- Personal items including:
- Darwin’s original magnifying glass serves as an iconic object that exemplifies the simple tools that Darwin used “to let Nature come to him.”
- Notebooks and letters charting the development of his thinking and the social climate within which he struggled to develop his theory.
- Actual specimens collected by Darwin—beetles, butterflies, moths, bugs, and various fossils.
- An antique display case filled with exceptional mounts of mammal, reptile, and bird skeletons collection illustrates the early 19th-century mindset about nature that Darwin encountered.
- Fossils and dramatic mounted specimens of the uniquely American modern animal groups Darwin saw, including sloths, rheas, and armadillos.
- An elaborate reconstruction of Darwin’s study at Down House, where he refined his theory of evolution and completed On the Origin of Species.
- Contemporary examples of modern evolutionary research, and a section addressing various controversies that have arisen surrounding the theory since its debut.
- ...and more fascinating features
Back: Life of Charles Darwin
Next: Research at the Museum
