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Statue from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the British Museum, Moia Hoa Haka Nana’ia (or Stolen Friend)

Statue from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the British Museum

The statue from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the British Museum is a beautiful, captivating object. It is a “moai”. Its name is Hoa Hakananai’a (loosely translated to “Stolen Friend”, sometimes spelled Hoa Haka Nanai’a). […]

Portraits of Charles Darwin and Emma Darwin. 1840. By George Richmond

Darwin in London – Commemorative Plaques and Family Baptism Records

During research concerning Charles and Emma Darwin’s life at number 12 Upper Gower Street, Bloomsbury, London, I identified several errors and vagaries in biographical material found in standard reference works. This note communicates corrections and […]

Highlights

New Evidence on Dobzhansky 1936 “Jesup” lectures

Who says nothing exciting ever happens in historical research? This letter reports on a recent important find regarding the population geneticist, Theodosius Dobzhansky, and his famous 1937 book, Genetics and the Origin of Species. Most historians […]

Professor Cross's Phrenological Chart, 1892

Phrenology Consultation with Professor Cross

Professor W. Cross was a phrenologist who gave popular public performances at London’s Royal Aquarium in the 1880s and 1890s. Phrenology was the quack medical practice of studying bumps on the head under the false pretence of […]

Cumberland Clark. 1929. Shakespeare and Science. ISBN 978-1-906267-39-1.

Shakespeare and Science: Biology, Physics, Chemistry and More from the Bard | EGP

Cumberland Clarke’s Shakespeare and Science is a monumental compilation of the William Shakespeare’s many references to natural and celestial phenomena, including a careful study of the Bard’s interest in, and dramatic use of, natural phenomena. […]

New Yorker cartoon showing a museum guide instructing a visitor in the Sanford Hall of Birds, American Museum of Natural History, at the opening of the "Biology of Birds" exhibition.

Ernst Mayr and the Biology of Birds Exhibit at AMNH

When Ernst Mayr arrived in New York in 1931, he carried considerable intellectual baggage.

Evolution - A Journal of Nature - sample covers

Pro-Evolution Magazine “Evolution: A Journal of Nature,” 1927-1938

This page provides information about this pro-evolution magazine, otherwise lost, from the 1920s and 1930s. It was devoted to promoting the teaching of evolution in US public schools. It was titled, Evolution: A Journal of […]

Giraffe in Natural history Museum, Dublin, 2004

George Carpenter’s 1894 Essay on Collections to Illustrate Evolution and Geographical Distribution of Animals

George H. Carpenter. 1895. “On Collections to Illustrate the Evolution and Geographical Distribution of Animals,” pp. 106-142, with transcript of discussion at meeting, pp. 142-144, in E. Howarth and H. M. Platnauer (eds.). 1895. Museums […]

“Mibiri Creek, Demerara River | Mr Edmonstone’s Wood Cutting Establishment” from Thomas Staunton St. Clair, A Residence in the West Indies and America (London, 1834), vol. 2, facing p. 187.

John Edmonstone: References from Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin made reference to many people in his writings. Most were correspondents who sent him pieces of useful information. Others were writers whose work he used, promoted, or criticised. In his 1871 book, Descent […]

Crystal Palace 1851 interior (British)

Science of the Great Exhibition, by Robert Hunt (1851)

London in 1851 was site of the Great Exhibition. Formally, it was titled, “The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations“. The press focused attention on the giant glass house containing the […]

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