HIST 302: Health and Disease in America

Reference Sources
Finding Books
Government Publications
Articles: Contemporary Publications
Articles: Secondary Sources
Other Primary Sources

Reference Sources

Use reference sources for brief overviews of historical people, places, and events. They also refer you to key articles and books and supply important names, dates, and terms.

Biographies
Online Reference Shelf. The Gale Virtual Reference Library contains many reference works including, The Encyclopedia of American History, The Encyclopedia of Public Health, Encyclopedia of Aging, etc...

DATA - Statistics and Public Opinion

Disease and Medical Care in the United States: A Medical Atlas of the 20th Century. Call # RA804.S54 1993, Life Sciences Library Reference, 4th Floor Paterno

Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970. Online. Also: Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1878-present

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Finding Books

Use the Library Catalog to search for materials (books, videos, maps, etc.). You can access the library catalogs listed below by going to Find Books:

The CAT (Penn State's catalog)
WorldCat (OCLC) (Libraries worldwide. Use the "Request via ILL link in WorldCAT to have items delivered to you.)
Search E-Books
Book Reviews

For key early works of medicine consult: Morton's Medical Bibliography: An Annotated Check-list of Texts Illustrating the History of Medicine, Call # R131.M67 1991, Life Sciences Library Reference, 4th Floor Paterno

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Government Publications

Century of Lawmaking. Contains searchable text of debates in Congress, laws and bills up to 1873. For later debates see the Congressional Record, Call # J11.G5, 2nd Floor Paterno
Lexis Nexis Congressional (Index to Congressional Hearings and U.S. Serial Set)Congressional documents not online can be found in the Social Sciences Library, 2nd Floor Paterno
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Includes: Center for Disease Control and the National Center for Health Statistics
U.S. Executive Branch Documents, 1789-1909 & 1910-1932. Call # CIS U.S. Executive, Social Sciences Library, U.S. Documents To locate specific topics consult the printed guides, Call # J83.P87
Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications, 1895-present. Call # J83 .C7196, Social Sciences Library Reference, 2nd Floor Paterno
United States Reports (U.S. Supreme Court opinions). Call # KF101.U49, Social Sciences Library, 2nd Floor, Paterno. Online via Lexis Nexis Academic

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Articles: Contemporary Publications

Use to get a snapshot of contemporary opinions and thoughts.

Use NewsCAT to locate newspapers by country, by state, by language, by format, or by time period.

18th, 19th and early 20th Century News Databases

American Periodicals Series, 1741-1900+. Full-text of over 1,000 magazines up to around 1930.
America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922. Best source for colonial and early 19th century newspapers.
Daily Collegian (Historical), 1887-1987. For a British perspective on American public health try, British Newspapers, 1600-1900, British Periodicals (covering up to the 1930s), or the Times of London Digital Archive, 1785-1985

20th Century News Sources

Ethnic Newswatch. Includes Asian-American, African-American, and Hispanic-American news sources.
Lexis-Nexis Academic. Full-text of newspapers and magazines. 1980s to present.
LGBT Life. An index to articles in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender studies.
New York Times Historical Archive, 1851-.
Proquest. Full-text of various news and magazine sources from the 1980s to present.

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