Darwin Correspondence Project launches their new website on Darwin’s birthday

The Darwin Correspondence Project is celebrating ‘Darwin Day’ today (12th February) with a new website helping us to find out more about the life and times of Charles Darwin and the people who wrote to him. The texts of more than 8,500 of his letters are now available, together with many images of the originals now in the University Library’s Darwin Archive. An improved search facility will support the work of scholars whilst features such as ‘Darwin’s life in letters’, a new set of resources for primary schools, and a ‘behind the scenes’ glimpse on the journey of a letter from arrival to publication, will ensure that Darwin’s letters are shared with a wider audience.

Alison Pearn, Associate Director, said “Among a mass of other new content and features, such as commentaries on Darwin’s understanding of sexual selection and human evolution, several hundred of his letters from the year 1871 (when Descent of Man was published) are now available for the first time online. It’s a great way to celebrate what would have been Darwin’s 207th birthday.”

The Darwin Correspondence Project is publishing all of Charles Darwin’s correspondence online and in print – around 15,000 letters in total. The project began in 1974 and is based in Cambridge University Library, which hosts the largest single collection of Darwin’s letters (around 9,000). Images of letters and manuscripts are provided through collaboration with Cambridge University Digital Library. Volume 23 of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin was published by Cambridge University Press in December 2015.

Working in the Darwin Archive from Darwin Correspondence Project on Vimeo.