Library Research Guides: HIST 352: Mental Health in European History: Primary Sources

Physical Collections

In addition to Wellesley's rich collections, the Boston area has many libraries and archives that are accessible to local researchers. Check their catalogs to locate potential items of interest and check the institutions' access policies prior to visiting.

Center for the History of Medicine - Harvard University
Collections of interest include phrenology and satiric prints on a variety of topics. Advance appointment required.

Boston Library Consortium

You can access several area libraries and borrow materials from them through Wellesley's membership in The Boston Library Consortium (BLC).

Register for a BLC card at the main desk in Clapp Library. Make sure to check the library's access policies prior to visiting. Some materials, such as those in Special Collections, may still only be available for in-library use and can't be checked out.

The following nearby libraries are part of the BLC.

Boston College Libraries
Collections strengths include Jesuit & Catholic history and history of nursing. (Appointments are required at the Burns special collections library.)
Tufts University Libraries
Tufts' main library and Hirsch Health Sciences Library have general and special collections, including a copy of William Battie's 1758 A Treatise on Madness

Finding Primary Sources Online

There are many libraries and archives who scan or photograph their documents and other sources and put them up online for you to use.

Here is a sampling of places you can go to find primary sources, depending on your time period and topic.

This doesn't represent everything out there for you, however. If you'd like to brainstorm more sources and places to look together, make an appointment with me!

Wellcome Library - Digital Collections
Images and documents from Wellcome Library's major collections, covering the history of medicine.

HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
HathiTrust is a preservation archive with more than 17 million digitized items in the public domain (pre-1924).
Periodicals Archive Online (PAO) This link opens in a new window
Full text of journals published from 1665-1995. Note: includes British journals.

US National Library of Medicine
Prints, texts, photographs, pamphlets, and more online from 1500-present.

Times Digital Archive, 1765-2010 This link opens in a new window
Full-text replica of the premier British newspaper, including graphics and ads, searchable by article type.

History of Medicine Artifacts
Historical medical instruments, artifacts and other objects ranging in age from the 16th to 20th centuries.
Find More Images Online
Learn how to find more images online with this guide.
History of Medicine Collections: Vanderbilt University
"The History of Medicine Collections at Eskind Biomedical Library curates, preserves, and provides access to rare books, manuscripts, photographs, artifacts, and other materials covering the history of medicine since 1500."

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.
Early Modern England: Society, Culture & Everyday Life, 1500-1700 This link opens in a new window
This collection examines two centuries of everyday, political, religious, working, trading and administrative life in England. Documents focus significantly on the lives of ‘everyday’ people.

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.
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.
Early Modern England: Society, Culture & Everyday Life, 1500-1700 This link opens in a new window
This collection examines two centuries of everyday, political, religious, working, trading and administrative life in England. Documents focus significantly on the lives of ‘everyday’ people.
Defining Gender This link opens in a new window
Original British source material concerning history, literature, sociology and education from a gendered perspective. Primarily 1600-1900.

Eighteenth-Century Resources
18th Century resources compiled by a faculty member at Rutgers University.
Early Modern Web
EarlyModernWeb is a cluster of websites providing access to digital resources and research concerning the early modern period (c.1500-1800CE).

Victorian Popular Culture This link opens in a new window
This resource is comprised of four modules: "Circuses, Sideshows and Freaks," "Moving Pictures, Optical Entertainments and the Advent of Cinema," "Music Hall, Theatre and Popular Entertainment," and "Spiritualism, Sensation and Magic."
Defining Gender This link opens in a new window
Original British source material concerning history, literature, sociology and education from a gendered perspective. Primarily 1600-1900.
Gender: Identity and Social Change This link opens in a new window
Primary sources from 19th century to present documenting changing representations and experiences of gender roles and relations, including pamphlets, speeches, newsletters, diaries and correspondence. Visual material includes photographs, illustrations, posters, scrapbooks and objects.
Poverty, Philanthropy & Social Conditions in Victorian Britain This link opens in a new window
Materials concerning government policy and public philanthropy in Victorian and early 20th-century society, tracing welfare reform and the social tensions surrounding poverty.
JSTOR 19th Century British Pamphlets This link opens in a new window
Primary sources for the study of sociopolitical and economic factors impacting 19th-century Britain.

Note: select "Pamphlets" below the search boxes to limit to this collection in JSTOR.

Gender: Identity and Social Change This link opens in a new window
Primary sources from 19th century to present documenting changing representations and experiences of gender roles and relations, including pamphlets, speeches, newsletters, diaries and correspondence. Visual material includes photographs, illustrations, posters, scrapbooks and objects.
Mass Observation Online This link opens in a new window
A pioneering social research organisation, Mass Observation was founded with the aim of creating an 'anthropology of ourselves.' This resource covers the original Mass Observation project, 1937–1967, offering insight into everyday life in Britain at the time.
Mass Observation Project: 1981-2009 This link opens in a new window
Launched in 1981 as a rebirth of the original 1937 Mass Observation. This collection consists of questionnaires sent in the 1980s and the responses.
Sex & Sexuality: Research Collections from The Kinsey Institute Library & Special Collections This link opens in a new window
Research collections sourced from the Kinsey Institute Library & Special Collections documenting changing attitudes towards human sexuality, gender, and sexual behaviors throughout the 20th century.
Medical Services and Warfare This link opens in a new window
Primary source material including military, scientific, professional, and personal perspectives on medicine during conflicts across the globe from 1850–1927.
Internet Archive This link opens in a new window
The Internet Archive is a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form, including texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages.