Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology

In the wake of the “Darwin Correspondence”. 40.000
letters to Ernst Haeckel listed and available for study
- Short communication -
Uwe Hoßfeld & Olaf Breidbach
The development of the theory of evolution has attracted a great deal of interest, especially
after the centennials of the publication of Darwin´s “Origin” in 1959 and of his
death in 1982, from both historians and biologists. It has been shown that studying
communication other than through books and papers (correspondence, lectures, etc.) is
important for a proper understanding of the science, politics and culture of the 19th and
20th centuries. The Darwin correspondence project in Cambridge, UK (transcription of
14000 letters from 2000 correspondents) 1 has shown how important the correspondence
is for a proper understanding of the development of Darwin´s ideas. Having started their
search for letters in 1974, the Darwin project published the first volume of the Correspondence,
and the Calendar, in 1985. The project will be finished with 9 volumes of letters in
the next “Darwin year” in 2009. 2
Now – in the wake of the Darwin Correspondence – a catalogue listing around
39000 letters from 9312 correspondents in 72 countries sent to Ernst Haeckel, the
“German Darwin”, has been published. This book 3 provides an overview of the names
of the correspondents, where and when the letter was written, and its kind and length.
Letters as a form of scientific communication had a special importance for Haeckel – as
for many of his contemporaries. His scientific and private correspondence thus documents
the extraordinary multi-fariousness of his connections to naturalists, artists, philosophers
etc. interested in evolutionary theory and philosophy. His correspondence can
be divided into 4 different categories: 31474 letters to Haeckel from non-family members,
1891 letters from Haeckel to non-family members, 3891 letters from his family, and
1825 letters from Haeckel to members of his family. We still find new letters. 800 newly
found letters will be catalogued during the next month. Totally we have 88% letters to
1 Junker, T. & M. Richmond (eds.) Charles Darwins Briefwechsel mit deutschen Naturforschern (Basilisken-Presse,
Marburg, 1996).
2 Burkhardt, F. & S. Smith (eds.) A Calendar of the correspondence of Charles Darwin, 1821-1882 (Garland Publishing,
New York and London, 1985); Burkhardt, F. et al. The correspondence of Charles Darwin. (CUP, Cambridge,
1985).
3 Hoßfeld, U. & O. Breidbach Haeckel Korrespondenz: Übersicht über den Briefbestand des Ernst-Haeckel-Archivs
(VWB-Verlag, Berlin, 2005).
Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology, Vol. 10 (2005): 55-58
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