Special collections at Yale are housed in many locations. Most collections relevant to biology will be held at the Medical Historical Library or at the Beinecke. Historical information about the university and scientists may be in Manuscripts and Archives.

Please let us know if you would like to integrate special collections teaching into a course by reaching out to us at marx.reference@yale.edu. We have many items in our historical collections that may enrich coursework for science students. In the past, we have pulled work such as:

• Giovanni Alfonso Borelli's De motu animalium, 1680. His work was the precursor to biomechanics, and he was the first to write a detailed treatise about how animals move.
• Antonie van Leeuwenhoek's A specimen of some observations made by a microscope, 1673. A self-taught scientist, van Leeuwenhoek had a background in the trades (textiles). He was the first to observe and experiment with microbes, and his efforts earned him a place of respect alongside scientists with more formal training.
• Various Observationes anatomicae texts. There are many of them by a lot of authors.
• Carl Linnaeus is listed as "Linné, Carl von, 1707-1778" in our catalog. We have a variety of books.

There are also a few manuscript collections that we will highlight here. Check the links to other guides on this page for more options if you are interested in scientists' papers in general.