The history of the development of Western medicine in Taiwan can be traced back to the landing of the Dutch at Anping Harbor, Tainan in 1624. Unfortunately, the earlier developments did not leave any medical records. On May 28, 1865, James L. Maxwell, a British doctor and missionary, arrived in Anping and began preaching and practicing medicine in Tainan, causing the history of the development of Western medicine in Taiwan to enter the era of missionary medicine. Related data, although retained, are often difficult to organize and collect, due the fact that they have been quite neglected and scattered. After the cession of Taiwan to Japan, the Japanese medical education and health care system was directly transplanted to Taiwan. The related books and reference materials produced during this period have become valuable historical resources.

　　The Database of Taiwan Modern Medical Artifacts, established by the National Taiwan University Medical Library and the National Taiwan University Hospital Secretariat Office, is intended to organize, analyze and digitize unique and important medical data such as artifacts, photographs and books held by the medical campus. The resulting database is expected to assist people in understanding the medical history before and after World War II, in addition to achieving the following purposes:

• Preserving records of the history of medical development in Taiwan and digitizing important documents and artifacts.
• Advancing the development of research in medical humanities, academics and education.
• Comprehensively presenting the variety of Taiwanese culture and society.