CDC History Collection

The David J. Sencer CDC Museum preserves CDC’s rich heritage through a collection of historic materials reflecting the art, history, and science of CDC. In addition to the artifacts in our exhibits, we maintain an archive of over 3,000 items, with additions every day. We collect, catalog, preserve, and store three-dimensional objects, equipment, photographs, papers, films, documents, audio recordings, oral histories, and ephemera.

Nigeria. Credit: The Carter Center/E. Staub, The Global Health Chronicles

The collection is available to scholars, students, historians, and researchers. The Collections Manager is available for consultation from 9AM – 3PM, Monday – Friday, except for federal holidays. Call (404) 639-0851, or e-mail asf5@cdc.gov.

One of the results of having such an extensive collection is The Global Health ChroniclesExternal, launched in collaboration with Emory University’s Libraries, Global Health Institute, and Rollins School of Public Health. The web site is a series of “Chronicles,” each dealing with a different subject. Eventually we hope that it will become a digital history of global disease prevention, with CDC as a key agent of prevention.