Poxes and Passports: Building an Exhibit on Vaccination Histories - Jackman Humanities Institute - Scholars in Residence - 2025

Project Descirption

Title: Poxes and Passports: Building an Exhibit on Vaccination Histories

Supervisor: Prof. Aparna Nair

Today, vaccination is debatably one of the most transformative public health policies in human history, having benefited billions across the centuries and space, resulting in the eradication, or reduction of previously lethal, disabling and debilitating diseases ranging from smallpox to influenza to rubella to HPV. Yet, even as vaccination offered protections against more disease, it remains deeply contested, and has historically provoked hesitation, resistance and mis/disinformation. History has the power and capacity to help us understand the moment we are in, appreciate the immense transformative powers of vaccination and still be critical about vaccines and vaccination.

This project focuses precisely on these histories of vaccination—and takes the form of researching and creating a public exhibit on vaccine histories. Acknowledging the importance of such histories for this moment, this project both draws on methods and approaches from the public humanities and historical research in physical and digital archives of the University of Toronto. This exhibit is based partly on my personal collection of over 300 vaccination-related ephemera, documents and objects from the early nineteenth century onwards. Students must have some foundation in previous coursework in how vaccinations work, and work well. Training in the humanities is preferred but not a prerequisite. This is not a STEM-based project, however so, students should bring with them a commitment to the humanities, and an interest in learning/using historical methods and public history (exhibits) in particular. Students interested in working with material culture (vaccination ephemera, certificates, tags, vaccination kits, etc.) will find this project especially interesting.

Historical & Material Culture Research - Methodological Support

A Short Guide to Writing about History by Richard Marius; Melvin E. Page
ISBN: 9780205673704
Publication Date: 2009-01-30
This engaging and practical text helps students get beyond merely compiling dates and facts; it teaches them how to incorporate their own ideas into their papers and to tell a story about history that interests them and their peers. Covering brief essays and the documented resource paper, the text explores the writing and researching processes, different modes of historical writing (including argument), and offers guidelines for improving style as well as documenting sources.
Undergraduate Research in History by Molly Todd
ISBN: 9780367456849
Publication Date: 2022-01-01
Explaining how research conducted by undergraduate students fits into the broader contexts of the discipline of history and the expanding realm of undergraduate research, this book presents the major phases of substantive research projects, and offers practical advice for work in specific historical areas as well as in interdisciplinary projects. Supported by dozens of examples of real-world undergraduate research projects, this book is an indispensable reference for any student embarking on historical research and for professors guiding and collaborating with undergraduate researchers"--
Encyclopedia of Ephemera by Maurice Rickards; Michael Twyman (Editor)
ISBN: 0415926483
Publication Date: 2000-11-14
The Encyclopedia of Ephemera is the first work of its kind, providing an unparalleled sourcebook with over 400 entries that cover all aspects of everyday documents and artifacts, from bookmarks to birth certificates to lighthouse dues papers.

Material Culture Research

Research on historical objects, including their social and political contexts, can be challenging, particularly when you have limited accompanying information to start with or when the object is relatively obscure and has not been widely discussed in academic literature.

This guide on Material Culture Research, by SFU Library will support research based around the analysis of a historical object and are looking for primary or secondary sources related to its historical, social, or political context.

Additional Resources

Archival Research Tutorial (York University Libraries)

The Secrets of Archival Research (and Why They Shouldn’t Be a Secret at All) by Kate Stewart

Using Archives: A Guide to Effective Research (Society of American Archivists)

Reading Cursive Handwriting

Additional Library Guides

Archival Research Guide (UofT)

Archival Materials Guide (UBC)

Rare Books: Ephemera (University of Oxford)

Exhibition Design

Accessible exhibition design (Smithsonian Institute)

Standards for museum exhibitions and indicators of excellence (AAM )

Great big museum exhibit resource list (Paul Orselli workshops, US-based list)

Guide to Exhibit Development (The Smithsonian)

Online Exhibitions Handbook (Yale University Library)

Recommended Subject-Specific Databases

Scopus
A major multidisciplinary database for the social sciences, life sciences, health sciences, physical sciences, and arts and humanities.
Indexes over 14,000 journals. Coverage of database 1966 to present.
Web of Science: Core Collection

Multidisciplinary abstract and citation index.

