The Archives collects unpublished material and rare books pertaining to the history of military medicine and public health. The Archives continues to arrange and describe its manuscript collections to make them more accessible to users. The rare book collection is catalogued and searchable in the LRC's online catalog from the search box below. Please contact the Archives with any questions about our collections by using the Contact Us button at the top of the page.
Search for rare books, manuscript collections, and other archival material in the LRC catalog.
Search for digitized selections from the USU Archives, including documents, photographs, and full text rare books and manuscript material.
Use the search box above to search the LRC Catalog
The USU Rare Book Collection consists of over 3,000 books covering surgery, obstetrics, psychology, the American Civil War, and World Wars I and II, among other subjects. The majority of the collection dates from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but there are books from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries as well. The LRC's oldest book is Certaine Workes of Chirurgerie (1563) by Thomas Gale.
Much of the collection was donated to USU in 2005 as part of the Sommer Family Collection. Drs. George Sommer I and II, two New Jersey surgeons, collected these volumes over the course of the 20th century. The collection amassed by these two prominent physicians contains medical books and periodicals dating back to 1672.
The USU Archives has scanned many of the rare books in full text. These can be viewed and downloaded by searching the Archives' digital collection under the heading Military Medical History Documents.
Click below to view a finding aid for each manuscript collection.
Gale Primary Sources - Nineteenth Century Collections Online
The James A. Zimble Learning Resource Center/USU Archives subscribes to an online collection of digitized 19th century archival material from preeminent libraries and archives around the world. Curated by historians and archivists, this collection is interdisciplinary but contains two sections on Science, Technology, and Medicine. These sections explore the rapid acceleration of scientific, technical, and medical knowledge in the 19th century through journals, books, reports, and personal documents.
