As a developing library collection with a museum component, the History Collections of the Laupus Library collects, catalogs, preserves, and displays materials relevant to the history of health care. Collections include historical materials from medicine, nursing, the allied health sciences, dentistry, pharmacology, and public health. Materials of worldwide interest dating from the 16th century well into the 20th century are part of this growing collection. The special mission and focus of the History Collections is on primary care practices in eastern North Carolina. In keeping with this focus, the Library supports an Oral History Program, recording and archiving interviews with long-time health care providers. There is a strong collection development interest in materials relating to domestic medicine and 19th century alternative medicine. Historical materials relating to minority health care and minority health care professionals are of special interest to the program. Although materials housed in the History Collections Room are non-circulating, clients may request photocopies or scans of some of these materials.

Since 2003, The Country Doctor Museum in Bailey, North Carolina has been a project of the Laupus Library. This museum is devoted to interpreting the history of rural health care in the American South.

With materials from the 16th through the 21st centuries, the collections include approximately 8,600 titles, over 500 artifacts, and a growing collection of oral histories and manuscripts. The Laupus Library’s History Collections are home to The Karel B. Absolon History of Medicine Library, the E. Daniel Shingleton North Carolina Public Health History Collection, and a large Historic Microscope Collection. Significant microfilm holdings include the Adelaide Nutting Historical Nursing Collection, Early American Medical Imprints, and American Medical Periodicals.