Subject Guides: Vaccination Nation: Home

How do I obtain primary sources (popular perspectives of the time)?

American West Center Polio Oral History Project
A collection of oral histories about polio.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1690-1963.
COVID-19 Oral Histories
Recordings and transcripts from the National Humanities Center.
COVID-19 Oral History Project
A collection of oral histories giving a popular perspective on the pandemic.
Emily's Story--Pertussis (Whooping Cough)
One person's story of pertussis.
Encompass Search.
Encompass Search searches for books and other resources, first in our own library, and then beyond, in other research libraries.

Global Newsstream
Provides full text access to current and recent archives of major daily news publications, regional, and local news resources in the US & Canada, plus over 800 more from around the globe. Publication types include newspapers, newswires, news journals, television and radio transcripts, blogs, podcasts, and digital-only websites.

Google
Useful in particular for searching on pre-1923 documents for which the full text is likely available.
Google Books
An excellent source for full-text of primary documents as they appear in public domain (pre-1923) books and magazines.
Hathi Trust
Thousands of older books, useful as primary documents, scanned by libraries throughout the U.S.
Measles and My Sister
An oral history of measles.

Morning Call Archive, 1883-2011
Allentown / Lehigh Valley newspaper archive that comprises titles including the Critic and the Morning Critic, the Allentown Morning Call, and the Allentown Morning Call and Morning Herald.
New York Times Digital Archive, 1851-4 years ago
Includes full text PDF images of the New York Daily Times (1851-1857) and the New York Times (1857- 4 years ago). Index searches within1851 to 1993 using The New York Times Index.

Oral history of pertussis
A blog entry of an experience with pertussis.
PACK Personal Stories about Influenza
Oral histories of influenza.
PACK Personal Stories about Measles
Oral history of measles.
PACK Personal Stories of Pertussis (whooping cough)
Oral history of whooping cough.
PACK Personal Stories about Polio
Oral histories about polio.
PACK Personal Stories about Rubella
Oral history of rubella.
Pandemic influenza survivors share their stories
Influenza survivors tell their stories.

Public Health Archives: Public Health in Modern America, 1890-1970
documents the rise of the twentieth-century public health system in the United States through correspondence, reports, pamphlets, ephemera, and more. For scholars in the fields of American history, American studies, history of science and medicine, public health studies, sociology, political science, psychology, and economics, it documents through primary sources that record the evolution and impact of public health legislation, policies, and campaigns at the local, national, and federal levels, opening for researchers a new window on the roles played by key organizations and individuals to advance public health practices and outcomes.

How do I obtain primary sources (government documents from the time)?

Encompass
Trexler Library's discovery service tells a) if we own a book electronically or in print, b) if a book has been reviewed in peer reviewed journals, c) what other libraries own a book.
Pathway to a vaccine : efforts to develop a safe, effective and accessible COVID-19 vaccine
Congressional hearing from 2020.
The science of COVID-19 vaccines and encouraging vaccine uptake
Congressional hearing, 2021.
Vaccines : America's shot at ending the COVID-19 pandemic
Congressional hearing from 2021.

How do I obtain primary sources (scientific perspectives of the time)?

Influenza vaccine early history (title search in Encompass for full text)

Francis T (Thomas Francis), Magill TP (1937) The antibody response of human subjects vaccinated with the virus of human influenza. J Exp Med 65:251–259

Salk JE (Jonas Salk), Menke WJ, Francis T Jr (1945) A clinical, epidemiological, and immunological evaluation of vaccination against epidemic influenza. Am J Hyg 42:57–93

Polio vaccine early history (title search in Encompass for full text)

Francis T Jr, Korns R, Voight R et al (1955) An evaluation of the 1954 poliomyelitis vaccine trials: summary report. Am J Public Health 45(Suppl):1–50

Sabin A (Albert Sabin) (1965) Oral poliovirus vaccine. History of its development and prospects for eradication of poliomyelitis. JAMA 194(8):872–876

Tdap vaccine early history (title search in Encompass for full text)

Cockburn WC (1955b) The use of mixed diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus antigens. Bull WHO 13:409–422

Edsall G (1952) Immunization of adults against diphtheria and tetanus. Am J Public Health 42:393–400

Edsall G, Altman JS, Gaspar AJ (1954) Combined tetanus-diphtheria immunization of adults: use of small doses of diphtheria toxoid. Am J Public Health 44:1537–1545

MMR vaccine early history (title search in Encompass for full text)

Andelman SL, Schwarz A, Andelman MB et al (1963) Experimental vaccination against measles: clinical evaluation of a highly attenuated live measles vaccine. JAMA 184:721–723

Buynak EB, Hilleman MR (Maurice Hilleman) (1966) Live attenuated mumps virus vaccine. 1. Vaccine development. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 123:768–775

Buynak EB, Hilleman MR, Weibel RE et al (1968) Live attenuated rubella virus vaccines prepared in duck embryo cell culture. I. Development and clinical testing. JAMA 204(3):195–200

Citing sources

For tips on citing print and electronic sources, visit Trexler Library's Citation Guides for Print and Electronic Resources.

Or visit the Online Writing Lab at Purdue.

For automated citation, try the shareware Zotero. Directions for installing Zotero here.

For help with annotated bibliographies, visit Purdue's Online Writing Lab for definitions and format of an annotation.

Articles and books via interlibrary loan

Articles and books not found in Trexler Library can be ordered on interlibrary loan.