Warren D. Mohr/Charles Darwin Collection: Manuscripts mssMohrDarwin

Finding aid prepared by Laura R. Rips.

The Huntington Library

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, California 91108

Business Number: (626) 405-2191

reference@huntington.org

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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.

Access

Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, please go to following web site .

Publication Rights

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.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of Item], Warren D. Mohr/Charles Darwin Collection: Manuscripts, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Warren D. Mohr, March, 1994.

Biography

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.

Scope and Content

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.

Arrangement

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

Box 1

Correspondence - Miscellaneous Ephemera

Box 1, Folder 1

Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 and William Erasmus Darwin, 1839-1914 letter to Lawson Tait, 1845-1899 1875, June 11