Advanced search
Publication Cover
Annals of Science Volume 53, 1996 - Issue 5
Submit an article Journal homepage
41
Views
1
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Main articles

Charles Darwin and the repugnant curators

Christine Brandon-Jones 11 York Road, London, SW11 3PX, UK
Pages 501-510 | Received 07 Dec 1995, Published online: 18 Sep 2006

  • Burkhardt , F. and Smith , S. , eds. 1985–93 . The Correspondence of Charles Darwin Vol. VII , 467 – 468 . Cambridge 8 vols
  • Grote , Arthur . 1875 . Catalogue of Mammals & Birds of Burma. By the Late E. Blyth . Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal , 2 : v – v . [Memoir & portrait of the author], in n.s. 44 Extra No.
  • 1838 . Proceedings of the Ornithological Society of London for 2nd February, 1838 . The Naturalist , 3 : 169 – 169 .
  • Grote . 1875 . Catalogue of Mammals & Birds of Burma. By the Late E. Blyth . Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal , 2 : iv – iv . n.s. 44 Extra No.
  • Sharpe , R. Bowdler . 1906 . “ Birds ” . In The History of the Collections Contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum Vol. II , 83 – 83 . London Part 3 2 vols
  • Sharpe , R. Bowlder . 1906 . “ Birds ” . In The History of the Collections Contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum Vol. II , 83 – 83 . London Part 3 2 vols Albert E. Gunther, A Century of Zoology at the British Museum through the Lives of two Keepers 1815–1914 (London, 1975), 371.
  • Edward Blyth letters to John Gould, 29 May 1834, 16 June 1834, 14 August, 1843, 7 August 1846, [8] February 18[50], 8 October 1850 Natural History Museum (London) Library, Gould Letters
  • Sharpe . 1906 . “ Birds ” . In The History of the Collections Contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum Vol. II , 83 – 83 . London Part 3 2 vols
  • Blyth , Edward . November . letter to G. R. Gray, 28 November , 183[7]. [Copy enclosed in] Report of John George Children, Department of Zoology to the Trustees of the British Museum, 1 March 1838. British Museum, Central Archives, Officers Reports Vol. 20 1838, 5310–11.
  • Blyth , Edward . November . letter to G. R. Gray November , 28 – 28 . 183[7]
  • Report of John George Children, Department of Zoology to the Trustees of the British Museum
  • Blyth , Edward . February . “ letter to the Trustees of the British Museum ” . In British Museum, Central Archives, Original Letters & Papers Vol. 18 , February , 5 – 5 . 1838 January–May 1838
  • Darwin , Charles . February 1838 . letter to J. G. Children February , 22 – 22 . [original appended to] Report from John George Children (note 9), Appendix 3.
  • Gould , John . February 1838 . letter to J. G. Children February , 26 – 26 . [original appended to] Report from John George Children (note 9), Appendix 4.
  • Yarrell , William . February 1838 . letter to J. G. Children February , 23 – 23 . [original appended to] Report from John George Children (note 9), Appendix 6.
  • Richardson , John . February 1838 . letter to J. G. Children February , 24 – 24 . [original appended to] Report from John George Children (note 9), Appendix 7.
  • Audubon , John James . February 1838 . letter to J. G. Children February , 23 – 23 . [original appended to] Report from John George Children (note 9), Appendix 9.
  • Smith , Andrew . February 1838 . letter to J. G. Children February , 26 – 26 . [original appended to] Report from John George Children (note 9), Appendix 8.
  • Turner , John . February 1838 . letter to J. G. Children February , 23 – 23 . [original appended to] Report from John George Children (note 9), Appendix 5.
  • The others were Mr Holmes, C. R. Bone, A. F. Rolfe, his father M. E. Rolfe, and Mr [?Alex] ?Tassel. All the replies are attached to Report of John George Children, Department of Zoology to the Trustees of the British Museum
  • Report of John George Children, Department of Zoology to the Trustees of the British Museum
