The British

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

corresponded with his extended family and with an extraordinarily wide range of people from all over the world. The letters, over 15,000 in all, provide many insights on issues ranging from the origins of key scientific concepts, to religious and philosophical discussions which have continued to the present day. The letters also illuminate many aspects of Darwin and his biography: the development of his ideas; insights into character and health; and private opinions on controversial issues. His letters to the Harvard botanist

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botany, botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' (1876) was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessaril ...

, for example, show his opinions on slavery and the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Darwin relied upon correspondence for much of his scientific work, and also used letters to marshal support for his ideas amongst friends and colleagues. The historian of science

Janet Browne Elizabeth Janet Browne (née Bell, born 30 March 1950) is a British historian of science, known especially for her work on the history of 19th-century biology. She taught at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University Coll ...

has argued that Darwin's ability to correspond daily played a crucial role in the development of his theory and his ability to garner support for it from colleagues.

History

Correspondence was central to science in the Victorian era. In his early years, most of the letters Darwin filed away were directly relevant to one of his ongoing scientific projects in geology, invertebrate zoology, and other fields. Most letters, however, were stuck onto "spits", as Darwin called them, and when his slender stock of these was exhausted, he would burn the letters of several years, in order that he might make use of the liberated "spits." This process, carried on for years, destroyed many of the letters received before 1861. Even so, the number of letters, even in these early years, is remarkable. After publication of the ''Origin of Species'' in 1859, Darwin's children convinced him to save a far greater proportion of his correspondence, so that the sequence from the early 1860s onwards is remarkably full. In 1887, five years after Darwin's death, Darwin's son

Francis Darwin Sir Francis Darwin (16 August 1848 – 19 September 1925) was a British botanist. He was the third son of the naturalist and scientist Charles Darwin. Biography Francis Darwin was born at Down House, Downe, Kent in 1848. He was the third s ...

published ''

The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin ''The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin'' is a book published in 1887 edited by Francis Darwin about his father Charles Darwin. It contains a selection of 87 letters from the correspondence of Charles Darwin, an autobiographical chapter writte ...

'' in three volumes, to accompany the publication of ''

The Autobiography of Charles Darwin ''The Autobiography of Charles Darwin'' is an autobiography by the English naturalist Charles Darwin. Darwin wrote the text, which he entitled ''Recollections of the Development of my Mind and Character'', for his family. He states that he start ...

''. This was later followed by two volumes of '' More Letters of Charles Darwin'' published in 1902. For over a century these volumes were the main source for Darwin's correspondence, although they contain only a small proportion of the available total, and many are abridged. In 1974 the Darwin Correspondence Project was founded at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

by the American philosopher and academic administrator Frederick Burkhardt, with the aid of the Cambridge zoologist and historian Sydney Smith. Cambridge University owns 9,000 letters and has obtained copies of over 6,000 additional letters held in other collections. New letters are constantly being discovered and photocopies of new finds should be sent to the Manuscripts Department of Cambridge University Library, which can help identify correspondents and provide accurate dating. The complete edition of the correspondence in 30 volumes is available from Cambridge University Press, with the content freely available online. Every volume includes a substantial introduction, and the letters are edited to the highest editorial standard. Th
Darwin Correspondence website
also includes extensive additional materials, including resources for school and university teaching. Prior to its completion in December 2022, the Darwin Correspondence was among the most substantial editing projects in the English-speaking world, with a full- and part-time staff of eleven.

List of notable persons with whom Darwin corresponded

Entries marked with asterisks denote persons for which 100 letters or more have been located. All of these letters can be found on the Darwin Correspondence Project website. *

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

* Alexander Bain *

Henry Walter Bates Henry Walter Bates (8 February 1825 – 16 February 1892) was an English natural history, naturalist and explorer who gave the first scientific account of mimicry in animals. He was most famous for his expedition to the Tropical rainforest ...

