The USU Archives and the LRC collection have a number of items that relate to both historical and contemporary pandemics. These materials include books, military medical publications, and other items.
The University Archives for the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences collects, preserves, and makes available rare university materials; historical military medical and public health collections; and personal papers of enduring value from administrators, faculty, and alumni for the research use of the university and the general public. The Archives collects manuscripts, oral histories, rare books, audio-visual materials, and artifacts relating to the history of the university and the history of military medicine.
Rare Book Collection
The links below are a selection of the books relating to the 1918-1920 Flu Pandemic that have been scanned by the Archives. The 1918 Flu was a deadly influenza pandemic that infected about a quarter of the Earth's population and killed between 17 million to 50 million people. An H1N1 virus, the 1918 Flu became known as the "Spanish Flu" in the media of the time: censors minimized the news of the virus from the United States, Germany, France, and the UK, leaving newspapers to present a story that the disease had started in Spain.
The majority of these materials are general WWI-related items that discuss the pandemic and military medicine at the time in general. Other volumes can be viewed and downloaded by searching the Archives' digital collection under the heading Military Medical History Documents, and the rare book collection can be searched via the LRC Catalog.
LRC Collection
The LRC Collection also contains material related to WWI and the Spanish Flu. The catalog records of selected materials are linked below. Additional material on this topic can be located by searching the LRC Catalog.
SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) is a viral respiratory disease that surfaced in the early 2000s. Over 8,000 people from 29 countries were infected, and at least 774 people died. No cases of this, the first SARS-CoV have been reported since 2004. A related strain, SARS-CoV-2, is the cause of COVID-19.
The LRC Collection contains material related to the 2002-2004 SARS Outbreak. The catalog records of selected materials are linked below. Additional material on this topic can be located by searching the LRC Catalog.
Rare Book Collection
The links below are a selection of the books relating to the Black Death, a pandemic that killed millions globally from roughly 1347-1351, that are held by the Archives. The bacterium Yersinia pestis is believed to have been the cause. The Black Death (also known as the Great Bubonic Plague, the Plague, the Black Plague, and the Pestilence) is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population, with the populations of some areas not recovering until the 19th century.
The rare book collection can be searched via the LRC Catalog.
The LRC History Collection
The links below are a selection of the books relating to the Black Death that are held by the LRC History Collection.
The History Collection can be searched via the LRC Catalog.
LRC Collection
The LRC Collection also contains material related to the Black Death. The catalog records of selected materials are linked below. Additional material on this topic can be located by searching the LRC Catalog.
Rare Book Collection
The links below are a selection of the books relating to Yellow Fever that have been scanned by the Archives. Yellow Fever is a viral disease caused by the bite of infected mosquitos. While a vaccine now exists, thousands of people still die from Yellow Fever every year, and prior to the vaccine's development, the disease killed hundreds of thousands.
Other volumes can be viewed and downloaded by searching the Archives' digital collection under the heading Military Medical History Documents, and the rare book collection can be searched via the LRC Catalog.
LRC Collections
The LRC Collection and History Collection also contain material related to Yellow Fever. The catalog records of selected materials are linked below. Additional material on this topic can be located by searching the LRC Catalog.
The following are links to other institutions with collections and exhibits that complement the material in the USU Archives.
National Library of Medicine
National Archives and Records Administration
