This section contains resources relevant to the historical study of yellow fever in the United States. Helpful search terms and names of relevant people are included as useful jumping off points for beginning research. Related Gumberg Library research guides provide further information and resources.
Included here are examples of search terms that can be used to identify material relevant to the historical study of yellow fever in the databases listed below and DUQSearch. These are not comprehensive but can serve as inspiration for conducting your own research.
Here you will find a selection of databases useful for identifying primary sources. See the helpful search terms section below for ideas on where to begin your research. For additional databases, see the full list of Gumberg Library History Databases.
Here you will find a selection of databases useful for identifying secondary sources. See the helpful search terms section below for ideas on where to begin your research. For additional databases, see the full list of Gumberg Library History Databases.
Here are some examples of books and e-books that can be found in the Gumberg Library catalog. Use DUQSearch to identify books by keyword, such as the ones suggested below, and narrow your searches using the refine results fields. For more information on using DUQSearch, see the Gumberg Library DUQSearch guide.
In 1793 a disastrous plague of yellow fever paralyzed Philadelphia, killing thousands of residents and bringing the nation's capital city to a standstill. In this psychological portrait of a city in terror, J. H. Powell presents a penetrating study of human nature revealing itself. Bring Out Your Dead is an absorbing account, form the original sources, of an infamous tragedy that left its mark on all it touched.
It is no exaggeration to say that the Hankey, a small British ship that circled the Atlantic in 1792 and 1793, transformed the history of the Atlantic world. This extraordinary book uncovers the long-forgotten story of the Hankey and describes the ship's fateful impact upon people from West Africa to Philadelphia, Haiti to London. Smith links the voyage and its deadly cargo to some of the most significant events of the era--the success of the Haitian slave revolution, Napoleon's decision to sell the Louisiana Territory, a change in the geopolitical situation of the new United States--and spins a riveting tale of unintended consequences and the legacy of slavery that will not die.
Over the course of history, yellow fever has paralyzed governments, halted commerce, quarantined cities, moved the U.S. capital, and altered the outcome of wars. During a single summer in Memphis alone, it cost more lives than the Chicago fire, the San Francisco earthquake, and the Johnstown flood combined. In 1900, the U.S. sent three doctors to Cuba to discover how yellow fever was spread. There, they launched one of history's most controversial human studies. Compelling and terrifying, The American Plague depicts the story of yellow fever and its reign in this country--and in Africa, where even today it strikes thousands every year.
From 1793 to 1805, yellow fever devastated U.S. port cities in a series of terrifying epidemics. The investigation into its origins produced one of the most substantial and innovative outpourings of scientific thought in early American history. But it also led to a heated and divisive debate around the place of science in American society. The debate between "contagionists," who thought the disease was imported, and "localists," who thought it came from domestic sources, reflected contemporary beliefs about God and creation, the capacities of the human mind, and even the appropriate direction of the new nation.
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