REL 440: Monks, Mystics, and Pandemics: Digital Collections/Archives, Primary Sources, and Online Essays

Epistolae is a collection of medieval Latin letters to and from women. The letters collected here date from the 4th to the 13th centuries, and they are presented in their original Latin as well as in English translation. The letters are organized by the name and biography of the women writers or recipients. Biographical sketches of the women, descriptions of the subject matter of the letters, and the historical context of the correspondence are included where available.

A scholarly resource for the study of women's religious communities from 400 to 1600 CE

Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index covers journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages. Because of the explosion of research in Women's Studies during the past two decades, scholars and students interested in women during the Middle Ages find an ever-growing flood of publications.

This digital exhibit was created by students in Professor Alison Beach's History of Medieval Europe 2 course in Spring of 2015 at The Ohio State University.

The sources cited can be helpful here.

Collection of 20th century Health Posters and Advertisements. Collected by the National Institute of Health and the National Library of Medicine.

From Brigham Young University's Eurodocs collections, which highlight primary sources.

Pandemic Religion: A Digital Archive collects and preserves experiences and responses from individuals and religious communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Collection of historical sources curated by Harvard.

The rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus in the United States and around the world leaves many of us seeking ways to place the pandemic in historical context. The American Social History Project has compiled a list of resources to assist students, teachers, and the general public in understanding past epidemics and connect this knowledge to the present situation. We have also generated discussion questions. Please share this site widely, and check back as we plan to update and expand the collection.

The Internet Medieval Sourcebook is organized as three main index pages, with a number of supplementary indices. Each individual section is still large - an organizational goal here is to avoid incessant "clicking" to get between pages and to information.

Selected Sources
This is the main entry to the resources here. It consists of an links to an organized "index of selected and excerpted texts for teaching purposes." For teachers who wish to refer students to the Sourcebook, this page is the best starting point.
Full Text Sources
Full texts of medieval sources arranged according to type.
Saints' Lives
Devoted to Ancient, Medieval and Byzantine hagiographical sources.

The Monastic Manuscript Project is a database of descriptions of manuscripts that contain texts relevant for the study of early medieval monasticism, especially monastic rules, ascetic treatises, vitae patrum-texts and texts related to monastic reforms. We provide lists of manuscripts for each of these texts, which are linked to manuscript descriptions. The purpose is to offer a tool for reconstructing not only the manuscript dissemination of early medieval monastic texts but also to give access to the specific contexts in which a text appears.

The Global Medieval Sourcebook (GMS) is an open access teaching and research tool. It offers a flexible online display for the parallel viewing of medieval texts in their original language and in new English translations, complemented by new introductory materials.

The GMS spans one thousand years (600-1600) of literary production around the world. It contains short texts of broad interdisciplinary interest in a variety of genres, almost all of which have not previously been translated into English.

These are short secondary sources that may help you come up with ideas, but the writings themselves should probably not be cited from. They may link to interesting sources though.

This page offers links to Origins’ many essays, podcasts, and videos on pandemics.

Pandemic Perspectives is a project initiated by Dr. Marsha Richmond, with Allie Penn serving as Project Coordinator, as a response to the current global Covid-19 pandemic. Faculty and students (from History & other departments) were invited to create presentations, videos, or podcasts to provide historical perspective for various epidemics and pandemics throughout history. The case studies examine outbreaks ranging from the ancient world to the present, including: two plagues in the Greco-Roman world, smallpox and other epidemics among indigenous people in North America, African Americans and the 1793 yellow fever Philadelphia epidemic, the 1918-1919 Spanish influenza, and the HIV-AIDS epidemic. Each presentation evaluates the science behind particular microbes and illnesses, and illuminates the historical context, the impact on society, parallels to Covid-19, while providing additional resources for further study.

This series of discussions by scholars in the humanities and social sciences explores a variety of issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Listen to international perspectives on the history of epidemics and public health crises around the world; the intersection of COVID-19 with issues of race, gender, and economic status; and the broader consequences of pandemics throughout society.
After listening, be sure to explore the "Resources" section with further reading and information for researchers.

The bibliography includes commentary and publications by historians in both scholarly and popular periodical literature; recorded lectures and webcasts; and digitized primary source materials from past epidemics and pandemics. In amassing these references, the AHA seeks to provide a space where anyone, regardless of expertise, can find digital historical material relevant to the COVID-19 crisis. Educators will find the bibliography especially useful as a professionally vetted index of online resources amenable to remote instruction.

Extremely extensive bibliography of works on various epidemics. Great resource.

A Zotero Bibliography