Lydia Becker Lydia Ernestine Becker (24 February 1827 – 18 July 1890) was a leader in the early British suffrage movement, as well as an amateur scientist with interests in biology and astronomy. She established Manchester as a centre for the suffrage mov ...

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

Charles Harrison Blackley Charles Harrison Blackley (5 April 1820 – 4 September 1900) was the discoverer of the mechanism behind allergic rhinitis caused by pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of ...

Antoinette Brown Blackwell Antoinette Louisa Brown, later Antoinette Brown Blackwell (May 20, 1825 – November 5, 1921), was the first woman to be ordained as a mainstream Protestant minister in the United States. She was a well-versed public speaker on the paramount iss ...

* Mary Boole *

Heinrich Georg Bronn Heinrich Georg Bronn (3 March 1800 – 5 July 1862) was a German geologist and paleontologist. He was the first to translate Charles Darwin's '' On the Origin of Species'' into German in 1860, although not without introducing his own interpretat ...

* John Burdon-Sanderson * Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyrame de Candolle *

William Benjamin Carpenter William Benjamin Carpenter CB FRS (29 October 1813 – 19 November 1885) was an English physician, invertebrate zoologist, and physiologist. He was instrumental in the early stages of the unified University of London. Life Carpenter was bor ...

Frances Power Cobbe Frances Power Cobbe (4 December 1822 – 5 April 1904) was an Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher, religious thinker, social reformer, anti-vivisection activist and leading women's suffrage campaigner. She founded a number of animal advocacy grou ...

* Walter Drawbridge Crick, grandfather of

Francis Crick Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the Nucleic acid doub ...

* Thomas Davidson *

Anton Dohrn Felix Anton Dohrn FRS FRSE (29 December 1840 – 26 September 1909) was a prominent German Darwinist and the founder and first director of the first marine-biological and zoological research station in the world, the Stazione Zoologica in Nap ...

Franciscus Donders Franciscus (Franz) Cornelius Donders FRS FRSE (27 May 1818 – 24 March 1889) was a Dutch ophthalmologist. During his career, he was a professor of physiology in Utrecht, and was internationally regarded as an authority on eye diseases, directin ...

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...

Hugh Falconer Hugh Falconer MD FRS (29 February 1808 – 31 January 1865) was a Scottish geologist, botanist, palaeontologist, and paleoanthropologist. He studied the flora, fauna, and geology of India, Assam, Burma, and most of the Mediterranean island ...

* Frederic William Farrar *

Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer (24 June 1819 – 11 October 1899), was an English civil servant and statistician. Background and early life Farrer was the son of Thomas Farrer, a solicitor in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Born in London, he was e ...

* John Fiske *

Robert FitzRoy Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy, politician and scientist who served as the second governor of New Zealand between 1843 and 1845. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of ...

Auguste-Henri Forel Auguste-Henri Forel (; 1 September 1848 – 27 July 1931) was a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, psychiatrist and former eugenicist, notable for his investigations into the structure of the human brain and that of ants. He is considered a co ...

Johan Georg Forchhammer Johan Georg Forchhammer (26 July 1794 – 14 December 1865) was a Denmark, Danish mineralogist and geologist. Early life and education Forchhammer was born at Husum, Germany, Husum, Schleswig. He studied at the universities of University of Ki ...

Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911) was an English polymath and the originator of eugenics during the Victorian era; his ideas later became the basis of behavioural genetics. Galton produced over 340 papers and b ...

* * Jean Albert Gaudry *

James Geikie James Murdoch Geikie PRSE FRS LLD (23 August 1839 – 1 March 1915) was a Scottish geologist. He was professor of geology at the University of Edinburgh from 1882 to 1914. Early life He was born in Edinburgh, the son of James Stuart Geiki ...

Joseph Henry Gilbert Sir Joseph Henry Gilbert (1 August 1817 – 23 December 1901) was an English chemist, noteworthy for his long career spent improving the methods of practical agriculture. Along with J.B. Lawes, he conducted experiments at Rothamstead for forty ...

