Oxford LibGuides: Disability History Resources: Medical Disabilities

Key Resources

Cancer Journal
An international interdisciplinary journal of the American Cancer Society, publishes high-impact, peer-reviewed original articles and solicited content. Some articles touch on the history of cancer and its prevalence in the past.
The Making Cancer History® Voices Oral History Project
Oral History Collection of the MD Anderson Cancer Centre at the University of Texas. Presents the collective memory of the people who helped shape the institution into what it is today. Originally a small short-format interview collection, from 2011 it grew by 105 in-depth oral history interviews that average 5 hours in length. In addition, it includes special interview projects conducted for the Division of Surgery and the Division of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology.
A Visual History of Cancer - Wellcome Collection
An article which uses visual representations of cancer from the Wellcome Collection across the 18th to the 20th centuries to show how attitudes towards the disease have changed over time.
The prevalence of cancer in Britain before industrialization
In this novel study, the authors have determined the percentage of people living in medieval Britain who had cancer metastases to bone at the time of their death and then compared that with modern data.
The impact of industrialization on malignant neoplastic disease of bone in England: A study of medieval and industrial samples
This article aims to evaluate how the environmental risks of industrialization altered the prevalence of malignancy in medieval and industrial period populations, while controlling for differences in age-at-death of the individuals.
A probable case of metastatic carcinoma in the medieval Netherlands
This paper discusses an adult individual from a Dutch medieval hospital site who demonstrates osteoblastic and osteolytic lesions on the ribs, scapula, clavicle, and vertebrae. The morphology, radiographic appearance, and distribution of the skeletal lesions suggest that this individual was affected by metastatic carcinoma.
Historical Notes on Cancer
An article which recognises the difficulty of defining cancer in the past, and therefore focuses on collating attitudes to cancer.
Cancer in Ottoman Surgical Books-Part I: Classical Period (1450-1730).
An article which presents the results of searching for mentions of cancer in medical texts from the Ottoman empire between the 15th and 18th centuries.
The Crab: Facing Cancer in Greco-Roman Antiquity
Blogpost overview for the Antigone forum on cancer in classical Antiquity.
Lawrence Koblenz, 'From Sin to Science: The Cancer Revolution of the Nineteenth Century' PhD Thesis 2013, Columbia University
Thesis which looks at the ideological and medicinal "revolution" which took place in the 19th century which changed the way in which cancer was seen, understood, and treated. This novel approach has continued into the present day.
History of the Growing Burden of Cancer in India: From Antiquity to the 21st Century
An article published in a medical journal which looks at how the number of individuals in India diagnosed with cancer has increased from antiquity to the modern day. There is an emphasis on how this can be used to help manage the number of cases of cancer in developing countries in the present.
Earliest hominin cancer: 1.7-million-year-old osteosarcoma from Swartkrans Cave, South Africa
Article publishing the findings of a new analysis of a prehistoric skeleton which has shown evidence of malignant neoplastic disease which was previously believed to be rare or non-existent in pre-industrial societies. This case is therefore the earliest recorded.

Bibliography

The history of cancer : an annotated bibliography by James S. Olson
ISBN: 0313258899

Publication Date: 1989

Recommended books

Landmarks in the History of Cancer by Steven I. Hajdu
ISBN: 9798886978933

Publication Date: 2023-06-29
Constructions of Cancer in Early Modern England: Ravenous Natures by Alanna Skuse
ISBN: 9781137569196

Publication Date: 2015-10-28
Bathsheba's breast : Women, Cancer & History by James S. Olson
ISBN: 0801880645

Publication Date: 2005
The Genesis of Cancer : A Study in the History of Ideas by L. J. Rather
ISBN: 0801821037

Publication Date: 1996
A History of Prostate Cancer : Cancer, Men and Medicine by Helen Valier
ISBN: 9781403988034

Publication Date: 2016
A History of Lung Cancer :The Recalcitrant Disease by Carsten Timmermann
ISBN: 9781403988027

