The Library's digital collections cover a wide variety of topics, including asylums, food, sex and sexual health, genetics, public health and war.
Published books, pamphlets, archives, posters, photographs, and film and sound recordings are completely free to view. Digitised materials are released under a variety of Creative Commons non-commercial, attribution and Public Domain licenses.
The Library's digitisation programme is ongoing, and items are being added to the digital library every day.
Browse everything that has been digitised so far.
AIDS posters
Over 3000 digitised public health posters relating to AIDS, from 99 countries, are freely available to view and download.
AIDS posters
Arabic manuscripts
Nearly 500 volumes of Arabic manuscripts covering not only medicine and pharmacology, but cosmology, alchemy, cookery and more are available online.
Arabic manuscripts
Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics
Film and sound
Film and sound recordings vividly bring the history of medicine to life. Find out more about what's available and where to find it.
Film and sound
London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health Reports, 1848-1972
Medieval manuscripts
Mental healthcare
The historical records of key UK psychiatric institutions and personnel are being digitised. Discover what lay behind their closed doors as the material goes online.
Mental healthcare
Reading Room
The Reading Room – Wellcome Collection's hybrid gallery, library and event space – features hundreds of items from the Library's collections. Here you can explore and download a selection of paintings, prints, manuscripts and more.
Reading Room
Recipe books
Explore medicinal and culinary recipes through the ages with this collection of 16th-19th century domestic recipe manuscripts.
Recipe books
Royal Army Medical Corps
Over 150 years of military medicine and wartime experiences are covered in the Royal Army Medical Corps digitised archive.
Royal Army Medical Corps
Sexology
The study of human sexuality can be explored in this curated selection of digitised books, paintings, photographs and manuscripts from the Library’s collections.
Sexology
John Thomson photographs
John Thomson (1837-1921) was one of the first photographers to document his travels to East Asia. His photographs of life in Indo-China, China and Cyprus in the late 19th century are held in the Library's collections.
John Thomson photographs
UK Medical Heritage Library
The UK Medical Heritage Library is making the 19th century history of medicine freely available to all. Find out more about what's available and where to find it.
UK Medical Heritage Library
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