Microforms at the Health Sciences Library Can Now Be Digitized

The UNC Health Sciences Library has recently upgraded its microform reader to permit the easy digitization of both microfilm and microfiche. Located in the Audiovisual / Microforms section in the basement of the library, the new equipment (at right) can quickly create high-resolution scans of any microform document (see image below). Digitized files can be copied to flash drives, CDs, or emailed. The new digital option replaces the previous microform printer, and there is no charge for scanning.

HSL holds significant microform collections, including Early American Medical Imprints, 1668-1820, a set of 1,680 important titles (click here to browse) in the history of medicine that was acquired by Special Collections. The collection, which includes books, pamphlets, theses, and broadsides, is based on the 1961 bibliography by Robert B. Austin, and contains most but not all of the works therein. In addition, a number of periodical titles have been included that were selected from Myrl Ebert's article, "The Rise and Development of the American Medical Periodical, 1797-1850," published in the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association 40:243-76, July 1952.

This article was also the title of Ms. Ebert's master's thesis at Columbia University, and she become the librarian for UNC's Division of Health Affairs Library in 1952. Ms. Ebert served in this capacity until 1976, and further information about her tenure can be found in an online exhibition; a brief audio clip is also available online.

Other microform collections at HSL include:

:: History of Nursing: The Adelaide Nutting Historical Nursing Collection [browse titles]
Includes more than 1400 monographs and documents concerning the history of nursing, medicine and hospitals, from the 15th through the early 20th centuries; publication dates range from 1603 to 1937, with the bulk having been issued in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

:: Calendar of the Letters of Florence Nightingale

See also nine letters in HSL Special Collections that have been digitized and made available online.

:: Primary Sources for the History of Pharmacy in the United States [browse titles]

Contains 85 titles covering the entire spectrum of pharmaceutical literature, including laws, lectures, textbooks, drug and equipment catalogues, formula books, and botanical and herbal materials.

:: Transactions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (1793)

:: Quarterly Summary of the Transactions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (1841-1844)

:: Summary of the Transactions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (1844-1874)

:: Transactions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (1875-1937)

:: Transactions & Studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (1938-1971)

:: UNC Theses and Dissertations [browse titles on microfiche]

Theses and dissertations by UNC students are available in multiple formats, including bound volumes, microforms, and electronic files. A guide to researching UNC and other theses and dissertations is available online; information on those found in the Health Sciences Library is available here.

Since 2006, the majority of theses and dissertations at UNC have been published electronically, and are accessible online. In addition to being searchable by title, author, and keywords, these texts are also browseable by school or department, discipline, and faculty advisor.

Pictured below is a broadside from the Early American Medical Imprints, 1668-1820 microfilm collection (Austin 755). Entitled "Progess of Vaccination in America," it lists the number vaccinated and the number of tests for small-pox by state between 1802 and 1815. A manuscript note states: "February 1816, Plymouth, Mass."