Special Collections

History of Medicine collection

A collection of over 4,000 items including biographies, and works on the history of diseases, hospitals and educational institutions. This collection is shelved from range 147 to the back wall on the lower level of the library.

Nelson J. Gilman Humanities collection

Located on the west side of the lower level, the Nelson J. Gilman Humanities collection is a collection of selected literary fiction and popular non-fiction for recreational reading by faculty, students, and staff. Funds for the collection are provided primarily by celebratory or memorial contributions.

Rare Book collection

Located in a secured space in the upper level Rare Book Room, the rare book room collection contains over 1500 volumes, from the 16th to the 20th century, including 80 folio volumes. It includes such classic works as:

Harvey, William, 1578-1657
The anatomical exercises ... concerning the motion of the heart and blood. With the preface of Zachariah Wood ... To which is added Dr. James de Back his Discourse of the heart ... London, Printed by Francis Leach, for Richard Lowndes, 1653.

Willis, Thomas, 1621-1675
Cerebri anatome: cui accessit nervorum descriptio et usus ... Londini, Typis Ja. Flesher, impensis Jo. Martyn & Ja. Allestry, 1664.

Malpighi, Marcello, 1628-1694
Opera omnia, figuris elegantissimis in aes incisis illustrata : Tomis duobus comprehensa, quorum catalogum sequens pagina exhibet. Londini:,Apud Robertum Littlebury ... ,1687.

Smellie, William, 1697-1763.
A treatise on the theory and practice of midwifery. London:,Printed for D. Wilson ...,1752.

Bell, Charles, Sir, 1774-1842.
Illustrations of the great operations of surgery: trepan, hernia, amputation, aneurism, and lithotomy. London:,Longman, 1821.

Beaumont, William, 1785-1853.
Experiments and observations on the gastric juice, and the physiology of digestion. Boston, Lilly, Wait, and company, 1834.

Nightingale, Florence, 1820-1910.
Notes on nursing: what it is, and what it is not. New York, D. Appleton and Company, 1860.

Hansen, G. Armauer (Gerhard Armauer), 1841-1912.
Leprosy, in its clinical & pathological aspects. Bristol, Eng.:,John Wright, 1895.

Far West Medicine collection

This collection of over 90 titles on the history of medicine in California and the west from the early twentieth century is shelved in the Rare Book Room.

Classics of Medicine collection

This collection, also shelved in the Rare Book Room, includes over 90 volumes of reprinted classic texts in fine leatherbound volumes.

Webb Ethnopharmacology collection

This collection of material on American Indian Ethnopharmacology originated with a gift from Dr. John Webb, a professor at the USC School of Pharmacy. It has been supplemented by current purchases and is shelved in the Webb room on the upper level.

Webb Memorial collection

Dr. Webb's personal library is also housed in the Webb room. It includes works ranging from botany to travel, and an extensive collection of early to mid-20th century literature and poetry