This third and final volume of the annotated catalog of the Atwater Collection includes 2,630 entries, evidence of the remarkable growth of this collection since the publication of the first volume (authors A-L) in 2001 and the second volume (authors M-Z) in 2004. Dr. Atwater's initial gift of some twelve hundred titles in October 1994 has grown into a collection of more than 7,000 books, pamphlets, periodicals, almanacs, broadsides, circulars, trade cards, manuscripts, etc. in fourteen years. Although the Miner Library has made substantial contributions to the Atwater Collection's growth, credit for its present size, scope, and quality belongs largely to Dr. Atwater.

We at the Edward G. Miner Library are grateful that our institution has been made the repository for this wonderful collection. The Miner Library is not the only beneficiary of this gift, however. Our purpose in publishing this catalog is to make the collection known to its actual beneficiaries, i.e., the scholars in many disciplines who will find in these volumes a detailed record of the efforts of ordinary Americans to control their own health.

The organization of this third volume of the Atwater catalog follows the model of the preceding volumes. Entries are arranged alphabetically by author, corporate author, or title as appropriate. Entries in volumes one and two were numbered consecutively from #1 to #3912. Entries in volume three begin a new numerical series distinguished from the first by the letter S (for supplement) prefixed to each entry number (e.g., #S-87.3, S-400, etc.).

Print ephemera constitute some thirty percent of the entries in the three volumes of the Atwater catalog, and thirty-six percent of the entries in volume three. The increased percentage of ephemera in this third volume is due in part to the transfer to the Miner Library of Dr. Atwater's almanac collection, comprising 286 titles and more than a thousand almanacs. The entry of almanacs in this catalog may require some explanation. Almanacs are entered under the title if the almanac was not issued by a proprietary medicine firm, but under the name of the manufacturer if issued by a proprietary medicine firm. (A chronological list of almanac titles appears in the subject index under almanacs).