Research Guides: PubMed: PubMed & Its Predecessors

The National Library of Medicine has been collecting and organizing citations of biomedical literature since its founding. For more on the history of these systems, see the articles below.

Image: IBM magnetic tape drives of the IBM 370/155 with NLM staff
Source: The development of the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (MEDLARS). Journal of the Medical Library Association, 95(4), 416–425. http://doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.95.4.416

An Account of an Abscess of the Mediastinum, Mistaken for an Aneurism. (London Medical Journal, 1781)
One of the oldest records in PubMed! An article from 1781 written "[b]y an ingenious Surgeon and teacher of Anatomy lately decea[s]ed. Communicated by a member of the Society. Read December 10, 1781."
A Brief History of the National Library of Medicine (NIH)
The National Library of Medicine, in which PubMed is housed, has been working to collect and provide access to biomedical literature in the U.S. since 1836. Read about the organization's founding, the creation of the Index Medicus (predecessor of MEDLINE), and the evolution of the technology used to make the biomedical materials available to anyone who needs it.
The development of the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (MEDLARS) (C. Dee, Journal of the Medical Library Assocation, 2007)
The history of the National Library of Medicine's work cataloging and computerizing citations of biomedical literature from the 1940s to the 1970s, the predecessors of PubMed.
Full citation: Dee, C. R. (2007). The development of the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (MEDLARS). Journal of the Medical Library Association, 95(4), 416–425. http://doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.95.4.416
PubMed celebrates its 10th anniversary! (K. Canese, NLM Technical Bulletin, 2006)
A 2006 look back at the previous decade in the life of PubMed.