World Book and Copyright Day 2023

World Book and Copyright Day is a celebration to promote the enjoyment of books and reading. Each year, on 23 April, activities take place all over the world to recognize the scope of books, linking the past and future, and creating a bridge between generations and across cultures. On this…

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Fold-out colour plate from 'La Fièvre Jaune' depicting a section of a kidney, French caption underneath reads 'Coupe de Rein, d'aprés une préparation biologique de Mr. E. C. Prévost

Yellow Fever (Historical Collection)

Yellow fever, a viral disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes, was “one of the most dangerous infectious diseases of the 18th and 19th centuries, resulting in mass casualties in Africa and the Americas,” according to one recent article. For years up to the nineteenth century, debate raged over how the disease…

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Graphic showing a tap dripping water, the globe, and a drop of water.

Book Display: World Water Day

Later this week is World Water Day (22 March), first designated in 1993 by the United Nations to improve awareness around water issues. This year, organisers are drawing particular attention to the UN Sustainable Development Goal of water and sanitation for all by 2030, which we are currently off-track…

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The Philosophy of Health by Southwood Smith M.D. : Historical Collection

Dr. Southwood Smith was a great Victorian health reformer who became Minister for Health. “He was born in Mortock, in Somersetshire, began training to become a minister but his grant was withdrawn on the grounds that he was “entertaining opinions widely different from us on most of the doctrines we…

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International Women’s Day : staff / alumni authors

To mark International Women’s Day, I have put together a display of books authored or edited by a range of female staff and alumni of LSHTM. Among others there are Sari Kovats, Dina Balabanova, Virginia Berridge, Ann Mills and Anna Dixon. The topics include both the sciences and social…

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Demography & Data (Historical Collection)

Today’s books from the LSHTM Historical Collection consist of some early attempts at gathering statistics on disease and society. Lots of the Collection significantly predates the foundation of LSHTM, which includes these volumes. Instead, the Library acquired them during the School’s early history, often through donations and bequests…

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International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is a great chance to remind ourselves of just some of the women who have studied and taught at LSHTM over the years.

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A History of Epidemic Pestilences; from the earliest ages 1495 years before the birth of our Saviour to 1848 by Edward Bascombe M.D. : Historical Collection

Bascombe’s ‘A History of Epidemic Pestilences from the earliest ages 1495 years before the birth of our Saviour to 1848’, is a historical account of diseases around the world. Since there was no concept of germ theory, no one understood the cause of these outbreaks or how they spread…

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A photograph of pages from 'Two monographs on malaria and the parasites of malarial fevers' including colour plate illustrations of blood samples.

Malaria & Microscopes (Historical Collection)

As shown in the recent report on LSHTM’s colonial history, the financial burden of malaria on the British colonial project was one of the driving forces behind the LSTM’s foundation. It’s therefore unsurprising to find that many books on malaria are in the Historical Collection. Many…

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Book display : Twenty years of the Centre for History in Public Health

The Library is celebrating twenty years of the Centre for History in Public Health with a book display, highlighting a number of items in the library collection which focus on subjects around health history and public health history.

The Centre was formed in 2003, but has its origins in late…

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