The Center for the History of Medicine is a hub of activity for the history of medicine and society in Boston’s Longwood Medical Area. The Center:

  • Engages with the faculty, staff, and students of the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and affiliated institutions
  • Advises records creators and users
  • Acquires, preserves, and provides access to published and unpublished records in all formats generated by the schools, their faculties, and the disciplines in which they are active.

Holdings include the archives of the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, as well as an incomparable collection of research records and professional papers of Harvard’s medical, dental, and public health faculty. Combined with its extensive rare books, physician and organizational manuscripts, and object and artifact collections – including the Warren Anatomical Museum, one of the last surviving anatomy and pathology museum collections in the United States – the Center for the History of Medicine’s holdings reflect nearly every medical and public health discipline, including anatomy, anesthesiology, dentistry, internal medicine (and medical specialties), medical jurisprudence, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pharmacy and pharmacology, psychiatry and psychology, and surgery, as well as a wide array of public health subjects, including industrial hygiene, nutrition, and tropical medicine, and medical activism ranging throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

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