The complete work of Charles Darwin online

Project start date: 2005-05 Project end date: 2008-09
Darwin Online is by far the largest Darwin publication in history. It contains over 40,000 pages of searchable text and 130,000 electronic images. This site contains at least one exemplar of all known Darwin publications, reproduced to the highest scholarly standards, both as searchable text and electronic images of the originals. All of Darwin's unpublished manuscripts are being scanned, transcribed or both. All previously published manuscript transcriptions are included (except where reproduction permission could not be obtained). Overall the site provides a vast amount of material on and by Darwin never before seen on the internet or never reproduced before in any form.On the origin of species (1859) Darwin Online also provides the largest ever Darwin bibliography (building on the work of R. B. Freeman) and the largest catalogue of Darwin manuscripts and private papers ever published (based primarily on the Cambridge University Library catalogue by Nick Gill). There are also more than 300 supplementary items such as reviews of Darwin's books, obituaries and recollections, biographies, items cited by Darwin and important materials for studying Darwin's life and work.
Subject domains: 
Era(s): 
Methods usedCategory
2d Scanning and photographyData capture
Cataloguing and indexingData structuring and enhancement
CollatingData analysis
Content analysisData analysis
Content-based image retrievalData analysis
Sound generationData capture
DocumentationStrategy and project management
Image enhancementData structuring and enhancement
Searching and queryingData analysis
Server scriptingData publishing and dissemination
Security planningStrategy and project management
Text recognitionData capture
Interface designData publishing and dissemination
soundContent types
Funding sources: 
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Content types created: 
Dataset/structured data, Sound, Still Image/Graphics, Text
Source material used:  
Original publications and manuscripts or microfilms of manuscripts.
Digital resource created:  
The electronic texts are divided into four categories: • Books and Pamphlets Contains printed individual items written by or containing contributions by Darwin or works in a series to which he contributed or edited. Also included are works which printed manuscripts left unpublished by Darwin. Letters published in his lifetime and the major collections published by his family after his death are included here. Also included are modern published transcriptions of Darwin manuscripts. Those which have appeared in print are given a Freeman number. • Publications in Serials or Articles Contains papers, notes and letters by Darwin which were originally published in serials (periodicals) in Darwin's lifetime or shortly after his death. Translations or summaries in other languages or quotations from Darwin's works are only included when they were given a number by Freeman. All of Darwin's articles have been edited and annotated here for the first time. • Manuscripts Contains items left unpublished by Darwin or catalogued amongst his private papers in the Darwin Archive at the Cambridge University Library or elsewhere. Transcriptions for Darwin Online retain their manuscript number e.g. CUL-DAR158.1-76 • Supplementary Works Contains a wide range of supplementary publications not written by Darwin, including secondary reference works, contemporary reviews of Darwin's books, obituaries, posthumous recollections of Darwin, published descriptions of Darwin's Beagle specimens by other scientists and important related works for students studying the period or discussing Darwin or his life and work.
Access to digital resource:  
Open Access
Data Formats created: 
Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML), JPEG File Interchange Format (JPG), MySQL
Metadata standards employed: 
Dublin Core, qualified (DC)
Publications:  
John van Wyhe ed., The shorter publications of Charles Darwin (Cambridge University Press, 2009)

John van Wyhe ed., Charles Darwin's notebooks from the voyage of the Beagle. (Cambridge University Press, 2009, with Gordon Chancellor and Kees Rookmaaker).

John van Wyhe. The puzzle of life: Charles Darwin and evolution. (Carlton Publishing, 2009).

See also: http://darwin-online.org.uk/press.html

Institutions affiliated with this project: 

UK HE institutions involved:
University of Cambridge

Project staff and expertise: 

Principal staff member:Dr John van Wyhe
Other staff:Postdoctoral researcher(s) / Research assistant(s)
External expertise:


Metadata on this arts-humanities.net record
Author(s) of recordJohn van Wyhe
TitleThe complete work of Charles Darwin online
Record created2008-03-11
Record updated2010-06-11 11:17
URL of recordhttp://www.arts-humanities.net/node/2308
Citation of recordJohn van Wyhe: The complete work of Charles Darwin online.
<http://www.arts-humanities.net/node/2308>
created: 2008-03-11, last updated 2010-06-11 11:17