The History of Medicine Collections in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke, holds more than 20,000 monographs and 4,000 manuscripts, as well as illustrations, medical instruments, photographs and a variety of medical artifacts that document the history of medicine, biomedical science, health and disease in the global context of the Western medical tradition ranging from the 12th-20th centuries. Collection strengths include anesthesia, human sexuality, materia medica, pediatrics, psychiatry, vivisection and yellow fever. The Collections seek to bring historical perspectives to bear on contemporary health issues and to facilitate an interdisciplinary understanding of the history of medicine.
The newly constructed Josiah Charles Trent History of Medicine Room in the library, is intended to showcase the generosity and legacy Dr. Josiah Charles Trent and Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans. Items on display highlight medical instruments and artifacts from the History of Medicine Collections including ivory anatomical manikins.
A new exhibit entitled “Malignant Fever: Benjamin Rush and the 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic in Philadelphia” will open in January and run through March 2016.
Visit the History of Medicine Collection