Philip Henry Gosse Philip Henry Gosse (; 6 April 1810 – 23 August 1888), known to his friends as Henry, was an English natural history, naturalist and populariser of natural science, prolific author, "Father of the Aquarium", scientific illustrator, lecturer, e ...

* *

William Robert Grove Sir William Robert Grove, FRS FRSE (11 July 1811 – 1 August 1896) was a Welsh judge and physical scientist. He anticipated the general theory of the conservation of energy, and was a pioneer of fuel cell technology. He invented the Grove vol ...

* Julius von Haast *

Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; ; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, natural history, naturalist, eugenics, eugenicist, Philosophy, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biology, marine biologist and artist ...

John Stevens Henslow John Stevens Henslow (6 February 1796 – 16 May 1861) was an English Anglican priest, botanist and geologist. He is best remembered as friend and mentor to Charles Darwin. Early life Henslow was born at Rochester, Kent, the son of a solicit ...

* *

Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For 20 years he served as director of the Ro ...

* *

Thomas Henry Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...

* * Thomas Jamieson *

Leonard Jenyns Leonard Jenyns (25 May 1800 – 1 September 1893) was an English clergyman, author and naturalist. He was forced to take on the name Leonard Blomefield to receive an inheritance. He is chiefly remembered for his detailed phenology observations ...

Charles Kingsley Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the workin ...

* James Lamont *

Ray Lankester Sir Edwin Ray Lankester (15 May 1847 – 13 August 1929) was a British zoologist.New International Encyclopaedia. An invertebrate zoologist and evolutionary biologist, he held chairs at University College London and Oxford University. He was th ...

* John Lubbock* *

Charles Lyell Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known today for his association with Charles ...

* * Maxwell T. Masters *

Patrick Matthew Patrick Matthew (20 October 1790 – 8 June 1874) was a Scottish grain merchant, fruit farmer, forester, and landowner, who contributed to the understanding of horticulture, silviculture, and agriculture in general, with a focus on maintaini ...

Charles Johnson Maynard Charles Johnson Maynard (May 6, 1845 – October 15, 1929) was an American naturalist and ornithologist born in Newton, Massachusetts. He was a collector, a taxidermist, and an expert on the vocal organs of birds. In addition to birds, he also s ...

* Edward S. Morse *

Henry Nottidge Moseley Henry Nottidge Moseley FRS (14 November 1844 – 10 November 1891) was a British naturalist who sailed on the global scientific expedition of HMS ''Challenger'' in 1872 through 1876. Life Moseley was born in Wandsworth, London, the son of Hen ...

Fritz Müller Johann Friedrich Theodor Müller (; 31 March 182221 May 1897), better known as Fritz Müller (), and also as Müller-Desterro, was a German biologist who emigrated to southern Brazil, where he lived in and near the city of Blumenau, Santa Cata ...

* John Murray *

Melchior Neumayr Melchior Neumayr (24 October 1845 – 29 January 1890) was an palaeontologist from Austria-Hungary and the son of Max von Neumayr, a Bavarian Minister of State. He specialized on the Jurassic and Cretaceous of the Alps. Neumayr introduced the co ...

Alfred Newton Alfred Newton Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS HFRSE (11 June 18297 June 1907) was an England, English zoologist and ornithologist. Newton was Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907. Among his numerous public ...

Richard Owen Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist and paleontology, palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkabl ...

* Jean Louis Armand de Quatrefages de Bréau *

George Croom Robertson George Croom Robertson (10 March 1842 – 20 September 1892) was a Scottish philosopher. He sat on the Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage and his wife, Caroline Anna Croom Robertson was a college administrator. Biography ...

George Romanes George John Romanes (20 May 1848 – 23 May 1894) was a Canadian-Scots evolutionary biologist and physiologist who laid the foundation of what he called comparative psychology, postulating a similarity of cognitive processes and mechanisms ...

