Carl Linnaeus' correspondence

In the Alvin database you can find letters to and from Carl Linnaeus with detailed descriptions and in many cases even digital copies. The original letters can be found at different institutions spread across the globe.

Linnaeus received approximately 3,000 letters from Europe, America, Asia and Africa. All in all, he had just over 600 correspondents. The letters came from fellow naturalists, but also from disciples who were sent on expeditions all over the world. Most of the letters to Linnaeus can be found today at the Linnean Society of London. Along with the approximately 2,000 letters from Linnaeus himself that have been preserved and are now spread across various collections at libraries and archives, this is a valuable source for anyone wanting to study natural sciences and the scientific culture of the eighteenth century.

Digitised letters thanks to the Linnaean Correspondence Project

Thanks to the Linnaean Correspondence Project, many of the original letters have been digitised and are available in the Alvin database. You can also find a selection of letters there that have already been published in various printed editions and translations. For each letter in the Linnaean Correspondence there are detailed English summaries with links to biographical and bibliographic databases. As most of the letters are written in either Latin or Swedish, the summaries and all the surrounding texts are written in English.

Search the Linnean Correspondence

All records by the project Linnaean Correspondence in Alvin state that Uppsala University Library is the archiving institution, even though a large number of these letters are kept at other institutions. In the accompanying record for each letter, under the headline "Notes" and subheading "Original location", you can view which institution holds the original (or copy, if no original exists).

About the Linnean Correspondence Project

The Linnaean Correspondence Project aimed to publish all known letters to and from Carl Linnaeus in digital form. A similar project had been launched 100 years earlier in printed form, Bref och Skrifvelser af och till Carl von Linné, but the publication ceased after ten volumes due to lack of funds.

The project launched in 1995 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences was managed for a period by the Swedish Linnean Society, until the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences took over its management once again and ran the project until late 2019. Although the project is formally complete, more information is still being added to the Linnaean Correspondence records in Alvin.

The Linnaean Correspondence publication is funded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala University Library and The Linnean Society of London.