Note:

Below you will find a few suggestions for searching this topic. These suggestions aren't the only way to find materials, but they may help to get you started.

Leprosy

I. Finding background information

  • The Cambridge World History of Human Disease
    Use "Search in this book" to search for leprosy. Then click on  "View PDF." Be sure to note the bibliography at the end of the article: there may be useful sources listed there.
  • History of Science, Technology & Medicine
    Search leprosy and use the pull-down menu to select [Subject, All]. This will  bring up many citations to books and academic journal articles. You can change the order from "Relevance" to "Date Oldest" to find some primary sources.

II. Search the library catalog

  1. Open Library Catalog
  2. Search leprosy (or leprosy history)  and use the pull-down menu to select [Subject]
  3. Note: A search for leprosy personal narratives (in Subject) will bring up some primary sources.

III. Find Scholarly Journal Articles (current)

  • Web of Science  
    There are thousands and thousands of articles on specific aspects of leprosy. One way to narrow this down is to add the term: "overview" and set the pull-down menu to Title. This will return several pages of results. Some look fairly helpful!
    Search: leprosy and overview Use the pull-down menu to select "Title"
  • PsycInfo
    There is a good amount of material here, if you are interested in psychological/psychosocial  aspects. Search leprosy in Subjects. Can limit to Peer Reviewed if desired.
  • ProQuest Research Library
    Type in leprosy. Use the pull-down menu to select Subject (all).
    Once you have a list of results, you can use the menu on the right-hand side, to select "scholarly" or "peer-reviewed" journals.
    You can also try leprosy and history in Subject (all)

IV. Find articles in current and historical newspapers and "popular" (written for the general public) magazines

Current articles:

  • Proquest Research Library (again!)
    Enter your search terms: leprosy;
    From the list of results, filter to Magazines; and select a time period;
    Under Publication Titles, select "more" to select specific magazine titles of interest.
  • Access World News
    Select a geography, e.g. United States.
    Add some topic terms.
    To find the most relevant articles, you may wish to use the pull-down menu to limit your topic terms to the Lead/First Paragraph.

Historical articles:

  • Proquest Historical Newspapers
    Select the Advanced Search.
    Add your search terms: leprosy
    Scroll down to choose Document types (Articles, Advertisements?)
    If you wish, use the date limits on the right to restrict your results to a particular date range.
  • American Magazines
    This database contains periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and many other historically-significant periodicals. There are some fascinating articles, here. Search tips:
    Select the Advanced Search.
    Add your search terms:
    Adjust date ranges, if desired.

V. Find more articles about the history of leprosy

Including some historical articles that may be considered primary sources (how the condition was understood at various points in history).