About the Center

The Stanford Medical History Center collects and maintains materials related to the history of health care, medical research, and medical education at Stanford and beyond, including:

• unpublished documents and records
• historical photographs, diagrams, and other visual materials
• rare medical books from the 13th century and later
• oral histories
• digital media

These materials support scholarly research, curriculum development, and Stanford Medicine's institutional needs, including faculty and student recruitment and development, communications, alumni and donor relations. We also offer electronic databases and standard reference tools for the history of medicine.

Access and Use

The Medical History Center is open by appointment. Priority is given to current Stanford faculty, students, and staff. Researchers from other institutions working on scholarly projects are also welcome to request an appointment.

Due to staffing constraints, the Medical History Center is unable to answer questions from or provide research services to the general public. Because of their rarity and fragility, our materials do not circulate. An on-site digital imaging station is available so visiting researchers can reproduce materials from our collections.

To request an appointment or materials, please complete our contact form.

Offering Your Historic Materials

Thank you for thinking of us. At this time, we are no longer accepting donations of materials unless they are archival materials from Stanford Medicine. We will consider unpublished or otherwise rare materials that document health care, medical education, and medical research at Stanford Medicine—such as correspondence, administrative records, research materials, and images created or received by Stanford Medicine faculty, staff, departments, programs, clinics, or affiliated units. To arrange for the collection of archival materials, please contact us.

Opportunities for Giving

If you are interested in making a donation, please visit the Lane Medical Library Donations and Gifts webpage.