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The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823 - 1913) was one of the world's most important scientists. His seminal contributions to biology rival those of his friend and colleague Charles Darwin, though he is far less well known. Together Wallace and Darwin proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection in 1858, and their prolific subsequent work laid the foundations of modern evolutionary biology, and much more besides.
Wallace made enduring scholarly contributions to subjects as diverse as glaciology, land reform, anthropology, ethnography, epidemiology, and astrobiology. His pioneering work on evolutionary biogeography (the science that seeks to explain the geographical distribution of organisms) led to him becoming recognised as that subject’s ‘father’. Beyond this Wallace is regarded as the pre-eminent collector and field biologist of tropical regions of the 19th century, and his book The Malay Archipelago (which was Joseph Conrad’s favourite bedside reading) is one of the most celebrated travel writings of that century and has never been out of print. Wallace was a man with an extraordinary breadth of interests who was actively engaged with many of the big questions and important issues of his day. He was anti-slavery, anti-eugenics, anti-vivisection, anti-militarism, anti-Imperialism, a conservationist and an advocate of woman's rights. He strongly believed in the rights of the ordinary person, was a socialist, an anti-vaccinationist (for rational reasons), and a believer in naturalistic, evolutionary spiritualism. He did not come from a privileged background and was largely self-taught. For a brief biography see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/mini-biography
The Wallace Correspondence Project (WCP) was founded by George Beccaloni in 2010. Its aims are to locate, digitise, catalogue, transcribe, interpret and publish Wallace's surviving correspondence and other manuscripts. About 5,700 letters to and from Wallace are currently known to survive, and they are held by c. 240 institutions and individuals worldwide. Wallace's letters are a biographical treasure trove, which provides a far better picture of the 'real' Wallace than his heavily edited and censored published writings (e.g. his autobiography My Life (1905) and his letters in Marchant's Letters and Reminiscences (1916)). For example, Wallace never even mentions his wife's name (Annie) in any of his published writings, including his autobiography. The letters are also key to gaining a deeper understanding of his scientific and other work: how and why his ideas arose, and how they evolved over time.
The WCP is unlocking this valuable resource by gathering all the letters together for the first time, and transcribing them so that they can be more easily read and information within them discovered using electronic searches for words and phrases. The vast amount of unpublished information which is coming to light will surely form the basis for numerous articles, scholarly papers, PhD theses and perhaps the first definitive biography.
Epsilon is being used by the WCP's as its online archive of Wallace's correspondence. It replaces our previous archive, Wallace Letters Online, which was last updated in 2015. The process of editing the transcripts and associated metadata is a work in progress which will take many years to complete. Our project’s policy is, however, to make the information we have available to users at the earliest possible opportunity, even if it is incomplete and/or imperfect. For a guide to our data, including the protocols we use for metadata and transcriptions, please see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
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After a necessary delay for “necessary preparations,” and publication of his “Travels in South America,” ARW is now ready to embark for Singapore, Batavia, or other parts of Eastern Archipelago as soon as passage becomes available.
Attack of fever in Malacca, quinine treatment; insects and birds collected in Malacca; ascent of Mount Ophir; arrival of post including and letters from Adelaide, Australia; arrival of newspapers, instruments, repaired watch and food from England; basket of food spoiled by insects, better to use soldered tin box; visit to Sir James Brooke; plans to visit Sarawak; friends and family; continued carelessness of assistant Charles.
Sailing for Sarawak next day; arranging and cataloguing collection of 6,000 specimens - birds, insects and shells; impossibility of collecting plants for William Hooker; pleasure at quotation by Latham; any news of Sebastopol; wanting copies of Punch; expedition to Mount Ophir.
Thomas Sims's photography business; Stevens' proposal to send ARW an assistant, desirable qualities in an assistant, Charles's deficiencies; Madame Pfeiffer's insect collection; news of Australian Expedition (A C Gregory [Northern Australian]; arrival of new missionary from England; wanting a shoe last; wanting news of John and Mary in California; collapse of Page, Bacon and Co; Dyak's delight in musical box.
