Johnstone-Need Medical History Unit: Guide to Historical Collections at the University of Melbourne

Full description

The Johnstone-Need Medical History Unit website provides an introduction to both the University of Melbourne's collections and other holdings for the history of medicine in Victoria, Australia. As a guide to the range of material held within the University, it describes different holdings and locations, and provides links to other collections dealing with medical history.

The University of Melbourne's medical history collection covers every stage in the development of the medical profession and associated disciplines over the last century and a half. The collection is also rich in older historical material acquired by scholars, university librarians and curators, as well as by medical bibliophiles and antiquarians.

The University collection also reflects the working interests of the faculty: text books and standard works in their successive editions, and collections acquired because of the particular interests of academic staff. Medical concern, for instance, with national fitness in time created rich holdings in eugenics, racial health and venereal disease.

The archive collections - held in the University Library, the Medical History Museum and the University of Melbourne Archives - comprise significant holdings of personal papers and artefacts of medical academics, practitioners and scientists.

This website is a tribute to the late Dr Walter Johnstone-Need, the benefactor of the Medical History Unit of the University of Melbourne.