Charles Darwin – Cambridge University Library Special Collections

Inside Darwin’s bookshelves: a project to catalogue his personal library

Posted on 25 June 2026 by Special Collections

Post by Alex Cuadrado, Darwin Library Cataloguer Charles Darwin changed how we see our place in nature, but how did he build the theories that […]

Archives, Darwin Correspondence Project, Rare Books, Special Collections

A Scientific Life: New additions from the Darwin Archive to Cambridge Digital Library

Posted on 24 November 2023 by Special Collections

Post by Elizabeth L. Smith (Digital Curator, Nineteenth-Century Science Collections) This autumn marks the completion of a four year project digitising the Darwin Archive, the […]

Cambridge Digital Library, Darwin Correspondence Project, Science, Special Collections

Turning over a new leaf: Fasciculing fragile letters and plant specimens in the Darwin Archive

Posted on 13 October 2021 by CUL Conservation

The Darwin Archive contains a wide variety of loose sheet papers, often in diverse formats and frequently found in specific combinations. Letters are kept together […]

Archives, Conservation, Darwin Correspondence Project, Special Collections

The man who knew everything! The letters of John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861)

Posted on 14 December 2020 by Special Collections

175 years ago John Stevens Henslow started lobbying for a Botanic Garden in Cambridge. After twenty years of effort, his work bore fruit and led […]

Archives, Collectors and collecting, Darwin Correspondence Project, Manuscripts, Special Collections

Conserving Darwin’s Library and its curiosities

Posted on 4 August 2017 by CUL Conservation

By Cécilia Duminuco Charles Robert Darwin (1809–1882) has undoubtedly marked the history of science. Famously known for his theory of evolution by natural selection, the […]

Collection Care, Conservation, Digitisation

Views of the Beagle Expedition

Posted on 6 October 2016 by Special Collections

The second of our ‘Treasures of the University Library’ talks was given by Alison Pearn, Associate Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project:

Cambridge Digital Library, Darwin Correspondence Project, Events, Special Collections

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

Posted on 12 February 2016 by Special Collections

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 […]

Archives, Darwin Correspondence Project, Digital Resources

Cambridge Digital Library – July update

Posted on 3 July 2015 by Special Collections

This release sees the launch of our new Royal Commonwealth Society collection. The Royal Commonwealth Society Library collections are a treasure-trove of information, pictorial and […]

Cambridge Digital Library, Darwin Correspondence Project, Digitisation, Manuscripts, Photographs, Royal Commonwealth Society

Personal correspondence between Charles Darwin and Joseph Dalton Hooker released online

Posted on 28 March 2013 by Special Collections

The Darwin Correspondence Project and Cambridge Digital Library have collaborated to publish images and transcriptions of 1200 letters exchanged by Darwin with his closest friend, Joseph […]

Cambridge Digital Library, Darwin Correspondence Project

Rehabilitating Henrietta

Posted on 12 April 2012 by Special Collections

A small lockable leather diary in the archive at Cambridge University Library is leading us to reassess one of the key relationships in Charles Darwin’s […]

Darwin Correspondence Project, Manuscripts