Project Showcase: Exploring the Medical Heritage Library

02 January 2013 – Jessica Ondusko

Illustration of a medicinal plant from Good’s Family Flora (http://archive.org/details/61631010RX1.nlm.nih.gov)

The Medical Heritage Library (MHL) is a virtual gateway to tens of thousands of digitized medical rare books, pamphlets, journals and films contributed by several of the world’s leading medical libraries.  Open access to these materials through the Internet Archive enables scholars and the general public alike to explore the “interrelated nature of medicine and society, both to inform contemporary medicine and strengthen understanding of the world in which we live.”

The Medical Heritage Library was established in 2010 by the Open Knowledge Commons through an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant.  New content is added to the repository daily as digitized materials are completed.  Items from the collection, which spans the past six centuries, are highlighted on the MHL’s home, Facebook and Twitter pages.

While completing my graduate studies this past year I had the opportunity to work behind the scenes of the project at a contributing library, the U.S. National Library of Medicine in the History of Medicine Division.  One of my principle responsibilities was to evaluate the physical condition of thousands of rare books being prepared for digitization.

Page from American Herbal by Samuel Stearns (http://archive.org/details/2573006R.nlm.nih.gov)

Countless fascinating works passed through my hands, many of which covered subjects beyond my understanding.  Given my liberal arts background a limited knowledge of topics discussed in medical tomes is hardly a surprise.  What was striking however was the number of materials that I could relate to.  Herbals expounding on the medicinal use of plants made me reflect on the use of natural supplements and remedies popular today.  Other books, such as The book of prudential revelations, or, The golden bible of nature and reason and the confidential doctor at home (1845) appear to be the nineteenth century equivalent of WebMd, written not only as a “forget-me-not” for the professional but as a “key to medical science” for the layman to formulate his own diagnoses.

Although usage of content is not currently tracked, items from the Medical Heritage Library featured on the project’s website and various social media reinforce the idea that its holdings are relevant to both scholars well versed in medical terminology and the casual reader such as myself.  I encourage everyone to explore this intriguing resource to find out more about our medical heritage and how it relates to the way we live and practice medicine today.

~ Jessica Ondusko