and early printed material, illustrated maps and documents, diaries and ships' logs, this collection highlights key events in the history of European maritime exploration from c.1420–1920.

MEMSlib
Lists of sources from the Early Modern period in translation and in the original text. Includes the history of art, musical lyrics, fashion, drama, literature, and more.
Contagion - Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics
"...is a digital library collection that brings a unique set of resources from Harvard’s libraries to Internet users everywhere. Offering valuable insights to students of the history of medicine and to researchers seeking an historical context for current epidemiology, the collection contributes to the understanding of the global, social–history, and public–policy implications of disease. Contagion is also a unique social–history resource for students of many ages and disciplines."
Decameron Web
Texts, images, and contextualizing information for the Decameron.