Subject Guides: History of Public Health in America: Home

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

Archives of Sexuality and Gender This link opens in a new window
Archives of Sexuality and Gender features a robust and significant collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. Trexler Library has access to three parts of the archives; LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940, Parts 1 and 2 plus Sex and Sexuality, 16th to 20th Century.
"LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940, Part I" brings together approximately 1.5 million pages of primary source content on social, political, health, and legal issues impacting LGBTQ communities around the world, including the gay rights movement, activism, the HIV/Aids crisis, and more.
"Part II" adds oral history transcripts, diaries, and letters that provide a deeply personal and human interpretation of the LGBTQ experience and less mainstream LGBTQ groups such as student groups, Two-Spirit people, the Jewish LGBTQ community, LG Christian groups, and bisexual, transvestite, and transgender communities.
"Sex and Sexuality" is a collection of books in the natural and social sciences as well as literary works and humanities. Books examine topics such as patterns of fertility and sexual practice; prostitution; religion and sexuality; the medical and legal construction of sexualities; and the rise of sexology.

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1836-1922.

Ethnic Newswatch This link opens in a new window
Ethnic NewsWatch is a current resource of full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives.
The database now also contains Ethnic NewsWatch: A History, which provides historical coverage of Native American, African American, and Hispanic American periodicals from 1959-present.

Google
News articles of the day.
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.

Independent Voices This link opens in a new window
"...a digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century."
Life Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
"Life Magazine Archive presents an extensive collection of the famed photojournalism magazine, spanning its very first issue in November, 1936 through December, 2000 in a comprehensive cover-to-cover format. "
New York Times Digital Archive, 1851-4 years ago This link opens in a new window
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.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Colonial to 1950. Includes the immediate experiences of 1,325 women and 150,000 pages of diaries and letters.
Pennsylvania Gazette This link opens in a new window
The Early American paper of record, 1728-1800. Access via Accessible Archives (now part of History Commons).

Philadelphia Inquirer
This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time. Coverage: 1860 - 2001

ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Includes full text of the following publications:
Chicago Defender (1909-1975)
The New York Times with Index (1851-2019)
The Philadelphia Inquirer (1860-2001)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (1786-2003)
The Washington Post (1877-2006)
U.S. Northeast Collection (1785-2010) (includes Morning Call and other regional papers)
Vogue Archive This link opens in a new window
"The full contents of Vogue magazine (US edition) in full color page image, from the first issue in 1892 to present, with monthly updates for new issues."

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

American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection This link opens in a new window
"The AAS Historical Periodicals Collection contains more than 6,500 historical periodical titles dating from 1691 to 1877." Provides digital access to American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912. Thematic subsets include digitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals not available from any other source and provide content detailing American history and culture from the mid-18th century through the late-19th century. These specialized collections cover advertising, health, women's issues, science, the history of slavery, industry and professions, religious issues, culture and the arts, and more.
The collections of historical periodicals provide rich content detailing American history and culture from the mid-18th century through the late-19th century. The 17 initial collections cover the following areas: Advertising; Agriculture; Alternative Medicine and Health; The American West; Business, Industry and Professions; Canada; Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and Episcopal Religions ; Current Events of the Period; Drama, Humor, and Fine Arts; Foreign Language Periodicals in America; Masons, Odd-Fellows and Other Societies; Military and Law Enforcement; Religious Issues Pertaining to Women, Children, and Families; Science; Slavery and Abolition; Women's Periodicals of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century.

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.

Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition This link opens in a new window
Over 500 full text journals covering most medical disciplines. Also includes full text in the areas of healthcare economics and management.

JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)
Access full text of the journal JAMA from 1883-present.

Public Health Archives: Public Health in Modern America, 1890-1970 This link opens in a new window
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.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
A service of the National Library of Medicine, PubMed includes over 19 million citations for biomedical articles back to 1948 and links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources.

Science Online
Access the journal Science from the years 1800-2004 online, or access 2004-present (paper copies of the journal) on level B of the library at call number 505s1.
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The most recent copy of Science is located on the A level of the library in the periodicals reading room.

What about secondary sources (historian perspectives)?

America: History & Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window
The definitive database of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. With selective indexing for 1,700 journals from 1964 to present, this database is without question the most important bibliographic reference tool for students and scholars of U.S. and Canadian history.
Full text journals include American Historical Review, American 19th Century History, American Studies, Early American Studies, Journal of American Culture, Journal of American History, Journal of Early American History, and Journal of Military History.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
A database of both scholarly and popular publications in a wide variety of disciplines and subject areas, including psychology. Most full text is linked directly in the database; otherwise use the Check for Full Text buttons to check for full text online or in the library.

Encompass Search
Encompass Search searches for books and other resources, first in our own library, and then beyond, in other research libraries.
Google Scholar
May be used in conjunction with interlibrary loan. Access to full text is maximized by searching from the Muhlenberg network.
Google Books
Google Books is a rich source of full-text documents (books and other materials) published prior to 1923 that are now in the public domain.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
A substantive archive of about 3,000 full text scholarly journals plus scholarly books in the arts, humanities, social sciences and biological sciences. As an archive, there is typically a lag time of 3-5 years from publication until new issues appear in JSTOR. Journals include core titles from a variety of disciplines: history, economics, biology, and more.

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.