The Center for the History of Medicine responds to requests for information ("reference requests") via mail, email, and telephone:
- Mail questions to:
Manager, Research & Instruction, Special Collections and Archives
Center for the History of Medicine, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine
10 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA 02115 - Email the Center
- Call us at 617-432-2170
According to the Reference and User Services Association (a division of the American Library Association), reference transactions are "information consultations in which library staff recommend, interpret, evaluate, and/or use information resources to help others to meet particular information needs." Research and Instruction staff are unable to conduct research on behalf of patrons.
Reference services are available to everyone:
- Faculty, students, and staff of Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
- Faculty, students, and staff of Harvard College and all Harvard University schools
- Harvard's affiliated hospitals and the Longwood Area community
- The general public
Depending on the volume of inquiries received, it may take between three and five business days for staff to respond to questions.