The historical library and museum, established at the Cincinnati Medical Heritage Center in 1974, includes collections dating from the merger of the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine Library, the Cincinnati General Hospital Library, the College of Pharmacy, and private collections of David Tucker, Reuben Dimond Mussey, and others. The Mussey collection contains over 4,000 volumes and originated at the Medical College of Ohio. This collection is an intact working medical library of the early 19th century, comprising what the practitioner and student of that era used for study. The major strengths of the combined collections are: anatomy, physiology, materia medica, obstetrics, surgery, dermatology, and otology; more specifically, cholera, Civil War medicine, midwifery, eclectic, botanic, and homeopathic works, medical education in the 19th century West, and polio. The center also contains archives, photographs, medical artifacts and art works, as well as a video oral history collection of local physicians and scientists. SERVICES: Reference assistance in person, by phone, mail, and email. Interlibrary loans limited. Photocopying provided at cost.

Collection includes 40,000 volumes; 2 incunabula; 5,000 photographs; 1,500 medical instruments; 51 oral history videotapes; 150 diplomas; pre-Columbian and modern art collection; 5,000+ pamphlets; 1,637 linear feet of archives and manuscripts; hospital patient records from 1837 to 1881; a replica of a 15th century pharmacy (the 109-jar exhibit was first shown at the Paris Exposition in 1899.) Archive and manuscript collections include papers of Daniel Drake, Christian R. Holmes, Robert A. Kehoe, Leland Clark, Albert B. Sabin, and others.