Pearson, Karl

Manuscript and typescript letters.

Folder 1 : 17 Nov 1893-30 Nov 1895

Concerning asymmetrial frequency curves; compound curves; asking Galton to be a guest lecturer to illustrate the laws of chance with examples from anthropology. Results on colour guessing. Concerning a paper on evolution. Analysis of skull measurements. Asking Galton for statistics for at least 1000 families so that he can work the coefficient of correlation in the matter of height. Note on thoroughbreds. Paper on "Family measurements" and recording card. Concerning Mr Collins and isogens.

Folder 2 : 2 Jan 1896-27 Dec 1896

Concerning "reproductive selection". Concerning coefficient of variation in fertility and in height, and about combining results. Comparable pigeon study. Not sure about greater variability of nurture. Concerning Weldon's work with crabs.

Folder 3 : 8 Jan 1897-30 Nov 1898

Concerning the members of a committee to undertake experiments of a definite statistical character. His quota of family data was nearly complete. Concerning Galton's work about heredity in horses. Reworked Galton's bassett hound paper but thinks he had got the "main principle at any rate to a first approximation of the whole theory of heredity". Inheritance of fertility paper. Concerning the term "reproductive selection". Printed letter to the electors of the Savilian Professorship of Geometry, Oxford.

Folder 4 : 4 Feb 1899-29 Dec 1900

Concerning Pearson's method which theoretically solves the problem of determining the coefficient of inheritance. Concerning eye colour. Concerning collateral heredity papers. Believes that the quantitative methods now show evolution. Concerning Miss Lee's degree. Concerning Galton's horse photography. New edition of Pearson's Grammar of Science. Concerning exclusive inheritance to reversion. Figures for coat colour of bassett hounds. Correlations between cousins.

Folder 5 : 10 Jan 1901-29 Dec 1901

Concerning Biometrika. Discussing different articles. Working out the relation between parental and fraternal correlation.

Folder 6 : 10 Jan 1902-27 Dec 1902

Discussion of skull measuring. Concerning Quakers. Concerns counting the plant celadines. Concerning Galton's paper for Biometrika. Bateson and report to the Evolution Committee. Concerning the Anthropometric statistical bureau in New York - wishes that Carnegie would establish a Biometric Institute in England with farm and botanic garden and statistical laboratory. Eight types of "normal" first cousins (16 Jul 1902). Concerning publication of Biometrika and photographs of the Naqada skulls sent to the blockmakers. Congratulations on receiving the Darwin medal. 200 ants from Petrie's settlement.

Folder 7 : 26 Feb 1903-25 Dec 1905

Working out Galton's correlation table (Mar 1903). Concerning his research options. Concerning correlation of fingerprints. Concerning study of English skulls and encloses a printed picture of one (5 Mar 1903). Discussing Beddoe's paper. Concerns being on the committee to establish a Research Fellowship in Eugenics (Oct 1904) and possible candidates. Discussing teh defective children data. Concerning Miss Elderton becoming the Eugenics secretary (Jun 1905) with blank sheet from "Register of Able Families". Asked Galton to get from the Government stud the colours of the offspring of all chestnut stallions crossed with chestnut mares. Postcard on mean and mean square methods and quartiles.

Folder 8 : 24 Jan 1906-2 Aug 1906

Concerning Pearson's wish to resign from the Fellowship of the Royal Society because it did not want him to write papers which mixed statistics and biology (occurred in 1903). He had not submitted any biometric papers since (Letter of 13 May 1906). Concerning a memorial fund for WFR Weldon with draft note about this. Concerning the dynamics between Huxley, Weldon and the Evolution Committee. Discussing Heron's work.

Folder 9 : 6 Aug 1906-22 Dec 1906

Concerning mice pedigree forms after Weldon. Concerning "fluctuating variations" and mutations. Concerning a biography of Weldon. Concerning work for Schuster - what can be done on eugenics apart from biometric methods. Draft scheme for the Eugenics Laboratory and who should work there. Galton added his comments in the margin.

Folder 10 : 5 Jan 1907-8 Jul 1907

Copy of The Malthusian, Jan 1907. Concerning the scheme of the Francis Galton Laboratory for the study of National Eugenics being approved. Concerning a mice pigment measurer design. Drawing up a pedigree of Darwins and Wedgewoods. Concerning Pearson's lecture at Cambridge on statistical methods. Miss Elderton's work on cousins was nearly complete. Concerning Galton's ogive curve. Draft flyer for Weldon's memorial prize.

Folder 11 : 3 Jul 1907-30 Dec 1907

Concerning Pearson's father's tumour. Concerning human eye colour. Concerning Pearson's homotyposis paper, sweet peas and cross fertilization. Concerning the Weldon Special Medal Fund and the Weldon Memorial Prize administered by the University of Oxford. Concerning fundamental equations of mendelism.

Folder 12 : 2 Jan 1908-24 Dec 1908

Carbon copy report on the work of the Francis Galton Laboratory for National Eugenics for 1907. Discussing alternate inheritance. Agreed with Galton about improving English and style, not so on use of scientific terms. Working of the propectus of Treasury of Heredity (later called Treasury of Human Inheritance). Concerning study of children with bad sight. Working out a longevity pedigree of the Galtons with enclosure. Updates on publications (5 Nov 1908); concerning the possibility of Miss Elderton leaving the Laboratory.

Folder 13 : 3 Jan 1909-18 May 1909

Concerning essay on small causes affecting population and passing of Factory Act. Inviting Galton to take the chair of the first Eugenics Lecture. Believes that he had found the presence or absence of internal pigment in the brain in mammals which will "explain why deaf-mutism, imbecility and albinism occur in the same stock" (7 Feb 1909). Concerning research on "feeble-minded children". Press cutting concerning Pearson's lecture on nature v nurture that qualities cannot be inherited (24 Feb 1909). Concerning the Elderton's publication. Concerning a deaf-mute pedigree case and Eugenics Review. Discussing training in statistics and paid positions. Concerning Galton's codicil. Concerning Miss Elderton's lectures and mentioning the first attempt to give a quantitative comparison of nature and nurture.

Folder 14 : 9 Jun 1909-9 Jan 1910

Concerning arrangements for the Eugenics Laboratory and Bateson's attacks. Review of Treasury of Human Inheritance. Discussing work load. Concerning the albino dogs and offering one to Galton. Discussing midparent deviation. Concerning the law of fertility. Concerning attacks by Dr Saleeby on the Eugenics Laboratory. Saleeby's letter to the editor of the Cambridge Review on alcohol and eugenics.

1893-1910

317 letters, 15 enclosures and 3 envelopes

The papers are available at UCL Special Collections and Archives subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.

A digitised copy is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics.

The original material is held at UCL Special Collections. This catalogue is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics.