History: Epidemics and Pandemics
Find below a selection of primary documents about the plague, epidemics, and pandemics in history. See also Previous Pandemics on our COVID-19 and the Coronavirus Pandemic Information Resources libguide.
- Early English Books Online (EEBO-TCP)University of Michigan Library
perform a Bibliographic search for Plague in subject
open access - The Plague Book (Orders thought meete...)Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia
open access
American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919: A Digital Encyclopedia (2nd ed.) by Call Number: Open Access E-BookPublication Date: 2011"These pages contain the stories of the places, the people, and the organizations that battled the American influenza epidemic of 1918-1919." Excellent mix of primary and tertiary (or reference) information from the University of Michigan Library.
The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time by Call Number: Internet Archive E-BookISBN: 0060006935Publication Date: 2006-01-31"Chronicles the Great Plague that devastated Asia and Europe in the fourteenth century, documenting the experiences of people who lived during its height while describing the decline of moral boundaries that also marked the period." Incorporates eyewitness (i.e., primary source) accounts. Internet Archive is a trustworthy non-profit library. Create a personal account to access this title.
Plague, Pestilence and Pandemic: Voices From History by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9780500296134Publication Date: 2021-05-11"The contributions come from firsthand accounts or personal narratives relating to pandemics that emerged at different periods in time" (Choice).
The Tainted Gift: The Disease Method of Frontier Expansion by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BookISBN: 9780313353383Publication Date: 2009-09-03In this book Mann draws on primary sources to elucidate four incidents of epidemic disease among Native Americans along the colonial frontier: The 1763 smallpox outbreak in Ohio that resulted from tainted blankets gifted by the British to Native groups who lived at the fork of the Ohio River (modern-day Pittsburgh); the cholera epidemic during the 1832 Choctaw removal; the 1837 hemorrhagic smallpox outbreak along the Upper Missouri River; and an 1847 poisoning in Oregon territory of Nez Perce and other Native peoples by fourteen missionaries.