Sociological Abstracts
Citations and abstracts of scholarly journals, dissertations, books, and conference papers in the social and behavioural sciences.
Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA)
Citation information including abstracts covering social science and health related subjects.
HISA
Covers Latin American and Caribbean history of public health. Contains journals, books, theses, conference papers, technical and scientific reports, non-conventional projects or documents. Majority of content in Spanish or Portuguese.
LILACS
Covers health sciences literature from and relevant to Latin America and the Caribbean. Contains mostly abstracts with limited full-text for journals, books, theses, conference papers, technical and scientific reports, and projects. Majority of content in Spanish or Portuguese.

Archival Resources

Global Health Web Archive - from the National Library of Medicine

Shelves: History of Vaccination from the Medical Heritage Library, a curated collection of full text resources pertaining to vaccination, including materials that reflect both pro- and anti-vaccination viewpoints. These sources, organized chronologically, trace the history of vaccination from the 18th century through the 1920s.

Vaccination in Modern America: Misinformation vs. Public Health Advocacy Web Archive - developed by librarians within the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation. The archive preserves webpages representing the current state of public discourse and contrasting approaches to authority on vaccination in the United States, with a focus on sites that are both pro- and anti-vaccination.

Discover archives - is a shared portal for exploring archival holdings at the University of Toronto and its federated colleges. The database contains descriptions of material related to the University of Toronto's history, as well as records from private individuals, families, businesses, and organizations.

Library and Archives Canada

ArchiveGrid - is a database for searching for historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in archives around the world. Thousands of libraries, museums, and archives have contributed nearly a million collection descriptions to ArchiveGrid. Researchers searching ArchiveGrid can learn about the many items in each of these collections, contact archives to arrange a visit to examine materials, and order copies.

Archeion - brings together information about archives held by organizations all over Ontario.

ArchiviaNet - is the National Archives of Canada's online research and consultation tool.

Library of Congress (LOC) Digital Collections

Collections U of T

Media Commons Archives, University of Toronto Libraries

Digital Archives (ONVIEW)

Ephemera Online - The Library Company of Philadelphia began collecting ephemera in 1785 and the Library’s printed and graphic ephemera collections number nearly 40,000 items with 30,000 of those available online.

Canadiana Discovery Portal Provides access to digitized text, images and artifacts from heritage institutions from across Canada.

