WP - The Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project

Charles H Smith (Website: The Alfred Russel Wallace Page
www.wku.edu/~smithch/home.htm).
Shermer, Michael (Oxford 2002) In Darwin's Shadow: The Life and Science of Alfred Russel
Wallace.
A collection of Wallace's papers was purchased for £160,500 by The Natural History Museum
after being exclusively offered to it at the beginning of 2001 by the owners, Mr A John
Wallace and Mr Richard R Wallace (Alfred Russel Wallace's grandsons) and Mrs A John
Wallace (Audrey Wallace). Funding was provided by Heritage Lottery Fund, Natural History
Museum Enhancement Grant Fund, Clothworkers' Foundation, Goldsmiths' Company's
Charities, Steel Charitable Trust, Idlewild Trust, Mrs Janet Dwek, Mr Anthony Hoare, Rayne
Foundation, The Lumpkin Foundation, Mrs Susan Lockhart, Mrs Tania Chislett and Mr James
Colyer-Fergusson.
The papers were taken into the custody of the NHM on 30 January 2002.
It is intended that the library staff using UNICORN software will catalogue publications. The
MSS, (including annotated printed matter etc as described above) which are part of the
General Library MSS collection, were catalogued in the Archives.
Some of the books and MSS in the collection relate to specimens held in the Museum's
collections. The acquisition also augments the Museum's existing Wallace holdings; for
instance the new material reveals Wallace's post-publication thought and reaction to the work
of others, notably Darwin.
3