Emma Darwin's Diary 1824-1896
Emma Darwin aged 31 in 1839. Watercolour by George Richmond. |
These small pocket diaries of Emma Darwin (1808-1896), the wife of Charles Darwin, are reproduced with the kind permission of their owner Richard Darwin Keynes. There are sixty diaries covering the years 1824, 1833-1835, 1839-1845 and 1848-1896, totalling 3,200 images.* Emma recorded many events such as visits and visitors, dinners, recipes, shopping lists and many notes on the health of her family including her husband. The books also contain drawings by her children. In 2019 all the diaries were transcribed by Christine Chua and are available below. Transcriptions of each diary are available alongside images of the original and a separate file contains all the diaries in one document with no page images. ( here ) • See an introduction by Janet Browne. |
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Emma Darwin's diary (complete text in one file): Text CUL-DAR242
The diaries year-by-year:
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1824] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.1]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1833] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.2]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1834] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.3]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1835] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.4]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1839] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.5]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1840] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.6]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1841] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.7]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1842] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.8]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1843] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.9]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1844] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.10]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1845] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.11]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1848] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.12]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1849] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.13]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1850] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.14]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1851] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.15]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1852] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.16]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1853] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.17]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1854] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.18]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1855] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.19]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1856] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.20]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1857] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.21]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1858] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.22]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1859] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.23]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1860] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.24]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1861] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.25]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1862] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.26]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1863] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.27]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1864] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.28]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1865] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.29]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1866] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.30]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1867] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.31]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1868] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.32]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1869] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.33]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1870] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.34]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1871] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.35]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1872] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.36]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1873] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.37]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1874] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.38]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1875] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.39]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1876] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.40]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1877] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.41]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1878] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.42]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1879] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.43]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1880] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.44]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1881] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.45]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1882] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.46]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1883] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.47]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1884] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.48]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1885] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.49]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1886] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.50]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1887] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.51]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1888] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.52]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1889] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.53]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1890] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.54]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1891] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.55]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1892] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.56]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1893] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.57]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1894] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.58]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1895] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.59]
[Emma Darwin's diary for: 1896] Text & images CUL-DAR242[.60]
For more on Emma Darwin see:
Litchfield, H. E. ed. 1915. Emma Darwin, A century of family letters, 1792-1896. London: John Murray.
Volume 1. Text Image
Volume 2. Text ImageLitchfield, H. E. ed. 1904. Emma Darwin, wife of Charles Darwin. A century of family letters. Cambridge: University Press printed. (This copy belonged to Henrietta Litchfield, Darwin's daughter. Kindly lent by Darwin's great-grandson Milo Keynes. This 1904 privately printed edition contains matter omitted from the 1915 published version.)
Volume 1. Image
Volume 2. ImageEmma Darwin's complete Recipe Book. Text & images CUL-DAR214.(0-157)
[Emma Darwin's memo about Darwin's religious doubts] (c. 2.1839) CUL-DAR210.8.14 Text & image
Darwin, Emma. 1882. [Reminiscences of Charles Darwin's last years.] CUL-DAR210.9 Text & image
Hundreds of other items on Emma Darwin can be found in Darwin's private papers on Darwin Online, here.
Compare with [Darwin's 'Journal' (1809-1881)].
John van Wyhe
* Blank pages, containing no written entries, were not microfilmed.