Previously known only to a few scholars familiar with the additional
holdings of the Darwin Archive at Cambridge University Library, the
diaries of Emma Darwin (1808-1896), the wife of Charles Darwin, are now
freely available on Darwin Online (http://darwin-online.org.uk). They
are reproduced courtesy of their owner Richard Darwin Keyens, Darwin's
great-grandson.
The small pocket diaries occupy over 3,200 online images. There are
sixty years of diaries in total, between the years 1824-1896. There is
also an introduction to the diaries by Janet Browne.
The diaries provide a wonderful historical resource, not only for Darwin
scholars but also as a social document of prosperous middle-class life
in the Victorian era. They can be used to look up the whereabouts and
activities of the Darwin family over the course of many years. Emma
recorded events such as visits and visitors, shopping notes, dinners,
and the health of her family including her husband Charles. Some
emotional events, such as the tragic death of her daughter Annie on 23
April 1851, are noted touchingly briefly. Emma noted simply '12
o'clock', the time of her 10-year-old daughter's death.
See the page itself:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=CUL-DAR242[.15]&viewtype=image&pageseq=18
John van Wyhe
--
Dr John van Wyhe
Director
The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online
University of Cambridge
CRASSH, 17 Mill Lane, Cambridge, CB2 1RX
http://darwin-online.org.uk/
Fax: 01223 (7)65276
Bye-Fellow Christ's College, Cambridge
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