Anniversaries and Epsilon announcement
Anniversaries – 210th and 10th
Today, 9th February 2025, is, for a variety of reasons, a significant date for the Ellen Hutchins Festival. It is the 210th anniversary of Ellen Hutchins’ death and the 10th anniversary of the announcement of an Ellen Hutchins Festival in 2015.
Correspondence completed
Today also marks completion of a major project undertaken by the festival – the transcription of the correspondence between Ellen Hutchins and Dawson Turner. Transcriptions of the whole of the seven and half years of correspondence, 120 letters, is available on the website for the first time. See https://ellenhutchins.com/ellens-letters/
An announcement
To balance the announcement of the first festival, ten years ago today, we can announce the agreement in principle for Ellen’s letters to be hosted on the online platform, Epsilon, established to explore 19th century scientific correspondence and already hosting Darwin’s correspondence. See https://epsilon.ac.uk
Epsilon is ‘recreating the complex web of correspondence networks that sustained scientific development in the long 19th century’.
Agreement has been given in principle by Epsilon and by the holders of the letters – Trinity College Cambridge Library and the Library and Archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. In addition, the Herbarium at Trinity College Dublin has agreed to the handful of letters from Ellen to James Townsend Mackay being included and Kew Gardens has six letters from Mackay to Ellen, so those will be there too.
There is a considerable amount of work to be done in preparing the meta data in the correct format and checking out copyright issues, but we are hopeful that this will all be achieved within 2025.
Cross hatching and faded ink
The featured image shows one of Ellen’s letters to Dawson Turner, held in the Library at Trinity College Cambridge. The faded ink and Ellen’s habit of over-writing or cross hatching made some of the transcription work a considerable challenge. We are delighted to have finished this work and to be able to share the correspondence widely.
Ellen Hutchins Festival 2025
The 10th anniversary festival will run from Saturday 16th to Sunday 24th August 2025 in the Bantry area of West Cork, Ireland. See Ellen Hutchins Festival page.