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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
Thanks Hooker for letter of recommendation, which has helped them obtain passports. Will try to collect “interesting specimens for the Kew museum.”
Describes voyage from Liverpool to Pará [Belém] which was achieved in 31 days (26 April - 28 May); detailed description of City, including its public spaces and buildings. Rented a house "nearer the woods"; abundance of oranges and bananas and low cost of beef; striking racial mix in the City of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians; enjoys climate, has been collecting insects and comments on variety; collected 400 "distinct kinds"; hopes to collect plants when he gets his own house; will send word when a parcel is expected.
ARW sending dried palm plants; describes Paxiuba palm roots; trees with buttresses to trunks; next week will explore River Tocantins. Describes “milk tree” (“Masseranduba”) whose juice is good substitute for cream, timber strong, fruit delicious, milk makes strong glue. Climate delightful. Is spending most time collecting insects.
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No summary available.
ARW reports to friends his observations of Brazil after nine months exploring. At first disappointed, expected profusion of monkeys, hummingbirds, and parrots everywhere. “Not for several days...saw a single monkey or bird,” but soon learned “how and where to look.” Country is “surpassingly beautiful,” caught 500 different kinds of butterflies. Virgin forest “sublime and magnificent” with astonishing vegetation where “lurk the Onca [jaguar] & the Boa constrictor...and the Bell bird tolls his peal.” Describes streams and rivers; Climate “wonderfully uniform;” 30 different kinds of palm trees; large variety of fruits. Unalterably opposed to slavery. Even where he observed them treated well, notes they can be sold “like horses or dogs.” Country is booming and prosperous in both agriculture and commerce.
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On receiving ARW’s letters, has decided to join him at Para, Brazil; departing from Liverpool in a few weeks. Glad Fanny’s things have reached her in Georgia. “We are doomed to be a scattered family...let us meet it bravely [and] hope that all its members may meet yet again.”
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No summary available.
“We now have now several hundred [plant] specimens dried and drying”; sowed seeds of palms and fruit trees; have flowers including orchids. In September hope to send my collections to England and then go upriver, will explore Montalegre [sic] and north shores of Amazon. Ferns abundant here, especially Hepaticae. Enclose a note for Mr. Smith about his plants from Kew. Bringing assistant from London was a mistake, as he is drained of energy in this hot climate; cannot keep up with blacks, who are also “expert at climbing trees” with a rope and work for half the pay. Has seen ARW, who has “quarreled [sic] & separated long ago from Bates, who is now at mouth of the Tocantins. ARW has gone to Monte Alegre.
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No summary available.
Describes Santarein [Santarém], a low-lying town, with most houses only one story. Very abundant fish in river, staple of inhabitants. Made a “Zoological discovery” — a blue pig. Remember pub sign of “Blue pig” at Neath which we all thought was mythological? “No longer a fable...Let the people of Neath know I have seen in Brazil, a living breathing, live Blue Pig.”
ARW tells Agent of his travel plans and seeks information and advice. Planning to head for Matto Grosso, possibly into Bolivia. Perhaps will “get up the Rio Nigro [sic] towards the sources of the Orinooko [sic], ” will head for Montalegre. Oranges are fourpence a bushel. “The more I see of the country, the more I want to, and can see no end of, the species of buttterflies when the whole country is well explored.
Tells mother preparing for voyage to Rio Negro. We are first English to climb Monte Alegre. Explored remote cave, copied “curious writings on the rocks” inside. Indians dug up “water tortoise eggs” on river bank, which, with milk and farinha “made a very excellent meal.” Fired on “several immense alligators” in river. Have eaten alligator tail, parrot, and turtle. Met English botanist Richard Spruce here. Includes “enigma” riddle and a poem about “naked little children/with skins of every dye/Some black, some brown, some lighter/some white as you or I...a dozen such in family...Tis common in Brazil.
Spent 3 weeks at Montealegre, now back at Santarem nearly a month. Before leaving for Rio Negro, sending “small lot of insects…Lepidoptera.” Many new species, difficult to capture because they settle high in trees. Also sending Indian-made painted calabashes and small stuffed alligator.