Recommended reading
Material Culture by Call Number: E161 .M35 1985ISBN: 0700602755Publication Date: 1985-11-15This collection of essays brings together six distinguished scholars to examine the progress, problems, and potential of material culture studies in America. From the perspective of their respective disciplines--cultural geography, vernacular architecture, American studies, the history of technology, the decorative arts, and folklife studies--these widely respected authorities survey the major material culture research of the past two decades and assess the most creative and innovative work-in-progress. Thomas J. Schlereth's introductory chapter provides a critical analysis of material culture evidence, articulating the distinctive quality of such data and focusing on the problematic nature of doing research with objects rather than with written records.
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Solidify Your Findings
A comprehensive study must be performed once an artifact or object is located or given a name. Once the idea of researching an object or artifact is engaged, you have now considered the material culture of your subject.
If there is no clear answer to your artifact, try searching through various databases from other libraries, institutions, or collections. Cross-referencing what you already know about your artifact and exploring similar findings may help you triangulate your data and, therefore, locate intellectual gaps and solve them. Ultimately, find more information on your artifact or eliminate the possibilities.
Locating History of Medicine Materials in Databases
Use a variety of databases, exhibits, or collections to locate books, journals, artifacts, and audiovisual recordings.
- ARTstorARTstor is a cross-disciplinary image database. It offers collections of approximately 300,000 art images and descriptive information covering art, architecture and archeology.
- IndexCatIndexCat is the online Index-Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office, (Index-Catalogue), printed from 1880 - 1961.
- PubMedSearches MEDLINE, which is the primary source of journal articles for the health sciences (fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, public health, health care systems, and basic sciences). Coverage is from the 1940s to the present. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
- UMediaDiscover 161,819 images, maps, manuscripts, video, audio, and more. UMedia provides open access to digitized materials from across the University of Minnesota.
- Internet Archive (Archive.org)Try the Internet Archive for print material, websites, video clips, audio clips, or images.
- National Archives CatalogA great source of records, including digital images of documents and photos containing descriptions at a series level.
- National Museum of Civil War Medicine Primary SourcesThis site includes curated and topical bibliographies of primary source materials and searchable databases. Providing access to digitized documents that pertain to Civil War medicine.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new windowHathiTrust provides access to millions of books and other materials. Full text searching of most books is available and books in the public domain (generally older books) can be freely viewed and/or downloaded. Books still in copyright have more limited access. Users with print-reading disabilities can apply for special access to digitized works by emailing wilsref@umn.edu.
Browse Through History of Medicine Collections
Below are some examples of collections to use as a valuable resource in addition to our collections at the Wangensteen Historical Library.
- Popular Medicine in America, 1800-1900This unique collection showcases the development of 'popular' medicine in America during the nineteenth century, through an extensive range of material that was aimed at the general public rather than medical professionals. Explore an array of printed sources, including rare books, pamphlets, trade cards, and visually-rich advertising ephemera.
- Arbittier Museum of Medical HistoryThe Arbittier Museum of Medical History collection contains fine artwork, medical and surgical antiques, vintage diagnostic equipment, pharmacy, neurosurgical collections from the 18th and 19th century and more.
- International Museum of Surgical ScienceThe IMSS is located in Chicago, Illinois with exhibits and collections that showcase Eastern and Western medicine.
- The Medical Heritage LibraryA digital curation collaborative among some of the world's leading libraries that promotes free and open access to historical resources in medicine.
- Museum of Health Care at KingstonContaining more than 30,000 digitized objects, you will encounter a wide array of artefacts, books and documents, works of art, and photographs representing diverse collections, themes, historical events, persons, medical disciplines, and curiosities - the "treasures" of the collection.
- National Institutes of Health: National Library of Medicine Digital CollectionsExplore over 70,000 images, rare scripts, personal papers, publications and more that covers the world of science, health, medicine, and public policy.
- OPAL Medical Artifacts CollectionMedical artifacts collection at La Trobe University spans from 1915-1990
- Wellcome Library Digital CollectionsThe Wellcome Library's digital collections contain a wide variety of topics including surgical instruments and equipment, asylums, food, public policy, and war. The collection houses materials like published books, pamphlets, posters, magazines, journals, archives, photographs, as well as film and sound recordings.
- The Tizzano Museum of Obstetrics, Gynecology, Medical Antiques, and Women's HistoryDr. Anthony Tizzano holds some of the most unique collections in Women's health history and surgical instrumentation.
Last Updated: Feb 22, 2024 5:17 PM
URL: https://libguides.umn.edu/artifactresearch