A death certificate may record a cause of death, but what did that diagnosis mean to a physician in the 19th century? Explore how PubMed can help family historians investigate the medical language and historical understanding behind the causes of death recorded in their ancestors’ lives. We will consider two cases from the presenter’s own family history—a woman who died of “fatty degeneration of heart” in New York City in 1896, and an 18-year-old who died following childbirth in Ireland in 1877. We will search the historical medical literature for discussions about these two conditions. Participants will learn about PubMed, PubMed Central (PMC), and the National Library of Medicine’s Journal Backfiles Digitization Project, with a live demonstration of basic PubMed search techniques.
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- Explain the difference between PubMed and PubMed Central (PMC).
- Describe how historical medical literature can provide context for causes of death recorded in family history documents.
- Use PubMed to explore how medical conditions were described and understood in the past.