Primary Sources for History of Health in the Americas

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Library holds more than 500 named collections which are distinguished by their specialized subject matter, age, uniqueness, or value. Most of the listed collections on this page are located in the John Hay Library.

A guide to all history of medicine collections at the John Hay Library.

The records of the RIWHC include financial, legal, funding, and donor records, mailing lists, newletters and publications relating to women's health issues.

Two important groups of rare or unusual materials collected by the Rhode Island Medical Society in its 175 years can be found in Special Collections at the Hay Library. The first group comprises the contents of the Society's De Jong Rare Book Room plus titles selected from its general collection. The second group consists of the Society's own records, and includes a collection of historically significant antique medical instruments, given to the Society by William James Burge, M.D. (1831-1921), a fellow of the Society since 1874, as well as by other members of the Society over the course of many decades.

Compiled by Rhode Island anaesthesiologist Meyer Saklad, this collection consists of more than 300 books and publications which trace the development of surgical anesthesia, focusing on the period from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century.

Charles Reitman, a graduate of the Rhode Island College of Pharmacology, compiled this collection over the course of his long career as a Providence pharmacist and chemist. The 1,500 titles in the collection cover materia medica worldwide, including works on medicinal plants, homeopathic remedies, and formularies for the making of medicines and drugs from the 17th through the 20th centuries.

A guide to materials useful for the historical study of attempts to regulate, control and treat alcohol use and abuse, along with that of other addictive substances.

Chronologically, the collection ranges from a leaf from the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle depicting a drunken Noah to late 20th century studies. The formats are equally diverse: in addition to printed books and pamphlets, there are periodicals, newspapers, dealers' catalogues, posters, prints, audiovisual materials, photographs, 18th century engravings and 19th and 20th century sheet music. American in emphasis, the collection provides superlative resources for the study of the temperance and prohibition movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, hospital-based treatment of addictive behavior, and the 20th century evolution of self-help programs epitomized by Alcoholics Anonymous.

The collection consists of over five thousand items, including two hundred books, dozens of pieces of memorabilia, and several hundred manuscripts (original and photocopied) and photographs once the property of "Dr. Bob," the legendary co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Assembled by Ernest Kurtz, beginning in the 1970s. the major strengths of this collection are interviews with and testimonials by alcoholics, and talks given at various workshops. Subjects covered include personal narratives by individuals suffering and recovering from alcoholism. Materials include audio tapes and cassettes.

These papers consist of pamphlets, brochures, books, periodicals, menus, programs and tickets for events, rosters of A.A. groups, speeches, newspaper and magazine clippings, postcards, greeting cards, gas rationing stamps, bills of sale, receipts, and letters either typed, autographed or photocopied. The majority of the materials focus on the early history of Alcoholics Anonymous in the Cleveland, Ohio area and Clarence Snyder's involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Guide to science collections held at the John Hay Library.

A collection of over 5,000 volumes plus hundreds of prints and manuscripts spanned the centuries of scientific thought from Ptolemy to Einstein. This was one of the three most important private collections of books of science in America and ranks as one of the most significant single collections ever received by the Brown University Library.

This set of documents relate to the institution of slavery, the slave trade, and the use of indentured servants in Cuba during the 19th century. This collection contains official letters, death certificates, birth certificates, legal cases, work contracts, an autopsy report, and inventories relating to the institution of slavery, slaves, and indentured servants in Cuba. Many of the documents refer to the Chinese people brought to Cuba as indentured servants or contract laborers.

This collection, assembled by Daniel Boone Schirmer, currently numbers 964 titles dealing with the Anti-Imperialist movement of 1898 and its repercussions in United States, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Filipino history. It deals with the debate within the United States during and after the Spanish-American War over the appropriate relationship between the English-speaking and Spanish speaking Americas.

A collection of about 260 pamphlets published by the Positivist Church of Brazil. The pamphlets date from the late-19th to mid- 20th century and, with few exceptions, are written in Portuguese language by Miguel Lemos and Raimundo Teixeira Mendes, known as he Positivist apostles. The collection serves as a testimony of the profound influence that positivism had in Brazil. Topics covered include women's rights, hygiene, vaccination and cemeteries.

One of the first publications dedicated to the LGBTQ community in Brazil, published during the repressive military regime. Brown owns a near complete set (0-37), only issues 30 and 36 are missing.

The BDR is a place to gather, index, store, preserve, and make available digital assets produced via the scholarly, instructional, research, and administrative activities at Brown.

A digital collection of Latin American travel accounts written in the 16th-19th centuries held at the John Hay Library.

Graphic representations of the colonial Americas from 1492 to ca. 1825.

The John Carter Brown Library holds one of the world's great collections relating to Haiti. Our rare books, maps and newspapers tell the story of the founding of the French colony of Saint Domingue, its demise through the Haitian Revolution and the founding of Haiti in its place.