Edition of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin

查尔斯·达尔文的书信第一次提供了完整的、权威的文本，根据现代文本原则和实践编辑，所有现存的，查尔斯·达尔文写的和收到的信件。该项目于1974年开始，将出版30卷经编辑和注释的信件和答复。《通信》的第一卷于1985年出版，内容涵盖1821年至1836年，到2006年7月，已经出版了15卷，使该系列一直持续到1867年。在本赠款提案所涉期间计划进行的研究将是完成《通信》第16卷至第18卷（1868年至1870年）。此外，从1871年到1872年，将对第19卷和第20卷进行大量的研究和编辑。达尔文通信项目是由美国学术学会理事会和剑桥大学图书馆共同管理的。Frederick Burkhardt，创始主任，现任总编辑，在佛蒙特州Bennington监督该项目。编辑詹姆斯·西科德教授与四位研究和制作编辑、两位计算机助理和一位文书助理一起住在剑桥。一位研究编辑在康奈尔大学工作。就科学领域以及哲学、文化和社会思想之外的影响而言，几乎没有科学家能与查尔斯·达尔文相提并论。他关于新物种通过自然选择机制发展的开创性理论，对人类看待自己在自然界中的位置的方式产生了持久的影响，这种影响一直持续到今天。查尔斯·达尔文的《通信》是理解他作为核心人物的智力革命的主要来源。在他45年的职业生涯中，达尔文与通讯员交换了超过1.5万封信。这些信件揭示了达尔文与其他科学家和线人之间非同寻常的关系，这种关系构成了一个由19世纪大多数主要自然科学家组成的卓越的知识网络，这些信件加在一起，有力地证明了达尔文是多么严重地依赖通信来完成他的研究。在出版这些信件的两面时，该项目摆脱了科学史上“伟人”的传统（其他大型信件集通常只包括信件的一面），通过来自全球各地从事各种职业和学科的通讯员，揭示了19世纪社会更广泛的截面。更广泛的影响对于科学史、医学史、社会史、自然科学、哲学、社会学和文学领域的学生和学者来说，《通信》是宝贵的资源。该项目还致力于将达尔文和他的世界带入更密切的关注，以造福于教师、学童和公众。在网上展示资料的过程中，计划正探索不同的方式，让不同的兴趣群体可以看到相关的信件部分，同时也可以看到计划的各种展品和展示资料的图像。1868年至1872年是达尔文一生中最多产的几年，这段时间里，他的研究重点向人类进化方向发生了重大转变，最终出版了《人的起源与性别选择》（1871年）和《人与动物的情感表达》（1872年）。在1868年至1872年的五年间，超过400人（占达尔文通信总人数的五分之一）第一次与他通信。他的工作是在一个关于两性关系、种族理论、人类祖先和宗教信仰的争论的丰富背景下进行的。这些年来，关于达尔文在《驯化下的动植物变异》（1868）中提出的遗传理论的争论也开始了，他的信件显示出广泛的兴趣，特别是在欧洲科学从业者中，他对遗传传播的看法。该项目完全致力于以一种既持久又灵活的形式尽可能广泛地以电子方式传播信件和有关材料。达尔文通信在线数据库（http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk）包含所有信件的目录，其内容的简要描述，以及广泛的传记和书目材料。1500多封信件的完整文本已通过在线数据库免费提供。

IntroductionThe Correspondence of Charles Darwin is making available, for the first time, full, authoritative texts edited according to modern textual principles and practices, of all extant, letters written and received by Charles Darwin. Begun in 1974, the project will publish 30 volumes of edited and annotated letters and responses. The first volume of The Correspondence, covering the years 1821 to 1836, was published in 1985, and by July 2006, fifteen volumes had appeared, bringing the series up to 1867. The planned research to be carried out during the period covered by this grant proposal will be the completion of volumes 16 to 18, from 1868 to 1870, of the Correspondence. In addition, considerable research and editing will be accomplished on volumes 19 and 20, from 1871 to 1872. The Darwin Correspondence Project is jointly managed by the American Council of Learned Societies and Cambridge University Library. Frederick Burkhardt, the founding Director, now General Editor, oversees the project from Bennington, Vermont. Professor James Secord, the Editor, is based in Cambridge, along with the four research and production editors, two computer associates, and a clerical assistant. One research editor is based at Cornell University.Academic MeritFew, if any, scientists equal Charles Darwin in terms of their impact within science and beyond to philosophy, culture, and social thought. His groundbreaking theory of the development of new species through the mechanism of natural selection had enduring repercussions on the way in which human beings see their place in the natural world, repercussions that persist today. Charles Darwin's Correspondence is a prime source for understanding the intellectual revolution in which he was the central figure. Darwin exchanged more than 15,000 letters with correspondents over the 45 years of his active career. The letters reveal the extraordinary extent of Darwin's relationships with other scientists and informants, relationships that constitute a remarkable intellectual network of most of the leading natural scientists of the nineteenth century, and in the aggregate they give striking evidence of how heavily Darwin relied upon correspondence to get his research done. In publishing both sides of the correspondence, the project moves away from the "great man" tradition of scientific history (other large collections of letters often only include one side of the correspondence), to shed light on a much broader cross-section of nineteenth-century society, with correspondents engaged in a variety of occupations and disciplines writing from all parts of the globe.Broader ImpactThe Correspondence is an invaluable resource for students and scholars in history of science, history of medicine, social history, the natural sciences, philosophy, sociology, and literature. The Project is also committed to bringing Darwin and his world into closer focus for the benefit of teachers, schoolchildren, and the general public. In the presentation of material on the internet, the Project is exploring different ways to make relevant sections of the correspondence available to different interest groups, and also to make available images of the project's various exhibits and display materials. These years 1868-1872 were among the most productive in Darwin's life, and they involved a major shift in the focus of his research toward human evolution, culminating in Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871), and Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). More than 400 people, a fifth of Darwin's total number of correspondents, exchanged letters with him for the first time during the five years from 1868 to 1872. His work was undertaken within a rich context of debates about the relations of the sexes, racial theory, human ancestry, and religious belief. These years also saw the beginning of debates about the theory of heredity that Darwin presented in Variation of Plants and Animals under Domestication (1868), and his letters reveal a widespread interest, especially amongst European scientific practitioners, in his views on hereditary transmission. The Project is fully committed to the widest possible electronic dissemination of the letters and associated material, in a form that is both durable and flexible. The Darwin Correspondence Online Database (http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk) contains a catalogue of all letters, with brief descriptions of their contents, and extensive biographical and bibliographical material. Complete transcripts of more than 1,500 letters have been made freely available through the Online Database.