LETTERS penned by Erasmus Darwin which shed new light on his life and ideas are set to go on display in Lichfield.
The correspondence dates from 1794 to 1804 and covers topics including his ideas about the use of electricity in medicine and his views on female education.
They were snapped up at auction by Erasmus Darwin House thanks to funding from The Friends of the Nation’s Libraries and an anonymous donation.
Trustee Jenny Arthur, said:
“It is thrilling for the museum to acquire these letters and we can’t wait to make them available for viewing to the public.
“We have very little original Erasmus Darwin memorabilia in our collection so owning something written in his own hand is very exciting.
“These letters offer fascinating glimpses into Darwin’s great intellectual and scientific curiosity and also his respect for women’s opinions.
“We faced stiff bidding competition so we are immensely grateful to our funders for their support.”
The correspondence contains letters between members of the Darwin family, such as Erasmus, his son Robert and daughter Emma, to close friend William Strutt and his wife.
Strutt, a cotton spinner, engineer and inventor, was Darwin’s deputy in the Derby Philosophical Society.
The letters had been passed down through generations of the Strutt family before coming up for auction.
The items will go on display at Lichfield’s Erasmus Darwin House, a building that was once his home and is now a museum from 1st December.
