Comprises:
Biographical and personal:
Biographical and personal:
- Autobiographical and bibliographical
- Diaries and jotters
- School and university
- Personal correspondence and material
- Family correspondence and material
- Photographs and press-cuttings
John Innes Horticultural Institution:
- Darlington's career at John Innes, 1923-1940
- General administration and organisation, 1930-1953
- Later correspondence and papers, 1954-1980
- Minutes and reports
- Lectures and summer courses
Oxford:
- Darlington's career at Oxford
- Botany Department
- Lectures and teaching
- General administration
- Botanic and Genetic Gardens
- Nuneham Courtenay Arboretum
- Oxford reform
- Magdalen College
- Oxford colleges and societies
- Historical miscellany
Research:
- Correspondence with individuals
- Shorter unindexed correspondence
- 'Lustige Blätter'
- References and appointments
Dates
- 1879-1981
Extent
247 boxes
Language of Materials
- English
Preferred Citation
Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MSS. Darlington b. 1].
Please see our help page for further guidance on citing archives and manuscripts.
Full range of shelfmarks:
MSS. Darlington b. 1-3, c. 1-118, d. 1-24, e. 1-21, f. 1-36, g. 1-45
Collection ID (for staff)
CMD ID 6781
Biographical / Historical
Cyril Dean Darlington, cytogeneticist and evolutionist, was born on 19 December 1903 in Chorley, Lancashire. When he was eight, his family moved to London, where he attended Mercers' School. In 1917 he won a foundation scholarship at St. Paul's School.
Intending to become a farmer in Australia, Darlington attended South Eastern Agricultural College at Wye. He graduated with a B.Sc. in 1923. He applied for an Empire Cotton Corporation scholarship, but was unsuccessful. He accepted a position as a volunteer unpaid worker at the John Innes Horticultural Institution (JIHI). This position became permanent (and paid) in 1924. He was appointed cytologist in 1928, became head of the cytology department in 1937, and from 1939 he also served as as Director of the JIHI. He was elected FRS in 1941, and received the royal medal in 1946. In 1947 he founded Heredity with geneticist R.A. Fisher. He led the exposure of Soviet atrocities against geneticists led by Trofim Lysenko.
In 1953 Darlington left the JIHI to accept the Sherardian Chair of Botany at Oxford University, and became a keeper of the Oxford Botanic Garden. He created the Genetic Garden, and played an active role in the acquisition of the Nuneham Courtenay Arboretum. He retired from the Sherardian Chair in 1971, but remained at the university writing and publishing. He died in Oxford in 1981.
Darlington's numerous publications include: Recent Advances in Cytology (1932), Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants (1945), The Facts of Life (1953), Genetics and Man (1964), The Evolution of Man and Society (1969), and The Little Universe of Man (1978).
Intending to become a farmer in Australia, Darlington attended South Eastern Agricultural College at Wye. He graduated with a B.Sc. in 1923. He applied for an Empire Cotton Corporation scholarship, but was unsuccessful. He accepted a position as a volunteer unpaid worker at the John Innes Horticultural Institution (JIHI). This position became permanent (and paid) in 1924. He was appointed cytologist in 1928, became head of the cytology department in 1937, and from 1939 he also served as as Director of the JIHI. He was elected FRS in 1941, and received the royal medal in 1946. In 1947 he founded Heredity with geneticist R.A. Fisher. He led the exposure of Soviet atrocities against geneticists led by Trofim Lysenko.
In 1953 Darlington left the JIHI to accept the Sherardian Chair of Botany at Oxford University, and became a keeper of the Oxford Botanic Garden. He created the Genetic Garden, and played an active role in the acquisition of the Nuneham Courtenay Arboretum. He retired from the Sherardian Chair in 1971, but remained at the university writing and publishing. He died in Oxford in 1981.
Darlington's numerous publications include: Recent Advances in Cytology (1932), Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants (1945), The Facts of Life (1953), Genetics and Man (1964), The Evolution of Man and Society (1969), and The Little Universe of Man (1978).
Other Finding Aids
A fuller description and detailed index are available in the Library.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The material was assembled at various dates between August 1981 and March 1985, from Darlington's room at the Department of Botany, Oxford, and his home at South Hinksey, Oxford, through the courtesy of his widow, Mrs. Gwendolen Darlington, and of Professor P.D.A. Harvey, his stepson and literary executor.
- Title
- Correspondence and papers of Cyril Dean Darlington, FRS
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Lawrence Mielniczuk
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository
Contact:
Weston Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG United Kingdom
specialcollections.enquiries@bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Weston Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG United Kingdom
specialcollections.enquiries@bodleian.ox.ac.uk