  • Report of John George Children, Department of Zoology to the Trustees of the British Museum In brief, Blyth was alleged to have attempted to remove a feather from a Polyborus, and when Gray properly remonstrated, Blyth asked if he would do it for him. Gray refused, and Blyth asked him whether the collection was for show or for use. Shortly before this, Blyth had been seen by another employee, Frederick Sanders, roughly handling a specimen of the Harpy Eagle. Gray also claimed that he had ‘always given him the same ready attention which it has been his constant study to bestow on every one who consults the collections, but that when Mr Blyth, as has frequently been the case, has attempted to engage him in conversation on subjects foreign to his professed object, and thereby waste his time and impede him in the execution of his official duties he had deemed it proper to repress such attempts’. Blyth was alleged also to be inconsiderate in his demands on Gray's time, demanding immediate assistance and interrupting the attention being paid to other visitors. Such actions, to museum people, are tantamount to capital offences.
  • Children , J.G. February 1838 . Minutes of meeting between Blyth and John George Children February , Monday 26 attached to Report of John George Children (note 9).
  • Children , J.G. February 1838 . Minutes of meeting between Blyth and John George Children February , Monday 26 attached to Report of John George Children (note 9).
  • Children , J.G. February 1838 . Minutes of meeting between Blyth and John George Children February , Monday 26 attached to Report of John George Children (note 9).
  • Children , J.G. February 1838 . Minutes of meeting between Blyth and John George Children February , Monday 26 attached to Report of John George Children (note 9). Given Blyth's wide acquaintance in the ornithological community at this time, and the fractious nature of the relations between the British Museum and scientists, it is impossible to speculate usefully about the identity of this person.
  • He was no stranger himself to controversy, as he had had the dubious honour of being the subject of one of the very rare blackballs of the Linnean Society, for botanical nomenclatural heresy Gunther A Century of Zoology at the British Museum through the Lives of two Keepers 1815–1914 London 1975 44 44
  • Gunther . 1975 . A Century of Zoology at the British Museum through the Lives of two Keepers 1815–1914 87 – 87 . London
  • Blyth . February . British Museum, Central Archives, Original Letters & Papers Vol. 18 , February , letter to the Trustees of the British Museum, 5 1838 January–May 1838
  • Report of John George Children, Department of Zoology to the Trustees of the British Museum
  • Report of John George Children, Department of Zoology to the Trustees of the British Museum
  • Report of John George Children, Department of Zoology to the Trustees of the British Museum
  • Rev. Forshall Josiah British Museum, Central Archives, Letter Book 1838 March 12 letter to Edward Blyth, 9 from 13 February to 16 July 1838
  • Blyth . February . British Museum, Central Archives, Original Letters & Papers Vol. 18 , February , letter to the Trustees of the British Museum, 5 1838 January–May 1838
  • Sharpe . 1906 . “ Birds ” . In The History of the Collections Contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum 85 – 85 . London 2 vols ‘My own experience, as a boy, [c. 1867] was that in the bird section at least, a student was an unwelcome visitor, and his appearance on the scene resented … I therefore took the precaution to write to Mr. G. R. Gray two or three days beforehand asking him to have the specimens ready for me to compare when I arrived, so that the time of both of us might be saved. These precautions were often useless: the visitor was informed on arrival that there was a Trustees' meeting to be prepared for, or some other function intervening, to prevent the Curator from attending to the visitor, who was then told to see what he could see through the glass in the gallery, the Curator arriving with the keys of the cases about half an hour later’. Bowdler-Sharpe was extremely disparaging of Gray's museum techniques but does say that ‘Gray was no worse than any other curator of his time’.
  • Gunther . 1975 . A Century of Zoology at the British Museum through the Lives of two Keepers 1815–1914 371 – 372 . London quoting Albert Gunther [his grandfather] in a letter to Alfred Newton, 6 January 1865 and Alfred Wallace, in a letter to Newton, 15 April 1875.
  • Letter from the illegibly signed Mr ? Tassell Report of John George Children, Department of Zoology to the Trustees of the British Museum ‘Mr Gray has desired me to state what I think of his conduct to me in the Museum …’.
  • Report of John Children, Department of Zoology to the Trustees of the British Museum
