WP - The Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project

WP1/3 Wallace Family Correspondence 1835-1893
Letters, 1835-1893, to and from A R Wallace and other members
of his family and friends, with related papers. Letters 1835-1869
were filed together when listed in a ring binder with a contents list
in an unknown hand (WGW's?) headed ''Old letters to and from A.
R. Wallace and other members of his family''. Some undated
letters and fragments which were at the back of the binder are not
included in this contents list. The list is preceded by notes on
Alfred Russel Wallace's whereabouts at various dates.
Correspondents include H W Bates, G Silk, Richard Spruce and
members of Wallace's family.
Letters are arranged by date except for a few later letters found
among apparently unrelated papers, which have been added out of
sequence at the end of the list.
Name: Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1823-1913
Place: Amazon Malaya
Notes: The Contents list is of 58 letters, 1835-1869, on 3 folios
each written on one side only in an unknown hand. Each letter in
the Contents list is numbered and gives author, correspondent and
month and year date. They are in chronological order with the
exception of one outlier at the end of the list. Some undated letters
and fragments which were at the back of the binder are not
included in this contents list. Almost all letters have markings
(underlining, brackets, or deletions) mostly in blue pencil, possibly
by Alfred Russel Wallace but possibly by his son or daughter, by
James Marchant, or another. Because these are so common they
have not been noted except where apparently related to
annotations or where deletion obscures text.When acquired by the
NHM these papers were in a maroon ''Perry & Co'' brand
cardboard spring binder 28cm x 23.5 cm, with letters in individual
(glassine?) envelopes.There were also loose notes made by NHM
staff who have handled the material (personal information from
Emma Bennett, assistant Librarian, General Library, Nov. 2002).
Individual letters and pages have been removed from the album
and placed in acid-free melinex folders or envelopes for
protection. NB THE LARGEST FOUND IS NOT BIG ENOUGH
FOR ALL UNFOLDED LETTERS. Some of the letters are in
extremely poor condition, torn, with sections missing, dirty and
foxed. The folios on which the contents are listed are brittle and
foxed. Loose notes have been destroyed but as an aid to the staff
who wrote them replaced with the same text written on acid free
paper. The contents are also noted in the records of the pieces to
which they refer. I recommend destruction of the album and
glassine envelopes, as of virtually no historical value. The album
is lined with an extremely acidic, brittle cardboard and the glassine
envelopes are dirty and in most cases too small to hold the
unfolded letters. At present they are in the large grey phase box
labelled in pencil ''WP1/3, together with the disbound letters. P J
Lucas, 17/12/02 .Notes associated with the letters were written by
101
1835-1893,
1904
WP1