Sociology 108/Community Health 108: Epidemics: Plagues, Peoples and Politics

Cultural heritage materials held by Massachusetts libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives.

Information on historic properties and areas in the Commonwealth

See links under "Topics" for information about local public/community health centers.

Under the Community Health Centers tab, locate local Massachusetts Community Health Centers.

Historic digital records from the State Library

Historic digital records from the State Library

Under the Programs and Services by Bureau, see "Infectious Disease".

& a companion guide to the archives for other diseases.

This online collection offers important historical perspectives on the science and public policy of epidemiology today and contributes to the understanding of the global, social–history, and public–policy implications of diseases.
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.
Related links for other diseases.

Primary Source Set from the Digital Public Library of America

Primary Source Set from the Digital Public Library of America

The History of Vaccines website includes an interactive timeline of vaccination history, online classroom activities, and a gallery of over 700 items related to vaccination. These three sections of the website include a number of helpful visuals (such as an interactive animation designed to help individuals visualize the concept of herd immunity) and intriguing primary documents. The Articles tab includes a variety of readings aimed at students, educators, and families alike.

Specifically the "Gay Rights Movement, Series 3: ACT UP: The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power" collection.
Extensive coverage of governmental responses to the AIDS crisis. The archive also contains personal correspondence and interviews with numerous LGBTQ individuals, among others.

Primary Source Set from the Digital Public Library of America

Full text of the Globe from 1980 offers authoritative coverage of local, national and international news.

1872-1985

Fulltext newspaper coverage from papers, small and large, nationwide. Updated daily. Includes current issues of other newspapers on this list.

Includes American newspapers from 1690 to 1922. Browse by time period, region, etc.
Later dates for Hispanic and African-American newspapers in other parts of the country.

1740 to 1941
American Periodicals contains the full text of a wide variety of early American periodicals such as The American Apollo (1792-1792), The Boston Weekly - Magazine (1743-1743), and The Philadelphia Minerva (1795-1798).

Print: Tisch Reference Indexes AI 3 .R47.
For journals and scholarly articles written during this time period.

Print: Reference Indexes & Abstracts AI 3 .R47

The most detailed account of U.S. culture and history you’ll find anywhere—based on the renowned research power of Readers’ Guide!
For over 100 years, library users have relied on Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature as the ultimate index of subjects in the popular press, such as magazines written at the time, including Time and Newsweek. Mostly U.S. magazines.

Full text of popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and Canada, such as Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report.

Historic digital documents from the Mass. State Library

Fully searchable facsimile images of approximately 15,000 broadsides printed between 1820 and 1900, and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed between 1760 and 1900 Contents include contemporary accounts of the Civil War, unusual occurrences and natural disasters, official government proclamations, tax bills and town meeting reports, clipper ship sailing cards, early trade cards, bill heads, theater and music programs, stock certificates, menus, etc.

Information about primary source materials from U.S. manuscript repositories, with detailed indexes of manuscript and other special collections.

Use this resource to discover archival material on epidemics in Massachusetts.

Search: epidemics, USA, MA, 1900-2010.

Includes ArchivesUSA and NIDS UK/Ireland.

From the Harvard University Open Collections Program.

See Manuscripts and Publications.

Also look at "Related Links" to locate information about other diseases.

Contains files, diaries and travel journals, ship logs and plans, printed literature, objects, watercolours, and oral histories recounting personal experiences of migration from 1800 to 1924.

The Reports of the Surgeon General contains official reports, conference and workshop reports, and proceedings from the Office of the Surgeon General. As part of its Profiles in Science project, the National Library of Medicine has digitized and made available over the World Wide Web the Reports of the Surgeon General for use by the public.

1789 -
An electronic guide to federal, state, local and international public documents, spanning over 200 years of publication, in a single searchable database. For Tufts users only.

An anthology of selected digitized Congressional and executive documents originating from the period between 1789 and the beginning of the "U.S. Congressional Serial Set" in 1817.

Digitized reports, documents and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and executive branch/agency publications.

At the Boston Public Library