  • The Index to the Trustee Minutes (British Museum, June 1833–December 1847, C3612–7409) notes, under ‘Birds’, several transactions for these three men. Gould and Audabon of course had expensive books to try and sell—Gould avoided even expressing his opinion on Darwin's theories because he was afraid of losing subscribers—Alfred Newton, letter to Edward Newton, 25 April 1864, quoted in Tree Isabella The Ruling Passion of John Gould New York 1991 61 61
  • Gunther . 1975 . A Century of Zoology at the British Museum through the Lives of two Keepers 1815–1914 95 – 95 . London
  • Desmond , Adrian and Moore , James . 1992 . Darwin 227 – 227 . London
  • Tree . 1991 . The Ruling Passion of John Gould 61 – 61 . New York
  • Compare Edward Blyth letters to John Gould Natural History Museum (London) Library, Gould Letters
  • Barrett , P.H. , Gautrey , P.J. , Herbert , S. , Kohn , D. and Smith , S. , eds. 1987 . “ Darwin Notebook D ” . In Charles Darwin's notebooks, 1836–1844 30 – 30 . Cambridge 33, in 342
  • [Report of the] Ornithological Society of London Magazine of Zoology and Botany 1838 2 480 482 Also [Report of the] St James's Ornithological Society, Analyst, 5 (1837), 315.
  • Gunther . 1975 . A Century of Zoology at the British Museum through the Lives of two Keepers 1815–1914 78 – 78 . London
  • Gunther . 1975 . A Century of Zoology at the British Museum through the Lives of two Keepers 1815–1914 78 – 86 . London Adrian Desmond, The Politics of Evolution (Chicago, 1898), 145–50.
  • Desmond . 1989 . The Politics of Evolution 145 – 151 . Chicago
  • Desmond . 1989 . The Politics of Evolution 28 – 29 . Chicago
  • Gunther . 1975 . A Century of Zoology at the British Museum through the Lives of two Keepers 1815–1914 79 – 79 . London
  • Desmond . 1989 . The Politics of Evolution 146 – 149 . Chicago
  • Gunther . 1975 . A Century of Zoology at the British Museum through the Lives of two Keepers 1815–1914 79 – 79 . London
  • Desmond . 1898 . The Politics of Evolution 147 – 148 . Chicago
  • Gunther . 1975 . A Century of Zoology at the British Museum through the Lives of two Keepers 1815–1914 85 – 85 . London
  • Desmond . 1898 . The Politics of Evolution 147 – 147 . Chicago
  • Desmond . 1898 . The Politics of Evolution 150 – 150 . Chicago
  • Blyth . February . British Museum, Central Archives, Original Letters & Papers Vol. 18 , February , letter to the Trustees of the British Museum, 5 1838 January–May 1838
  • Gunther . 1975 . A Century of Zoology at the British Museum through the Lives of two Keepers 1815–1914 58 – 58 . London
  • Gunther . 1975 . A Century of Zoology at the British Museum through the Lives of two Keepers 1815–1914 58 – 59 . London
  • Blyth , Edward . August 1843 . letter to G. R. Gray August , 14 – 14 . Eg.2348 ff.169 and Blyth, letter to G. R. Gray, 20 October 1843, Eg.2348, ff.172, British Library, Manuscript Department.
  • Gray , John Edward . February 1868 . Cambridge University Library February , letter to Charles Darwin, 6 DAR 165:214
  • Blyth , Edward . February 1869 . Natural History Museum (London) Library February , letter to J. E. Gray, 19 Archives DF200/1 f.182
  • Darwin , Charles . May 1848 . “ letter to J. D. Hooker ” . In The Correspondence of Charles Darwin Edited by: Burkhardt and Smith . Vol. IV , May , 10 – 10 . Cambridge 8 vols 1985–93 138–42
  • Barrett , P.H. , Gautrey , P.J. , Herbert , S. , Kohn , D. and Smith , S. , eds. 1987 . “ Darwin Notebook D ” . In Charles Darwin's notebooks, 1836–1844 30 – 30 . Cambridge 33, in 342
  • Blyth is now unfortunately perhaps better known for the discredited theory put forth by Loren Eiseley and others which suggested that Darwin stole the theory of natural selection from three early and largely ignored papers by Blyth. For a summation of historical attitudes to, and assessments of, Blyth, see Brandon-Jones Christine Long gone and forgotten: reassessing the life and career of Edward Blyth, zoologist Archives of Natural History 1995 22 91 95 With the continuing publication of the Darwin/Blyth correspondence, the true nature of their professional relationship has become known, and Darwin's debt to Blyth has been revealed to be of a quite different order.
  • Desmond and Moore . 1992 . Darwin 563 – 563 . London
  • Gunther . 1975 . A Century of Zoology at the British Museum through the Lives of two Keepers 1815–1914 87 – 87 . London

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Order Reprints Request Corporate Permissions

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

Request Academic Permissions

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.

Related research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.