Relevant Books and Journals

Vaccine Hesitancy by Maya Goldenberg
ISBN: 9780822988014
Publication Date: 2021-03-30
The public has voiced concern over the adverse effects of vaccines from the moment Dr. Edward Jenner introduced the first smallpox vaccine in 1796. The controversy over childhood immunization intensified in 1998, when Dr. Andrew Wakefield linked the MMR vaccine to autism. Although Wakefield's findings were later discredited and retracted, and medical and scientific evidence suggests routine immunizations have significantly reduced life-threatening conditions like measles, whooping cough, and polio, vaccine refusal and vaccine-preventable outbreaks are on the rise. This book explores vaccine hesitancy and refusal among parents in the industrialized North. Although biomedical, public health, and popular science literature has focused on a scientifically ignorant public, the real problem, Maya J. Goldenberg argues, lies not in misunderstanding, but in mistrust.
The Ethics of Vaccination by Alberto Giubilini
ISBN: 9783030020675
Publication Date: 2019-01-10
This open access book discusses individual, collective, and institutional responsibilities with regard to vaccination from the perspective of philosophy and public health ethics. It addresses the issue of what it means for a collective to be morally responsible for the realisation of herd immunity and what the implications of collective responsibility are for individual and institutional responsibilities. he book would appeal both philosophers interested in public health ethics and the general public interested in the philosophical underpinning of different arguments about our moral obligations with regard to vaccination.
Vaccine Rhetorics by Heidi Yoston Lawrence
ISBN: 9780814214336
Publication Date: 2020-02-05
Finalist, 2021 Association for the Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine Book Award Honorable Mention, Conference on College Composition and Communication Best Book in Technical or Scientific Communication Debates over vaccination run rampant in the US--from the pages of medical journals, to news coverage about the latest outbreak, to vehement messages passed back and forth online. From the professional level to the personal one, almost everyone has an opinion on vaccinations--and often conversations around this issue pit supporters of vaccinations against "anti-vaxxers." In Vaccine Rhetorics, Heidi Yoston Lawrence turns a critical eye toward such conversations--proposing a new approach that moves us beyond divisive rhetoric and seeks to better understand the material conditions underlying the debate.
Epidemics and Pandemics by Joseph P. Byrne; Jo N. Hays
ISBN: 1440863792
Publication Date: 2021-01-27
A holistic overview of the role of epidemics and pandemics in human history, providing background and case studies on what is an epidemic, how it emerges and spreads, what diseases are most likely to become epidemics, and how disease outbreaks are tracked, prevented, and combatted.
Epidemics by Samuel K. Cohn
ISBN: 9780198819660
Publication Date: 2018-06-12
A study of the history of epidemics, stretching from the 5th century BCE to the 2014 Ebola crisis. The author challenges the dominant hypothesis that epidemics provoked hatred and victimized bearers of epidemic diseases. Instead, Cohn discovers that epidemic diseases have more often unified societies across racial, economic, ethnic, and religious
Plagues upon the Earth by Kyle Harper
ISBN: 9780691224725
Publication Date: 2021-10-12
A sweeping germ's-eye view of history from human origins to global pandemics Plagues Upon the Earth is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity's uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our evolutionary past, and why its growth is accelerated by technological progress. He shows that the story of disease is entangled with the history of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, and reveals the enduring effects of historical plagues in patterns of wealth, health, power, and inequality.
Epidemics and the Modern World by Mitchell Hammond
ISBN: 9781487593735
Publication Date: 2020-01-16
Epidemics and the Modern World explores the relationships between epidemics and key themes in modern history. This book uses "biographies" of epidemics such as plague, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS to explore the impact of disease on the development of modern societies from the fourteenth century to the present. Drawing on the most recent science of genetics, microbiology, and climatology, this text includes "Science Focus" boxes that discuss important scientific concepts and technologies. Structured workshop sections with engaging primary sources help readers develop skills of interpretation and gain knowledge of key historical events.
The Atlas of Disease by Sandra Hempel
ISBN: 9781781318805
Publication Date: 2018-10-30
The Atlas of Disease is the first book to tell these stories in a new and innovative way, interweaving new maps with contemporary illustrations to chart some of the world's deadliest pandemics and epidemics. Sandra Hempel reveals how maps have uncovered insightful information about the history of disease, from the seventeenth-century plague maps that revealed the radical idea that diseases might be carried and spread by humans, to cholera maps in the 1800s showing the disease was carried by water, right up to the AIDs epidemic in the 1980s, and the more recent devastating Ebola outbreak. Crucially, The Atlas of Disease also explores how cartographic techniques have been used to combat epidemics by revealing previously hidden patterns. These are the stories of discoveries that have changed the course of history, affected human evolution, stimulated advances in medicine, and saved countless lives.
The Burdens of Disease by J. Hays
ISBN: 9780813546124
Publication Date: 2009-10-15
This revised edition confirms the book's timely value and provides a sweeping approach to the history of disease. In this updated volume, with revisions and additions to the original content, including the evolution of drug-resistant diseases and expanded coverage of HIV/AIDS, along with recent data on mortality figures and other relevant statistics, J. N. Hays chronicles perceptions and responses to plague and pestilence over two thousand years of western history. Disease is framed as a multidimensional construct, situated at the intersection of history, politics, culture, and medicine, and rooted in mentalities and social relations as much as in biological conditions of pathology.
Epidemics and Society by Frank M. Snowden
ISBN: 9780300192216
Publication Date: 2019-10-22
This sweeping exploration of the impact of epidemic diseases looks at how mass infectious outbreaks have shaped society, from the Black Death to today. In a clear and accessible style, Frank M. Snowden reveals the ways that diseases have not only influenced medical science and public health, but also transformed the arts, religion, intellectual history, and warfare. A multidisciplinary and comparative investigation of the medical and social history of the major epidemics, this volume touches on themes such as the evolution of medical therapy, plague literature, poverty, the environment, and mass hysteria. In addition to providing historical perspective on diseases such as smallpox, cholera, and tuberculosis, Snowden examines the fallout from recent epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, and Ebola and the question of the world's preparedness for the next generation of diseases.