The Sims' move to Conduit Street and photography business, with detailed advice and questions, suggests asking Mr Vignolles [Vignoles] to introduce their work at Royal Society Soirees; mother's future; post from England and arrival of a box with shoes (good) and bacon (spoiled).
Christmas day with the Rajah (Sir James Brooke); admirable character of Brooke; expedition into interior with Dyaks; character and customs of Dyak people; the Malays; fears plants sent to England dead, plans to collect in Celebes; Miss Woodford recommended as wife for ARW by G S (George Silk); possible trip to California.
Departure from Sarawak, leaving Charles behind; admirable character of Sir James Brooke; slow healing of injured foot; good collection of insects in Borneo; Sims' photography business; Fenton's Crimea photographs; justification of Crimean war.
Delayed expedition to Macassar; Christian missionaries, particularly French Catholics in China and elsewhere, missionary social work, religious doctrine.
Long wait for and final arrival of a ship to Macassar; arrival of Bates' letters from Ega (now Teffé) Brazil, and copy of Zoologist; geographical distribution of insect species in the islands of the Malay archipelago; relative scarcity of Lepidoptera; comparative numbers and types of insect species in Malay archipelago and Brazil; details of insects collected, including new butterfly Ornithoptera Brookeana (Wallace), Rhyncophorae, Carabidae, Anthribidae, Bupestridae, Cleridae, Longicornes and many others, total number of insect species collected estimated at 6,000, specimens over 30,000; desire to collect all world Longicornes for study; importance of recording location of capture of specimens; separation of collections from different localities; desire for future comparison of data and exchange of specimens with Bates; Orang Utans; comparison of types of forest plants, people and customs in Amazon and Malay archipelago; scarcity of edible fruit in the East; delicious Durian; Madame Pfeiffer's insect collection; regards to Spruce.
Arrival of letters from home; birth of first niece or nephew; expense of Sims's rent and financial burden to his mother; departure for Aru in two days time; diet on Aru, list of food stores to be taken, scarcity of fowl, will eat Birds of Paradise and Kangaroo; friends and family; Eliza Roberts's moustache.
Receipt of mail from home including letters from Bates and Darwin; cleaning and packing of collections from Aru; detailed account of numbers, types and locations of insects collected, including first serious collection of very small beetle species (Staphylinidae etc) at Macassar; comparison of data sent by Bates with his own; reaction to ARW's paper "On the succession of species", approving letter from Darwin; benefit of Darwin's proposed publication on species and varieties; boundary between two distinct faunas in Malay Archipelago; proposed expeditions to Gilolo island [Halmahera] and New Guinea; advantages of Amboyna as a base; battles of Balaclava and Inkerman; Britain - India meeting [British rule in India]; insects in the Andes.
Geodephaga species, commenting on notes made by F. Bates in a letter received a month previously; variation of entomological species; species of Catascopus sent to Saunders; habits of Cicindelidae; theory of colours of insect species; planned expedition to northern Celebes; plans to write a Coleoptera Malayana; disgraceful state of current publishing in entomology, comments on particular works.
The Sims's business, George Silk's marriage plans; sending Dumas' La Reine Margot; Claudet's stereoscope; photographs by Riglander and Fry; The Family Herald; speeches by Spurjeon.
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The BM (Natural History); ARW's relationship with Gray; photography; proposed expedition to Batchian Island near Gilolo; encouraging letters from Hooker and Darwin, his essay read at the Linnean Society; sale by Stevens of collections from Aru; plans to return to England.
ARW's love of solitude; suggests Silk reads his article [with Darwin about natural selection] in August Linnean Society Proceedings; proud of complimentary remarks by Lyell and Hooker therein; dislike of politics; interest in ethnology; asks about books read; has read Tristram Shandy and novels by Dumas; marriage; sending an article on "smoke" for The Athenaeum.
Enthusiasm for entomology and desire to complete work on geographical and geological distribution of species in the Indo-Australian archipelago before returning to England; stereoscopic photo effects, Sims's business.