Books and Manuscripts of the Bakken

The Bakken: A Library and Museum of Electricity in Life, founded in 1975 in Minneapolis, by Earl Bakken, is in the best tradition of the avid collectors of the sources of science and medicine, such as Francis Ronalds, J. Latimer Clark, Bern Dibner, and William Osler. The focus of the Bakken collection is on the historical role of electricity and magnetism in the life sciences and medicine, thus encompassing the history of electricity and magnetism, electrophysiology, electrotheraputics, and accompanying instrumentation. It also includes many works from the mesmerist movement. The collecting emphasis is on materials from the 18th, 19th,and early 20th centuries. The interdisciplinary nature of the Bakken's collection established it as a unique research and its catalogue as an important reference tool. This volume is a bibliographic record of the library collections of the Bakken. Books and manuscripts are arranged by author within four chronological groupings. The 5,180 entries include full bibliographical and provenance information. The text is followed by an author index. Historians of science, technology, and medicine, rare book collectors and dealers, and science and medical librarians will all find this catalogue an invaluable resource and reference tool.