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Medicine, epidemics and public health historical collections (BMC)

Historical books, manuscripts, and other sources relating to the history of medicine, epidemics and public health in Bryn Mawr's Special Collections

Philadelphia epidemics

Carey, Mathew. A Short Account of the Malignant Fever Lately Prevalent in Philadelphia: With a Statement of the Proceedings That Took Place on the Subject in Different Parts of the United States. 3rd ed., improved. Philadelphia: Printed by the author, 1793.

Carey, Matthew. A Short Account of the Malignant Fever Lately Prevalent in Philadelphia: With a Statement of the Proceedings That Took Place on the Subject in Different Parts of the United States : To Which Are Added Accounts of the Plague in London and Marseilles, and a List of the Dead, from August 1 to the Middle of December, 1793. 4th ed.; improved. Philadelphia: Printed by the author, 1794.

Philadelphia (Pa. ). Committee Appointed to Attend to and Alleviate the Sufferings of the Afflicted with the Malignant Fever. Minutes of the Proceedings of the Committee, Appointed on the 14th September, 1793, by the Citizens of Philadelphia, the Northern Liberties, and the District of Southwark, to Attend to and Alleviate the Sufferings of the Afflicted with the Malignant Fever, Prevalent in the City and Its Vicinity. Philadelphia, 1848.

Trimble, Ann. “Letter: To Jane Temple, Pennsbury, [Pa.], 1798 Oct. 2.,” 1798 Writing to her cousin during the yellow fever epidemic, Trimble details a grim list of friends and acquaintances killed or sickened by the fever. Adelman Collection. 

Bettle, Samuel. “Letters: Philadelphia, Pa., to Jane Temple Bettle, Pennsbury, Pa., 1802-1803, Eight letters, written in 1802 and 1803 while he is in Philadelphia and his wife in the country, in which Bettle bemoans their separation and describes the progress of the yellow fever epidemic in the Philadelphia area.

Epidemics in Europe in the 18th & 19th centuries

Defoe, Daniel. An Abridgment of The History of the Great Plague in London, in the Year 1665. A new ed. London: C& JRivington, 1824.

Dwight, H. G. O. Memoir of Mrs. Elizabeth B. Dwight: Including an Account of the Plague of 1837. New York: MWDodd, 1840.

Howard, John. Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe: W. ... Papers Relative to the Plague ... Observations on Some Foreign Prisons & Hospitals & ... Remarks on the Present State of Those in Great Britain & Ireland .. Warrington, 1789.

Marsh, Catherine. Death and Life: A Record of the Cholera Wards in the London Hospital. London: J. Nisbet, 1866.

R. B. A New View, and Observations on the Ancient and Present State of London and Westminster ... With an Account of the Most Remarkable Accidents as to Wars, Fires, Plagues, and Other Occurences ... London: Printed for ABettesworth and CHitch etc, 1730.