Yale University Library Research Guides: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Library Resources at Yale: Special Collections Materials in Yale Libraries

Special Collections Materials in Yale Libraries

Special collections at Yale are housed in many locations. Most collections relevant to botany will be held at the Medical Historical Library or at the Beinecke. Historical information about the university and scientists may be in Manuscripts and Archives.

Please let us know if you would like to integrate special collections teaching into a course by reaching out to us at marx.reference@yale.edu. We have many items in our historical collections that may enrich coursework for science students.

What follows is a list of some samplings from the collection.

Animal Ecology, Charles S. Elton, 1927
Considered one of the first textbooks on the subject. For a time, Elton was an assistant to Julian Huxley (grandson of Thomas Huxley), studying animal life while on an Oxford University expedition in 1921.
G. Evelyn Hutchinson Papers
This collection features correspondence, notes and research materials, and photos related to the work of G. Evelyn Hutchinson as a zoologist and limnologist.
A manual of the botany of the northern United States : including Virginia, Kentucky, and all east of the Mississippi : arranged according to the natural system, 1867
Useful for descriptions, occurrences, some drawings, or some notes on names, the Manual of Botany came out in 8 editions. Five editions of this work were published during Gray's life.
The natural history and antiquities of Selborne, in the county of Southampton: with engravings, and an appendix, Gilbert White, 1789
Gilbert White, a naturalist, ecologist, and ornithologist, was a major influence on Charles Darwin. He is widely regarded as England's first ecologist. He observed living animals in heir own habitats rather than studying dead specimens.
A naturalist's calendar, with observations in various branches of natural history : extracted from the papers of the late Rev. Gilbert White, Gilbert White, 1795
Gilbert White, a naturalist, ecologist, and ornithologist, was a major influence on Charles Darwin. This collection of observations was published two years after his 1793 death, and it complements his well-known work The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne.
On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or The preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life, 1859.
Copies in Medical Historical and the Beinecke. Copy 1 from the Beinecke is inscribed to J.D. Dana from the author.
Systema Naturae, 1735, Carolus Linnaeus.
Linnaeus' key work, Systema Naturae, is a foundational historical text for natural history, covering animals, plants, and minerals. Its 10th edition no longer treated minerals.
Works of Alexander von Humboldt
We have numerous works from Alexander von Humboldt, a German scientist who studied topics that would become ecology and biogeography. Some of his works are in French, and others are in German.

Special Collections Online

Environmental Science and History
This Wiley Digital Archive surfaces archival collections. There are data-heavy collections on deforestation, agriculture, ecology, botany, and biodiversity, among others. Kew Gardens, UK National Archives, Commonwealth Forestry Initiative, CAB International, and the Ecological Society of America are represented.
Electronic Enlightenment
Electronic Enlightenment offers access to the correspondence between Enlightenment scholars and their families, friends, bankers, booksellers, patrons, and publishers. Coverage includes letters and documents, manuscripts and early printed editions, scholarly annotations, and links to biographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers, and other online resources from the early 17th to the mid-19th century.

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Library Resources at Yale: Special Collections Materials in Yale Libraries

Special Collections Materials in Yale Libraries

Special Collections Online

Search Archives at Yale

Site Navigation

Yale's Libraries