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A small lockable leather diary in the archive at Cambridge University Library has led to a reassessment of one of the key relationships in Charles Darwin’s life. The Darwin Correspondence Project, with the permission of Darwin’s family, is making public for the first time the short but intense—and intensely revealing—personal journal of Darwin’s daughter, Henrietta.
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A newly discovered egg from Darwin's Beagle voyage is probably the only one left. Plus, according to Darwin, the bird itself was very tasty.
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As Darwin watches the preparation of the H.M.S. Beagle, he gets (understandably) excited. It also turns out that Captain FitzRoy was popular with the ladies. Darwin fears that he will get seasick on the voyage; it happens to everyone. Little did he know how bad it would be, and that raisins were all he could […]
Read MoreDaddy! I wanna go on the boat! The fateful decision is made September 1: Charles Darwin will indeed sail on the Beagle. Here’s some back-and-forth between Charles, his father, and Francis Beaufort, British Royal Navy Captain and hydrographer. Beaufort approved Darwin for the voyage, and his Wikipedia entry alone is testament to how interesting a […]
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Charles on the American Civil War Darwin writes the great American botanist Asa Gray during a turbulent point in American history. Darwin’s feelings on slavery were very pronounced; ever since his Beagle voyage saw witness to a great deal of slave brutality. The Maryland slaves that he refers to were not freed, since the state […]
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Questions, questions. And lots of dead animals sent by post. Darwin was very inquisitive. He had to be. But this letter has a wonderful quality to it. He’s about to go collecting pigs’ jaws to count teeth. After all, that crafty Bechstein just can’t be trusted. Do birds wash their feet? Send out the servants! […]
Read MoreHappy Independence Day! To celebrate, below is a letter written by Darwin on July 4, 1858 to an American: botanist Asa Gray. Gray pretty much started the botany program at Harvard, and was an immense help with developing Darwin’s carefully wrought theory. Darwin observed peculiarities in Dicentra (Bleeding Heart) flowers that he links to the […]
Read MoreUPDATE 7-25: Check out this week’s letter: Darwin Builds a Fort! Charles Darwin was a typical teenager. He thought that some of his teachers were full of crap, and wasn’t afraid to say so (at least to his sister). This letter from Charles to his sister Caroline has a few choice words for a professor […]
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