Journals

The following titles may be of use to your research:

Social History of Medicine
Publication Date: 2006-

Public Health Magazine
Publication Date: 1875-1877
Medical History
Publication Date: 1957-
Annals of Medical History
Publication Date: 1917-1942
National Institute of Health Bulletin
Publication Date: 1900

The following titles regularly cover the history of vaccines:

Hygienic Laboratory Bulletin
Publication Date: 1900-1930

The Vaccination Inquirer and Health Review
Publication Date: 1800-

The following titles regularly cover epidemics and epidemic history:

Bulletin of the history of medicine by American Association for the History of Medicine.
Publication Date: 1939-
History and philosophy of the life sciences by Stazione zoologica di Napoli.
Publication Date: 1979-
Medical history by Wellcome Historical Medical Library
Publication Date: 1957-
Social history of medicine by Society for the Social History of Medicine
Publication Date: 1988-
Social science and medicine
Publication Date: 1967-1977

Literary Resources

Pandemic Influenza in Fiction by Charles De Paolo
ISBN: 9780786495894
Publication Date: 2014-08-11
The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919--the worst widespread outbreak in recorded history--claimed an estimated 100 million lives globally. Yet only in recent decades has it captured the attention of historians, scientists, and fiction writers. This study surveys influenza research over the last century in original scientific and historical documents and establishes a critical paradigm for the appreciation of influenza fiction. Through close readings of 15 imaginative works, the author elucidates the contents of and the interaction between the medical and the fictional. Coverage extends from Pfeiffer's 1892 bacillus theory, to the multidisciplinary effort to isolate the virus (1919-1933), to the reconstruction of the H1N1 viral genome from archival and exhumed RNA (1995-2005), to the emergence of H5N1 and H7N9 avian viruses (1997-2014).This book demonstrates that pandemic fiction has been more than a therapeutic medium for survivors. A prodigious resource for the history of medicine, it is also a forum for ethical, social, legal, national defense and public health issues.
Plague Writing in Early Modern England by Ernest B. Gilman
ISBN: 9780226294094
Publication Date: 2009-06-15
During the seventeenth century, England was beset by three epidemics of the bubonic plague, each outbreak claiming between a quarter and a third of the population of London and other urban centers. Surveying a wide range of responses to these epidemics--sermons, medical tracts, pious exhortations, satirical pamphlets, and political commentary--Plague Writing in Early Modern England brings to life the many and complex ways Londoners made sense of such unspeakable devastation. Ernest B. Gilman argues that the plague writing of the period attempted unsuccessfully to rationalize the catastrophic and that its failure to account for the plague as an instrument of divine justice fundamentally threatened the core of Christian belief. Gilman also trains his critical eye on the works of Jonson, Donne, Pepys, and Defoe, which, he posits, can be more fully understood when put into the context of this century-long project to "write out" the plague. Ultimately, Plague Writing in Early Modern England is more than a compendium of artifacts of a bygone era; it holds up a distant mirror to reflect our own condition in the age of AIDS, super viruses, multidrug resistant tuberculosis, and the hovering threat of a global flu pandemic.
Pestilence in Medieval and Early Modern English Literature by Byron Lee Grigsby
ISBN: 0415968224
Publication Date: 2003-12-01
Pestilence in Medieval and Early Modern English Literature examines three diseases--leprosy, bubonic plague, and syphilis--to show how doctors, priests, and literary authors from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance interpreted certain illnesses through a moral filter. Lacking knowledge about the transmission of contagious diseases, doctors and priests saw epidemic diseases as a punishment sent by God for human transgression. Accordingly, their job was to properly read sickness in relation to the sin. By examining different readings of specific illnesses, this book shows how the social construction of epidemic diseases formed a kind of narrative wherein man attempts to take the control of the disease out of God's hands by connecting epidemic diseases to the sins of carnality.

