The D. Hall Darwin-Wallace Collection

The D. Hall Darwin-Wallace Collection

Most items in the collection are featured in the exhibition All Netted Together: Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, and the Social Life of a Theory opens a new window, at the University of Calgary's Nickle Galleries, October 16 to December 12, 2026.

In 2025, Dennis Hall, BSc'71, donated his collection of books and other materials by and related to the naturalists Charles Darwin (1812–1882) and Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), and other figures in the development of evolutionary biology, to the University of Calgary's Libraries and Cultural Resources. The collection comprises more than one hundred titles acquired by Mr. Hall over fifteen years, and it traces the emergence of evolutionary thought and the spread of the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Mr. Hall acquired first editions of works by Darwin and Wallace, and by other scientists including Thomas Henry Huxley, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Charles Lyell, Erasmus Darwin (Charles Darwin's grandfather), and Gregor Mendel.

Darwin

Charles Darwin became a leading figure in natural history after his five-year voyage on H.M.S. Beagle (1831–36). The voyage produced a series of publications, among them the widely read Journal of Researches (1839), better known as The Voyage of the Beagle; the multi-volume Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (1838–43), which he edited; and three volumes on geology covering coral reefs, volcanic islands, and South America (1842–46). These works established Darwin's credentials as a naturalist and laid the groundwork for On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871), which changed how we understand the natural world and humanity's place within it.

Wallace

Wallace is remembered as the co-discoverer, with Darwin, of the theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin had developed his theory earlier but had not published it. In June 1858, Wallace's essay arrived by post from the Malay Archipelago, and Darwin's and Wallace's papers were presented together at the Linnean Society that July. Darwin then completed and published his full argument in On the Origin of Species. The collection includes Wallace's Palm Trees of the Amazon and Their Uses (1853), A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro (1853), The Malay Archipelago (1869), Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection (1870) and Australasia (1879).

Collecting, provenance, and association

Mr. Hall sought out key scientific works in excellent condition, many with notable provenance (the history of a book's ownership) or association (a connection to the author or his circle). Included are presentation copies inscribed or signed by Darwin or Wallace. Bookplates (ex libris) and ownership signatures reveal who previously owned these books.

Ideas in circulation

Pamphlets and offprints show how ideas passed among scientists. The collection's offprint of Gregor Mendel's 1866 paper on plant hybridization carries pencil and ink annotations in his own hand. Darwin never took note of the paper, which became the foundation of genetics after its rediscovery around 1900.

A run of the first twenty-nine volumes of Nature (1869–1883) documents the rise of a leading scientific journal to which Darwin, Wallace, and their associates contributed.

The University of Calgary thanks Dennis Hall for his generous and transformative gift.

Access the Collection

All items are catalogued. University of Calgary students, staff, and faculty may request items directly through the library catalogue opens a new window.

Readers and researchers not affiliated with the University are welcome to contact Archives and Special Collections opens a new window to request items and arrange an appointment to view them at the Glenbow Western Research Centre opens a new window in the Taylor Family Digital Library.