The Josiah Charles Trent Collection in the History of Medicine, known widely and familiarly as the Trent Collection, was donated to the Duke University Medical Center Library in 1956 by Dr. Trent's widow, Mary D.B.T. Semans. In ten years - the span of Dr. Trent's professional life - he assembled four thousand books, including numerous first and rare editions of the medical classics, more than two thousand manuscripts, a number of fine museum objects, and a collection of secondary sources essential to students, teachers, and researchers in the history of medicine.

Dr. Trent's library today is the cornerstone of the History of Medicine Collections which number more than twenty thousand volumes in addition to manuscripts, medical instruments, artifacts, stamps, medals, photographs, illustrations, and a medicinal herb garden. The particular treasures shown in this virtual exhibit were previously on display December 2, 1998 during the celebration announcing the Josiah Charles Trent Professorship in the History of Medicine and honoring its first recipient, Peter C. English, MD, PHD.