Online Resources

Web Resources

Public health campaigns and the ‘threat’ of disability by Aparna Nair (article)

Center for the History of Medicine (website)

Digital Archives (ONVIEW)

Medical Heritage Library (database)- a digital curation collaborative among some of the world’s leading medical libraries, promotes free and open access to quality historical resources in medicine.

State Medical Society Journals (database) - medical society journals document the transformation of American medicine in the twentieth century at both the local and national level.

Pandemics history (CDC) – The most recent CDC site giving capsule histories of pandemics and related concerns.

Innovations through Public Health History (blog)

Wellcome Trust Contagious Cities Project (website) - international cultural programme which supported local conversations around the global challenges of epidemic preparedness.

History of Vaccines (website) - The History of Vaccines site, created by The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, provides a living, changing chronicle of the compelling history of vaccination, from pre-Jennerian variolation practices, to the defeat of polio in the Western Hemisphere, to cutting-edge approaches to novel vaccines and vaccine delivery.

Vaccine History & Vaccine Hesitancy from the Harvard T.H .Chan School of Public Health (video) - interviews with Dr. Marie McCormick, Sumner and Esther Feldberg Professor, Emerita at Harvard Chan School.

Timeline of Discovery (website)

An “Epidemic” of Fake News a Century Ago (article) - Library and Archives Canada Blog

Vaccine History: Developments by Year, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (website)

Pandemics Resources Around the Web from the History of Science Society (resource list)

Podcasts

VacciNation - Evidence Based Podcast - PPN Episode 799

Vanderbilt Health DNA: Discoveries in Action: Vaccines: Pandemics vs Prosperity. Hear experts talk about the roots and peril of vaccine hesitancy; why it’s urgent to fortify people’s understanding of vaccine science — and how William Schaffner, MD, wants to do it.

Vax Talk is the podcast for people who want to do something about outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases and who understand that knowledge is power. We will discuss the latest news about vaccines and the impact they have on our communities, our families, and our friendships.

Virtual Exhibits

Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics
This online collection offers important historical perspectives on the science and public policy of epidemiology today and contributes to the understanding of the global, social–history, and public–policy implications of diseases.
Language of the Age: Depictions of Medicine in Graphic Satire
"Satire was the language of the age...In the eighteenth century there was a great vogue for satirical prints- political and social. This was the golden age of the English engraver...caricature shops had a popularity of their own. Their prints were virtually the only pictorial rendering of the flow of events, moods and fashions. Especially, they reflect the social attitudes of the day."
To Slay the Devouring Monster
The long road to the eradication of smallpox in the United States begins two hundred years ago, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Benjamin Waterhouse studied the researches of English physician Edward Jenner and followed with his own experiments. Dr. Waterhouse then fostered an aggressive campaign to inoculate Americans against smallpox—the disease he called the "devouring monster." In the bicentennial year of Benjamin Waterhouse's vaccination experiments, the Countway Library of Medicine drew on its extraordinary collection of rare books, pamphlets, broadsides, manuscripts, letters, and artifacts—many gifts from members of the Waterhouse family—to commemorate the first efforts to slay that devouring monster.

Research Guides

Jackman Humanities Institute - Scholars in Residence - 2025