History of Medicine Collections

The various collections of the History & Special Collections Division support the study of the history of medicine and biology. Collections consist of books, journals, manuscript, prints, portraits, and medical artifacts. For further assistance in locating manuscripts, prints, portraits, or other artifacts, please inquire in the division.

What's New

Baby Books Collection: One of the library’s most recent endeavors has been building a collection of 19th-21st century baby record books.  These are memory books in which parents record a child’s activities and developmental milestones, and which provide a place to gather photographs, locks of hair, and other mementos.  Many books track individualized medical information, from height and weight to various childhood diseases; some also provide infant health care advice.  The collection of more than 500 titles and editions, with more than 1300 different copies, now spans 125 years.

Collection Highlights

Our goal is to have an online record for every book, journal, manuscript, manuscript collection, artifact, print, and portrait in the collection and where appropriate, to make selected content available on the web.

• The John C. Liebeskind History of Pain Collection

  The Liebeskind Collection is a multi-disciplinary collection focusing on the history of pain alleviation in all of its manifestations. Oral histories with major figures in the pain field form the backbone of the collection, but we also have and collect the papers of individuals and the records of organizations. Pre-20th century historical materials also form an important part of the collection and are interpreted through exhibits and symposia.

• IASP Online Archives

  Profiles on chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP)

• The Neuroscience History Archives
  An Affiliated Collection

  The Neuroscience History Archives, Brain Research Institute, UCLA, and the Biomedical Library, History & Special Collections collaborate to document the history of the Brain Research Institute and the broader history of neuroscience.

• UCLA Biomedical Library Manuscript Collections

  This is a partial listing of the manuscript holdings of the History & Special Collections Division.

Books and Journals in the History of Medicine and Biology
Search the UCLA Library Catalog. Almost all of the books and journals (this includes rare books, and journals, reference works, and histories and biographies) held by the History & Special Collections Division may be found in the UCLA Library Catalog. A few special collections of books are described below.

UCLA Library Acquires Historical Collection of Medical Texts
The UCLA Library has acquired a historical collection of books and journals from Germany, primarily medical texts in the field of otorhinolaryngology. The materials were originally in the private library of Dr. Cäsar Hirsch, a specialist in the field, who was forced to leave all his belongings behind when he and his family fled Germany in 1933. 

Prints and Portraits & Artifacts

Currently, detailed information about these collections is available only in the History Division. Many of the images are recorded in a card catalog located in the Division.

Museum Artifacts

Although small, the Division's museum collection contains artifacts which provide insight into the practice of medicine in different eras. Surgeon's instrument cases, microscopes, scarifiers, thumb lancets, anesthesia masks, phrenological heads, cupping instruments, and glass eyes all bear witness to ideas and practices of the past.