Publication Date: 2013

Diabetes and related remedies in medieval Persian medicine
This article includes a review on reports of diabetes from selected medical and pharmaceutical textbooks of Traditional Persian Medicine.
Insulin was discovered 100 years ago – but it took a lot more than one scientific breakthrough to get a diabetes treatment to patients
Academic public engagement article for The Conversation about the early medical discovery of insulin and treatment of diabetes.
Diabetes through the ages
Streaming video (37mins): Story of diabetes -- Treatments before insulin -- Linking the pancreas to diabetes -- Frederick Banting and John Macleod discovered insulin -- Co-discoverers of insulin; Charles Best and Bertram Collip -- The first injection of insulin to Leonard Thompson -- Manufacturing of insulin -- Nobel Prize for the discovery of insulin to Banting and Macleod.
Cheltine: The Diabetic Food That Wasn’t
Blog post by a Research Associate in the Department of Sociological Studies at University of Sheffield on cheltine. Cheltine was a 20th century diabetic food brand which caused an uproar with medical professionals as being unsafe.
Milestones in the history of diabetes mellitus: The main contributors
This historical article attempts to provide the most important steps in the history of diabetes mellitus from antiquity until today.
History of Diabetes Mellitus
Article discussing the ways in which diabetes was written about from ancient history through to the present day.
Metformin: historical overview
An overview of a drug which was developed and distributed widely over the course of the 20th century to lower blood-glucose but which had roots in herbal medicines of the medieval period.

Recommended books

Diabetes : A History of Race and Disease by Arleen Marcia Tuchman
ISBN: 9780300228991

Publication Date: 2020
Diabetes: Its Medical and Cultural History by Dietrich v. Engelhardt (Editor)
ISBN: 9783642483660

Publication Date: 1989
Fatal Thirst: Diabetes in Britain until Insulin by Elizabeth Lane Furdell
ISBN: 9047425979

Publication Date: 2009-01-01
The Discovery of Insulin by Michael Bliss
ISBN: 9780226058993

Publication Date: 1988 (rev ed)
Diabetes : the biography by Robert Tattersall
ISBN: 9780199541362

Publication Date: 2009
The Pissing Evil : A Comprehensive History of Diabetes Mellitus by Robert Tattersall
ISBN: 1909675091

Publication Date: 2017

Papers of Professor Bryan Jennett, post-traumatic epilepsy
Post-traumatic Epilepsy, c. 1983. Professor Bryan Jennett (1926-2008), neurosurgeon. Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow Archives.
Queen Square Library Archive and Museum, UCL
The Queen Square Archives comprise the archives belonging to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) and the UCL Institute of Neurology (IoN). They include an extensive collection of 1500 bound volumes of case notes covering 1863-1946 including many examples of early medical photography.
Epilepsy as a “Contagious” Disease in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Ottoman World
This article, through an analysis of a wide range of texts from the late medieval and
early modern periods, demonstrates that Ottoman society imagined epilepsy not only as a disorder caused by physical conditions but also as a contagious disease, which could be transmitted by the jinn and evil spirits
Disability Voices [temporarily unavailable]
The complete oral recordings and transcripts of 98 interviews that chart the experiences of disabled people, made freely available through British Library Sounds. PLEASE NOTE: British Library Sounds is currently unavailable as an ongoing effect of the 2023 cyber attack targeting the library.
A brief history of epilepsy and its therapy in the western hemisphere
The history of epilepsy and its treatment in the western world dates back at least 4 millennia to the ancient civilizations of the middle east. Past and present treatments have been empirical, usually reflecting the prevailing views of epilepsy, be they medical, theological or superstitious.
History of surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy
The history of epilepsy and its treatment goes back to ancient times when it included medicinal herbs, lifestyle modifications, and even surgery. Trepanation is considered the oldest surgical procedure for the treatment of epilepsy
German Epilepsy Museum Kork
A German Museum for epilepsy and the history of epilepsy that covers the ancient world through to the modern day.

Recommended books

The Falling Sickness:a history of epilepsy from the Greeks to the beginnings of modern neurology by Owsei Temkin
ISBN: 9780801848490

Publication Date: 1994
The Idea of Epilepsy: a medical and social history of epilepsy in the modern era (1860-2020) by Simon Shorvon
ISBN: 9781108842617

Publication Date: 2023
The history of modern epilepsy : the beginning, 1865-1914 by Walter J. Friedlander
ISBN: 9798400665066

Publication Date: 2001
The End of Epilepsy? a history of the modern era of epilepsy, 1860-2010 by Dieter Schmidt; Simon Shorvon
ISBN: 9780198725909

Publication Date: 2016
A disease once sacred : a history of the medical understanding of epilepsy by Mervyn J. Eadie; P. F. Bladin
ISBN: 0861966074

Publication Date: 2001

The Time of Leprosy: 11th Century to 14th Century
Part of Historic England's Disability History webpages: "This section explains how leprosy became endemic in England by the 11th century, and describes medieval attitudes towards the disease and how sufferers were cared for in religious houses and hospitals."
International Leprosy Association - History of Leprosy
This website aimes to develop a database of descriptions of leprosy archives from around the world. The intention is to preserve the records that stood testimony to the extraordinary work done against the disease.

more... less...

The database was designed to create pathways for researchers, to encourage the preservation of archives, and to establish a network of researchers. It includes descriptions of collections of organisational, policy, scientific and medical archives, as well as leprosaria records, museums and libraries. Some private collections are included selecively.
Damien Museum, Belgium
Collections page on the website of the Damien museum and archive. Father Damien (Jozef De Veuster) was a Belgian missionary who worked on the leper colony of Molokai in Hawaii in the mid-19th century. Canonized in 2009 as St Damien of Molokai, the Catholic patron saint of people with leprosy.

Recueil d'actes de Saint-Lazare de Paris, 1124-1254 by Simone Lefèvre (Editor)
Publication Date: 2005

Acts of the medieval St Lazare leper hospital in Paris. Online version via Persee.
Statuts d'hôtels-Dieu et de léproseries : recueil de textes du XIIe au XIVe siècle by Léon Le Grand (Editor)
Publication Date: 1901

Anthology of statutes of medieval French leper hospitals. Online version via Internet Archive.

Recommended books

Leprosy in China by Angela Ki Che Leung
ISBN: 9780231123006

Publication Date: 2009-01-01
Leprosy in Medieval England by Carole Rawcliffe
ISBN: 1843832739

Publication Date: 2006
Missionary Women, Leprosy and Indigenous Australians, 1936-1986 by Charmaine Robson
ISBN: 9783031057953

Publication Date: 2022
Out of the Shadow of Leprosy : the Carville Letters and Stories of the Landry Family by Claire Manes; Marcia Gaudet (Foreword by)
ISBN: 9781617037764

Publication Date: 2013
Leprosy and Identity in the Middle Ages : from England to the Mediterranean by Elma Brenner (Editor); François-Olivier Touati (Editor); François-Olivier Touati (Editor)
ISBN: 9781526127419

Publication Date: 2021
Leper Hospitals in Medieval Ireland : With a Short Account of the Military and Hospitaller order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem by Gerard Lee
ISBN: 1851822852

Publication Date: 1998
Leprosy in Colonial South India : Medicine and Confinement by Jane Buckingham
ISBN: 0333926226

Publication Date: 2001
Leprosy in Premodern Medicine by Luke Demaitre
ISBN: 9780801886133

Publication Date: 2007
Leprosy and Empire : a Medical and Cultural History by Rod Edmond
ISBN: 9780521865845

Publication Date: 2006
Walking Corpses : Leprosy in Byzantium and the Medieval West by Timothy S. Miller and John W. Nesbitt
ISBN: 1501770853

Publication Date: 2014

Disability Voices [temporarily unavailable]
The complete oral recordings and transcripts of 98 interviews that chart the experiences of disabled people have been made freely available through British Library Sounds. Contains a section on Polio. PLEASE NOTE: British Library Sounds is currently unavailable as an ongoing effect of the 2023 cyber attack targeting the library.
Polio - Our World in Data
An article on the History of Polio including interactive graphs published by Our World in Data.
Was Sir Walter Scott's Lameness Caused by Poliomyelitis?
This article argues that the autobiographical account of one of Sir Walter Scott's illnesses would strongly suggest that his lameness was due to poliomyelitis. As such, it probably amounts to the earliest case on record in the British Isles.

Recommended books

Polio Voices: An Oral History from the American Polio Epidemics and Worldwide Eradication Efforts by Julie K. Silver
ISBN: 9780275994921

Publication Date: 2007-08-30
Poliomyelitis : A World Geography : Emergence to Eradication by M. R. Smallman-Raynor; A. D. Cliff
ISBN: 9780199244744

Publication Date: 2006-08-24
Polio and Its Aftermath: The Paralysis of Culture by Marc Shell
ISBN: 9780674043541

Publication Date: 2009-07-01
Polio : The Odyssey of Eradication by Thomas Abraham
ISBN: 9781849049566

Publication Date: 2018
Roosevelt and the fight against polio by Turnley Walker
Publication Date: 1954
The Death of a Disease: A History of the Eradication of Poliomyelitis by Bernard Seytre (Editor); Mary Shaffer (Editor)
ISBN: 0813536766

Publication Date: 2005-08-22

Disability History Resources: Medical Disabilities

Introduction

Key Resources