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Warren D. Mohr/Charles Darwin Collection:
Manuscripts
mssMohrDarwin
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Warren D. Mohr/Charles Darwin Collection: Manuscripts
Identifier/Call Number: mssMohrDarwin
Physical Description:
1 unit
(2 boxes); 1 unit (70 items)
Date (inclusive): 1855-1993
Date (bulk): 1874-1910
Abstract: Warren D. Mohr assembled this
collection of material related to Charles Darwin. It contains correspondence, photographs,
prints, ephemera, and clippings.
Language of Material: The records are in
English.
Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader
Services Department. For more information, please go to following
web site .
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
permission rests with the researcher.
[Identification of Item], Warren D. Mohr/Charles Darwin Collection: Manuscripts, The
Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Gift of Warren D. Mohr, March, 1994.
Charles Darwin, an English naturalist, revolutionized the study of evolution. Born in 1809
to a prominent family, his father Robert Darwin was a physician, and the son of English
poet, philosopher and naturalist Erasmus Darwin. His mother, Susannah Wedgwood Darwin, was
the daughter of industrialist-potter and abolitionist Josiah Wedgwood.
After graduating from Christ's College, Cambridge, Darwin accepted an invitation to serve
as a gentleman naturalist on the
H.M.S. Beagle, which departed
on a five-year scientific expedition to the Pacific Coast of South America on December 31,
1831. The research resulting from this voyage formed the basis of his theory of natural
selection, and led to the 1859 publication of his monumental work,
On
the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
. Darwin continued to research
and publish important works on biology throughout his life. He lived with his wife and
children at their home in the village of Downe, 15 miles from London. He died on April 19,
1882 and lies buried in Westminster Abbey.
The collection includes correspondence, photographs, prints,
ephemera and clippings. Highlights include an 1875 letter from Charles Darwin (with his son,
William Erasmus Darwin) to Lawson Tait regarding mice tails, and a portrait taken by Henry
Barraud (1811-1874) which is believed to be the last photograph taken of Darwin. There are
also cartes-de-visite photographs of Darwin, as well as printed portraits and other ephemera.
Also of note are three letters by Richard Owen, plus photographs of him. The collection also
contains a few modern negatives from items in the Warren D. Mohr/Charles Darwin Collection of
rare books at The Huntington.
The collection is arranged by type, with one oversize box:
Box 1: Correspondence-Miscellaneous Ephemera.
Box 2: Oversize, Vanity Fair Portraits–Miscellaneous Clippings
Related Materials in the Huntington Library
The Warren D. Mohr/Charles Darwin Collection includes over 1,000 different book-form
editions of Darwin's writings, and over 500 supporting volumes by his contemporaries and
followers. All of Darwin's works are represented in one form or another. These may be
searched under Title: "Warren D. Mohr/Charles Darwin Collection", or under Author: "Mohr,
Warren D., former owner" in the
Huntington Library's Online
Catalog.
Other related manuscript and photographic materials:
- Inventory of Charles Darwin Correspondence in the Huntington Library
- Handwritten single page of Descent of Man, [approximately 1871]. Call number: mssHM 80997
- Charles Darwin letter to John Ralfs, 1874, July 8. Call number: mssHM 76527
- Charles Darwin letter to B.D. Wrangham, 1880, September 16. Call number: mssHM 72756
- Charles Darwin letter to "Dear Sir," [undated]. Call number: mssHM 72755
- Charles Darwin correspondence in the Frances Power Cobbe correspondence, 1855-1904. Call number: mssCB 1-854
- Sir George Howard Darwin letter to Frederick Pollock, 1876, April. Call number: mssHM 80279
- Russian cartes-de-visite of Charles Darwin, photCL 659.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Evolution -- History -- 19th century
Religion and science -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th
century
Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
Great Britain -- Intellectual life -- 19th century
Correspondence
Ephemera
Photograph
Prints