Paper: Homing In: Alfred Russel Wallace’s Homes in Britain (1852 to 1913)

I have just made my illustrated article on Alfred Russel Wallace's homes in Britain available online.

This article--published in The Linnean, vol. 30, no. 2 (October 2014)--set out to fix with a greater degree of accuracy where and when he lived at each home. The intention is that this will act as the first stage of a larger study of how his choice of residence affected his thinking--if indeed it did.

Anybody who has an interest in a similar project with another individual or with Wallace, please do contact me. I would be very interested to hear what you have done or are doing.

Here is the introduction from the article:

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) lived a life filled with innovative, inspiring and idiosyncratic intellectual endeavour. Having independently codiscovered the theory of natural selection in 1858 with Charles Darwin, he also pioneered the study of animal distribution as the ‘father of biogeography’ as well as innumerable other achievements within the scientific and socio-political realms.

Forthcoming Book: "Dear Sir: Sixty-Nine Years of Alfred Russel Wallace Letters to the Editor" edited by Charles H. Smith and Kelsey Patterson

Leading Wallace scholar, Charles H. Smith of Western Kentucky University, is just finalising a new publication edited by himself along with Kelsey Patterson.

The book will include over 200 letters to the editor by Alfred Russel Wallace published between 1845 and his death in 1913.

Here is the abstract:

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), colleague of Charles Darwin, co-discoverer of the principle of natural selection, “father” of the field of evolutionary biogeography, vocal socialist and spiritualist, land reform theorist, intense social critic, etc., etc.,

Call for Proposals: "The Digital Nineteenth Century" series announced by Palgrave Pivot and NINES

PalgraveMacmillan has announced a new series on "The Digital Nineteenth Century" within their increasingly popular mini-book publication series: Palgrave Pivot.

Palgrave Pivot was launched in 2012 and the works are usually between 25,000 and 50,000 words in length. Ordinarily they are turned around--after a peer review process--in under 12 weeks.

2 Interesting Items on reading Marginalia (and a case study of Alfred Russel Wallace)

How do you react to marginalia? The gentle remarks, questions, or displays of disgust scribbled in the margins of innumerable books, articles and more across the world.

Recently, two things have come to my attention on the matter. First was a BBC Radio 4 programme presented by the poet, Simon Armitage, on 16 June 2014 on "Marginalia". Second, was the book by H. J. Jackson entitled Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books published in 2002.

I have spent a lot of time recently going through marginalia by Wallace in particular. For example, I was recently flicking through (once again) the notes Wallace made to his own Vaccination a Delusion text as well as his highlighting in various anti-vaccination works.

6 Expat academics talk of their experiences in globalised higher education job market

As I begin to approach the end of my PhD  I, like so many others, have to start thinking about jobs once again. As a result, you end up attending a huge number of sessions on post-PhD life.

Some are, of course, not very helpful other are very helpful indeed (for example, see my notes on the HistoryLab event on "Getting Grants, Getting Published and Staying Sane: Life After the PhD"). One of the things that is often mentioned is the internationalisation or globalisation of Higher education. However, in the most part, we don't get to hear experiences of this "from the horses mouth". Inevitably most who could offer advice are abroad and unlikely to think it worthwhile to travel to the UK to give a simple talk on their experiences.