Rare books and manuscripts
Search our collection of 73,000 print materials from 1430 to 1945, with strengths in anatomy, women’s health, surgery, natural history, and pharmacy.
Wangensteen Historical Library
The Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine collections contain materials and objects that broadly represent health, medicine, and biological sciences from 1430 to 1945.
Collections
Digitized collections
The digitized collections of the Wangensteen Historical Library are freely available online. They cover a broad range of topics from East Asian History to Clara Barton’s diaries.
Artifacts
Our artifact collection contains 8,000 objects, including pharmaceutical, medical and surgical equipment, instruments, and products.
Featured content
Kongaku Ketsuhō
From our growing collection of books on East Asian health care, Kongaku Ketsuhō (Bunjō Ishizuka, 1835) discusses acupuncture points and therapy. It is printed in an unusual format, as a narrow oblong octavo — shuchin bon — a book small enough to carry in a kimono sleeve.
English Medicine
This handwritten pharmacopeia (1807-1850) is made up of 135 recipes for making various drugs, medicines and domestic remedies, and includes a dosage list.
Flora Medica
Reputed to be a witch’s potion in the Middle ages, monkshood or wolfsbane (Acontium Napellus) was sometimes used for sedation, as detailed in Flora Medica (1829). In J.K. Rowlings’ Harry Potter fictional series, it aids Remus Lupin’s transformation into a werewolf.
Visit
Wangensteen Library
Prepare for your visit
The library is open to the public. Appointments are encouraged to ensure materials can be retrieved prior to your visit.
Reference consultations
Meet with curators to locate materials for your research topic.
Course support
Collaborate with curators to support student learning and student interactions with texts, historical images, manuscripts, and objects.
Engagement and outreach
Partner with the library to create or enhance conversations about the history of health, medicine, and biological sciences through exhibits, lectures, and material loans.
Fund your research
Learn more about travel grants that support in-depth research drawing on the library’s holdings and staff expertise.
About Owen Wangensteen
In the 1960s, Dr. Owen H. Wangensteen, distinguished surgeon, became the force behind the creation of the library that bears his name.
Exhibits & events
Current exhibit
Initial Impressions: Renaissance Type and the Grammar of Ornament
This exhibit features works by Geoffroy Tory and Hans Holbein, 16th century artists specializing in typography and the creation of ornate initial capitals showcasing narrative or decorative scenes. Held in conjunction with the UMN Goldstein Gallery exhibit of the same name.
Events
Online exhibits
Secret Lives of Books
This exhibit celebrates the stories of our books — from the stories woven in their bindings to the comments written on their pages by readers.
Downton Abbey: Behind the Scenes of Health and Illness
Our library holdings come together to illuminate the medical themes threaded throughout Masterpiece Theater’s wildly popular Downton Abbey.
Journeying through a 17th c. apothecary manuscript
This exhibit is centered on a 17th-century apothecary manuscript from Toulouse, France, and a student’s research project involving translating the manuscript and mapping where in the world the ingredients may have been sourced.
Exhibits & events
Current exhibit
Initial Impressions: Renaissance Type and the Grammar of Ornament
This exhibit features works by Geoffroy Tory and Hans Holbein, 16th century artists specializing in typography and the creation of ornate initial capitals showcasing narrative or decorative scenes. Held in conjunction with the UMN Goldstein Gallery exhibit of the same name.
Events
Online exhibits
Secret Lives of Books
This exhibit celebrates the stories of our books — from the stories woven in their bindings to the comments written on their pages by readers.
Downton Abbey: Behind the Scenes of Health and Illness
Our library holdings come together to illuminate the medical themes threaded throughout Masterpiece Theater’s wildly popular Downton Abbey.
Journeying through a 17th c. apothecary manuscript
This exhibit is centered on a 17th-century apothecary manuscript from Toulouse, France, and a student’s research project involving translating the manuscript and mapping where in the world the ingredients may have been sourced.