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Edward Drinker Cope papers
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Held at: Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections [Contact Us]370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
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Edward Drinker Cope (1840-1897) was the son of Alfred and Hannah (Edge) Cope. He attended Westtown School and the University of Pennsylvania. Cope was a professor at Haverford College from 1864 to 1867. He devoted his later years primarily to exploration and travelling throughout the Western United States to identify fossils of reptiles, fish, and mammals. Cope was a subscriber to the Lamarckian theory of evolution, holding that individuals pass acquired traits to their offspring; although incorrect, the view was widespread among paleontologists at the time. Cope presents views on the human race that would today be recognized as racist.
Cope's feud with Othniel Charles Marsh, a professor at Yale University, and their race to identify dinosaur skeletons led to the discovery of many new dinosaur species but also damaged their reputations; this has been referred to as the "Bone Wars." Over the course of his career, Cope discovered and described over 1,000 species of fossil vertebrates and published over 1,000 articles and books.
In addition to his fieldwork, Cope held curatorial posts at the National Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. From 1889 to 1897, he taught geology at the University of Pennsylvania.
This collection includes letters, notebooks, notes, and sketches related to Edward Drinker Cope's work in paleontology and related natural sciences. The collection includes sketches of birds, reptiles, and amphibians, some colored. There are letters on various scientific subjects from Alexander Agassiz, Louis Agassiz, Alexander Graham Bell, Pliny Earle Chase, Havelock Ellis, Benjamin Apthorp Gould, Arnold Henry Guyot, Joseph Henry, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Thomas Henry Huxley, Maria Mitchell, Sir Richard Owen, Robert Edwin Peary, Herbert Spencer, and others. Several notebooks include classification schemes and observations from research trips and experiments, as well as miscellaneous notes on birds, trees, and plants.
The collection is arranged by type of material.
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- Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections
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The collection is open to research use.
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Standard Federal Copyright Law apply (U.S. Title 17).
Collection Inventory
Notebook inscribed "Edward D. Cope" on cover, "Observations in plantas atque animalia consuetudinesque, MDCCCLVIII" [1858], with some sketches
2 Diaries -Pocket diary "Excelsior Diary for 1884" -Pocket notebook "Excelsior diary for 1893"
-2 photographs of amphibians labeled from O.C. Marsh, Oct. 1, 1868 [Othniel Charles Marsh, 1831-1899] -Colored drawing of frogs labeled [S. or T.] H. Richardson -Pencil sketch of snake head -Pencil sketch of frog -2 [plates from a book?] of xray photographs of snake and fish -Ink sketch of skull -Colored drawings of frogs -3 notes (in French) with description of snakes and ink drawings, labeled "[A] Duges" 1892 -Colored drawing of goldenhooded flycatcher -Colored drawing of fish -Colored drawings of frogs -1 sheet "Development of the Cod, by John A. Ryder" -Colored drawings of fish ("Ichthaeluris McCaskei" and "I. Kevinskei") labeled "J. Stauffer. 1870" (image 59k)k)
Additions to papers [Gift of Ernest and Ruth Dewees, Nov. 1971] includes: -Photocopies of EDC's notebook "Swainson's classification of birds with a few alterations..." -Article from The Haverfordian, May 1940, vol. LIX, no. 2, entitled "Edward Drinker Cope (1840-1897)" -Notebook of classification scheme -Letter May, 23, 1862 from J. Thomas -Misc. botanical notes (lists of plant names) -Notes on birds (lists of names) -Notes on trees (lists of names) -Misc. notes on plants and animals (1848 and undated) -2 essays (schoolwork?)
Letters are from the following: -Braithwaite, J. Bevan (1818-1905) ALS, [Aug.] 16, 1889 -Carus, Julius Victor (1823-1903) 2 ALS, 1878-1879 -Chase, Pliny E. (1820-1886) ALS, [March] 29, 1883 -Darling, W. Boyd ALS, [May] 22, 1891 -Dumeril, A. August ALS, Dec. 29, 1858 (in French, addressed to Dr. Hallowell, Phila.) -Darwin, Francis ALS, Dec. 19, 1882 (asks to see and make copies of any letters from his father, Charles Darwin) -Dean, Bashford (1867-1928) ALS, Jan. 7, 1892 -Gaudry, Albert (1827-1908) 3 ALS, 1878-1879 (in French) -Haeckel, Ernst (1834-1919) ALS, [April 12], 1894 -Henry, Joseph (1797-1878) 2 ALS, 1869-1870 -Herrera, A.L. ALS, Dec. 2, 1893 (accompanied by pencil sketch of skull) -LeConte, Joseph (1823-1901) ALS, Sept. 1, 1894 -Mitsukuri, K. ALS, March 21, 1893 -Newton, Alfred (1829-1907) ALS, Nov. 15, 1893 -Poulton, E.B. ALS, Feb. 14, 1894 -Remsen, Ira (1846-1927) ALS, March 28, 1889 -Romanes, G.J. (1848-1894) ALS, Jan. 4, 1890 -Smith, Daniel B. (1792-1883) ALS, [July] 6, 1871 -Stuart, Edwin S. ALS, April 26, 1894
A parody with notes from Henry J. Cadbury
Agassiz, Alexander (1835-1910) 5 ALS 1884-1896 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass.
Agassiz, Louis (1807-1873) 4 letters 1867-1869 Topics: fossils, evolution, etc. Letter of Louis Agassiz, Cambridge, Feb. 5, 1869, to Edward Drinker Cope. Letter discusses Cope's article "Origin of Genera" and evolution
Bell, Alexander Graham (1847-1922) Letter May 5, 1888 Topics: hereditary deafness in humans
Ellis, Havelock (1859-1939) 2 Letters Oct. 4 and Dec. 2, 1893 Topics: publication of EDC's "Lamarkism, the factors of evolution."[?] in the Contemporary Science Series
Gould, Benjamin A. (1824-1896) Letter Cambridge, March 30, 1896 addressed to Prof. Wm. H. Collins Topics: observations of double stars
Guyot, Arnold Henry (1807-1884) 2 letters Princeton, N.J., 1875 and 1878
Holmes, Oliver Wendell (1809-1894) Letter Boston, Nov. 26, 1889 Topics: thanks EDC for a copy of "Outline of the philosophy of evolution"
Huxley, Thomas H. (1825-1895) Letter London, Feb. 2[], 1867 Topics: sends EDC copy of his paper "Euskel[esauum]"
McCosh, James (1811-1894) Letter Princeton, N.J., Dec. 17, 1878
Mitchell, Maria (1818-1889) Letter Poughkeepsie, Nov. 7, 1881
Owen, Richard (1804-1892) 6 letters 1873-1887 Topics: fossils
Peary, Robert E. (1856-1920) Letter Phila., Oct. 8, 1892 Topics: article for the Naturalist
Pepper, William (1843-1898) 2 letters [Phila.?], Sept. 29, 1889 and undated Topics: collection of EDC
Rhoads, James E. (1828-1895) 2 letters Bryn Mawr, 1885 and 1886 Topics: awarding of honorary degree to EDC from Heidelburg University
Seeley, Harry G. 4 letters 1871-1884 Topics: -Fossils -Bigsby gold medal awarded to EDC from Geological Society of London -EDC's trip to England -Regrets that he can't come to America
Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903) Letter London, March 8, 1893 Topics: Spencer's article "The inadequacy of natural selection"