Students
The student activities below will able you to practice a range of skills. These skills are outlined in each activity. To get the most out of these activities please read the notes for students before you begin.
Finding out facts and figures
Use a letter about Wallace’s dramatic shipwreck to start off your research skills by finding key facts.
Life as a Victorian collector and naturalist
Extract information to gain insight into Wallace’s occupation.
Developing new scientific theories
Use Wallace’s letters to understand how his ideas developed.
Wallace’s attitude to Charles Darwin
In recent years there has been controversy about whether Darwin or Wallace came up with the idea of natural selection first and what their professional relationship was like. Use Wallace’s own letters to discover for yourself.
Evaluating the reliability of sources
Newspaper reports are not always accurate. Use a press cutting about Wallace to spot the journalist’s mistakes.
A life full of variety
Wallace was not only a naturalist. He was interested in social issues and was also a prominent spiritualist. Use these letters are a starting point to gaining an insight into some lesser known, but interesting, aspects of Wallace’s life.
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