For today’s post, I will identify some of the most useful online databases for historical research on the history of healthcare and more general academic websites.
Throughout the course of my undergraduate and MA dissertations, I was introduced (by fellow students and academic staff) to online repositories that have provided useful to my own research. However, some of these resources can only be accessed my university students while others are also open to the public.
- Lenus the Irish Health Repository
I first encountered Lenus as a third year history student undertaking my research seminar on Health and Politics in Independent Ireland at UCC. While Lenus holds newly published medical research, it contains various nineteenth and twentieth century Irish health archives. For example, the Hospital Commissions’ Reports, Reports of the Department of Health (1945-), and reports from Fever Hospitals. The full documents are be downloaded and accessed by researchers and the public.
- U.K Parliamentary Papers
This database boasts a wide range of Bills, Acts and meetings of committees relating to Scotland, Wales, England and Ireland. I found the Parliamentary Papers useful to determine when certain medical provisions were first recommended and to trace amendments to significant acts on maternity and child welfare. Of course, the Irish Statute Book website records legislation passed in Ireland following 1922.
- Irish Newspaper Archive
As far as I am aware to view the Irish Newspaper Archive you must set up an account, however, it Irish university students can usually access the archive through their library database section. Notably, the Irish Times have a separate online arrchive with a substantial collection of newspapers.
- CSO.ie
The Central Statistics Office contain the annual registers for births, marriage and deaths in Ireland from the nineteenth century. In terms of my own research, they provided a detailed summary of the number and causes of infant and maternal deaths in Ireland between 1919 and 1979.
- Cora, Cork Open Research Arachive
Lastly, most University’s such as University College Cork have an Open Research Archive which stores past PhD theses. Before I start my research, I need to ensure that the topic has not been already been carried out by another researcher because you want your findings to make a new and significant contribution to historiography. Websites like CORA, and TARA, Trinity’s Access to Research Archive, allow free access previous PhD research undertaken in your main research area.
Links:
Central Statistics Office https://cso.ie/en/index.html
CORA https://cora.ucc.ie/handle/10468/1
Irish Statute Book http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/
Lenus the Irish Health Repository https://www.lenus.ie/
TARA http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/76240 2 Acc
HealthHistoryIreland 