* Sir John Sebright *

Adam Sedgwick Adam Sedgwick FRS (; 22 March 1785 – 27 January 1873) was a British geologist and Anglican priest, one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Cambrian and Devonian period of the geological timescale. Based on work which he did ...

* Frederick Smith *

Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in '' ...

Japetus Steenstrup Johannes Japetus Smith Steenstrup FRS(For) HFRSE (8 March 1813 – 20 June 1897) was a Danish zoologist, biologist, and professor. Life Born in Vang, Thy on 8 March 1813, he held a lectorate in mineralogy in Sorø until 1845 when he became a ...

Bartholomew Sulivan Admiral Sir Bartholomew James Sulivan, (18 November 1810 – 1 January 1890) was a British naval officer and hydrographer. He was a leading advocate of the value of nautical surveying in relation to naval operations. Sulivan was born at Mylor ...

* Mary Lua Adelia Davis Treat *

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 pap ...

* Julia Wedgwood *

August Weismann August Friedrich Leopold Weismann (; 17 January 18345 November 1914) was a German evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist. Fellow German Ernst Mayr ranked him as the second most notable evolutionary theorist of the 19th century, after Charl ...

William Whewell William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved distinction in both poetry and mathematics. The breadth of Whewell's endeavours is ...

* William Winwood Reade *

Chauncey Wright Chauncey Wright (September 10, 1830 – September 12, 1875) was an American philosopher and mathematician, who was an influential early defender of Darwinism and an important influence on American pragmatists such as Charles Sanders Peirce and Wil ...

References

* Browne, Janet, ''Charles Darwin: Voyaging''. Princeton, 1995. * Browne, Janet, ''Charles Darwin: The Power of Place''. Princeton, 2002.

Darwin Correspondence Project website

Darwin Correspondence Project Home Page
University Library, Cambridge. (Accessed 2009-05-07)

Darwin Correspondence Project publications

* Volume 1: 1821–1836 (pub 1985) * Volume 2: 1837–1843 (pub 1986) * Volume 3: 1844–1846 (pub 1987) * Volume 4: 1847–1850 (pub 1988) * Volume 5: 1851–1855 (pub 1989) * Volume 6: 1856–1857 (pub 1990) * Volume 7: 1858–1859 (pub 1991) * Volume 8: 1860 (pub 1993) * Volume 9: 1861 (pub 1994) * Volume 10: 1862 (pub 1997) * Volume 11: 1863 (pub 1999) * Volume 12: 1864 (pub 2001) * Volume 13: 1865 (pub 2003) * Volume 14: 1866 (pub 2004) * Volume 15: 1867 (pub 2005) * Volume 16 pt i: 1868 (pub 2008) * Volume 16 pt ii: 1868 (pub 2008) * Volume 17: 1869 (pub 2009) * Volume 18: 1870 and supplement (pub 2010) * Volume 19: 1871 (pub 2012) * Volume 20: 1872 (pub 2013) * Volume 21: 1873 (pub 2014) * Volume 22: 1874 (pub 2015) * Volume 23: 1875 (pub 2015) * Volume 24: 1876 (pub 2016) * Volume 25: 1877 (pub 2017) * Volume 26: 1878 (pub 2018) * Volume 27: 1879 (pub 2019) * Volume 28: 1880 (pub 2021) * Volume 29: 1881 (pub 2022) * Volume 30: 1882 and supplement (pub 2023) Selections of letters published by the Correspondence Project include: * ''Origins: Charles Darwin's Selected Letters, 1825–1859'' * ''Evolution: Charles Darwin's Selected Letters, 1860–1870'' * ''Charles Darwin: The Beagle Letters'' (all the letters to and from Darwin during the voyage) * ''The Correspondence 1821–60: Anniversary Paperback Set'' * ''Darwin and Women: A Selection of Letters''

Early editions of Darwin's letters

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online
Charles Darwin Letters
Two collections of letters written to and by Charles Darwin

References

{{Darwin Darwin Works by Charles Darwin