Important Sources and Bibliographies

John Hartwell

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We've had a number of book recommendations for the study of Medical Care in the Civil War. I thought I'd start a thread that might bring such sources together.I'll start with an outstanding general source, from the Army's Office of Medical History.

THE ARMY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT
1818-1865

by Mary C Gillett
CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY
UNITED STATES ARMY
WASHINGTON D.C.
1987

Now free online in it's entirety at https://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/civil/gillett2/gillett.html

It is in 13 long chapters, 6 of them concerning the Civil War:

8. THE CIVIL WAR, 1861: MANY PROBLEMS, FEW SOLUTIONS
  • Administrative Problems of the Medical Department
    Care of the Sick and Wounded in the East
    Care of the Sick and Wounded in the West
    Conclusion
9. THE CIVIL WAR IN 1862: LEARNING ON THE JOB
  • Care of the Sick and Wounded in the East
    Care of the Sick and Wounded in the West
    Conclusion
10. THE CIVIL WAR IN 1863: HAMMOND'S LAST YEAR
  • Administration of the Medical Department
    Care of the Sick and Wounded in the East
    Care of the Sick and Wounded in the West
    Conclusion
11. THE CIVIL WAR IN 1864: THE BEGINNING OF THE END
  • Hammond's Trial
    Barnes'Administration
    Medical Care of Forces in Virginia
    Sherman's Campaign in Georgia
    Trans-Mississippi Campaign
    Conclusion
12. THE END
  • Administration
    Grant's Campaign in Northern Virginia
    Sherman's Campaign
    Prisoners of War
    Conclusion
13. ACHIEVEMENTS AND FAILURES DURING THE CIVIL WAR
  • Disease
    Infections and Wounds
    Organization and Administration
    Epilogue

And an extensive BIBLIOGRAPHY.
 
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The Directory of American Civil War Medicine Collections is a 43-page pdf file, outlining state-by-state, and repository-by-repository archives of significant importance to the study of Civil War medicine. It is a 2009/10 fellowship project of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

The Structured Abstract of the document reads:

Objectives The objective of this project was to create the first edition of the Directory of American Civil War Medicine Collections, a directory containing contact information, institutional abstracts, and holdings descriptions of repositories that have primary source material related to medicine from the Civil War.​
Methods Potential repositories were identified through recommendations from exhibition staff, and published bibliographies of Civil War resources from several institutional websites. The website for each repository was searched for relevant collections and the repositories not suitable for the directory were separated out. Contact information, background information about the institution, its holdings and specific holdings relevant to Civil War medicine were gathered and written up for institutions making up the directory.​
Results A total of 131 institutions were reviewed and directory listings for 36 institutions in 16 states were completed with an additional 58 institutions identified for possible inclusion. Thirty seven repositories were excluded from the directory because they were not within scope or up to the standards of quality to be included.​
Discussion The Directory of Civil War Medicine Collections will be a useful tool for researchers, scholars and enthusiasts of Civil War Medicine. It will help promote the NLM’s collections and role as reliable source of health information.​
 
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