Researchers can request locked Medical Historical Library books and archival material through Quicksearch and Archives at Yale. Please do this for access to locked stacks materials to use in the Medical Historical Library Office/Secure Reading Room. These collections do not circulate.
How to Request from Quicksearch
Books, microfilm, and other individually cataloged items from Special Collections can be requested directly from a record. Materials requests are fulfilled in our reading room. The request process is expedited by a link from the Quicksearch record to your Special Collections Account, which you set up when you complete our registration process. Visit Help with Special Collections in Quicksearch for further guidance.
These illustrations highlight where to find the initial Request button in a Quicksearch record and where to find the button for continuing your request in our circulation software.
The first time you “Request for Use in the Medical Historical Library,” you will be prompted to register, unless you have previously registered as a patron at another Yale Special Collections, such as the Beinecke Library. After that, the information will automatically populate in the form. Put in the date you are planning to come to the Medical Historical Office to view the materials, and Submit the request. For requests to see materials not cataloged, please email historical.library@yale.edu with any questions.
Please make sure that you are only requesting materials with a location of Medical Historical Library. At this point, materials from other parts of the Yale University Libraries cannot be transferred to Medical Historical Library for viewing. Learn more about requesting materials for other Yale Library special collections through "Using Special Collections" website.
How to Request from Archives at Yale
Archival material can be requested directly from a record. Materials requests are fulfilled in our reading room. The request process is expedited by a link from the Archives at Yale record to your Special Collections Account, which you set up when you complete our registration process. The help page for Archives at Yale contains instructions for searching and requesting materials.
This illustration highlights where to find the Request link in a Archives at Yale record.
Many, but not all, of the Medical Historical Library collections can be found through Quicksearch, the Yale University Library catalogs. Please consult the Library's Digitized Collections for a selection of materials, including parts of the Prints and Drawings collection, Posters, Yale Medical School photographs, Postcards, Bookplates, Medical and Scientific instruments, and more.
There are also multiple books and articles on the Library collections which are helpful in discovering materials. Please see the bibliography on the Medical Historical Library collections.
Also note that two of the Cushing catalogs are available online:
- Yale Medical Library. Historical Library. Harvey Cushing collection of books and manuscripts. New York : Schuman's, 1943.
- Harvey Cushing. A Bio-Bibliography of Andreas Vesalius. New York : Schuman's, 1943.