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The Return of the Geneticist: Theodosius Dobzhansky, Edward Chapin, and Museum Taxonomy

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Abstract

In Fall 1939, as war engulfed Europe, the author of one of the most influential texts on genetics and evolution, Theodosius Dobzhansky, wrote a letter to curator of insects at the United States National Museum, Edward Albert Chapin. Dobzhansky wished to know what Chapin thought about his pursuing some taxonomic work on an old fascination of his: lady-bird beetles. This paper examines the resulting correspondence as a window into Dobzhansky’s attitude toward taxonomy, the different pressures on geneticists and taxonomists when wrestling with how to name species, the relation between biological theory and taxonomic practice, and how claims regarding human races may have motivated Dobzhansky’s continued interest in the work of beetle taxonomists. In doing so, this article builds on the work of Paul Farber and others to highlight the importance of including museums, taxonomy, and the naturalist tradition within the history of twentieth-century biology.

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Notes

  1. This was also the position of botanist and geneticist Edgar Anderson. See Kleinman 2013, 2016.

  2. For examples of adaptation, see Hagen 1984, 1999; Johnson 2012; Strasser 2010; Sunderland 2013, 2016.

  3. Now the National Museum of Natural History.

  4. Dobzhansky to Chapin, November 8, 1939. Record Unit 140, Correspondence, 1909–1963, United States National Museum Division of Insects, Box 16, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, DC (hereafter: SIA). https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_216739.

  5. Dobzhansky to Chapin, November 8, 1939. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  6. Chapin to Dobzhansky, November 20, 1939. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  7. Dobzhansky to Chapin, December 7, 1939. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  8. Dobzhansky to Chapin, January 20, 1940. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  9. Dobzhansky to Chapin, February 20, 1940. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  10. Chapin to Dobzhansky, November 19, 1941. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  11. Chapin to Dobzhansky, January 26, 1942. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  12. Dobzhansky to Chapin, March 27, 1942. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  13. Dobzhansky to Chapin, March 27, 1942. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  14. C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker, 13 June [1850], Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1339,” accessed on 11 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1339.xml. Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 4.

  15. Hubbell to Mayr, November 29, 1946. Ernst Mayr Papers, General Correspondence, 1952–1987, Box 4, Folder 151, HUGFP 74.7, Harvard University Archives (hereafter: HUA). Courtesy of the Harvard University Archives. https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/3412641.

  16. Hubbell to Mayr, February 17, 1954. Ernst Mayr Papers, General Correspondence, 1952-1987, Box 2, Folder 536, HUGFP 74.7, HUA.

  17. Elwood Zimmerman to Mayr, Feb 21, 1961. Ernst Mayr Papers, General Correspondence, 1952–1987, Box 8, Folder 769, HUGFP 74.7, HUA.

  18. See, for example, the debate carried out in the 1954, 1955, and 1956 issues of Systematic Zoology.

  19. William Schaus to A.J.T. Janse, (undated) 1928. William Schaus Papers, 1917–1939, Record Unit 7100, Box 5, SIA. https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217258.

  20. Schaus to M. Draudt, July 18, 1928. Record Unit 7100, Box 3, SIA.

  21. Dobzhansky to Chapin, January 6, 1940. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  22. Dobzhansky to Chapin, January 6, 1940. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  23. Dobzhansky to Chapin, January 20, 1940. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  24. Dobzhansky to Chapin, November 11, 1941. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  25. Dobzhansky to Chapin, February 20, 1940. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  26. Chapin to Dobzhansky, March 6, 1940. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  27. Dobzhansky to Chapin, November 11, 1941. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  28. Dobzhansky to Chapin, November 11, 1941. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  29. Dobzhansky to Chapin, September 30, 1945. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

  30. Chapin to Dobzhansky, December 17, 1945. Record Unit 140, Box 16, SIA.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Pamela M. Henson of the Smithsonian and the archivists of the cited institutions for their help in locating sources, and to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. This paper is dedicated to Paul Lawrence Farber.

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    Kristin Johnson

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Johnson, K. The Return of the Geneticist: Theodosius Dobzhansky, Edward Chapin, and Museum Taxonomy. J Hist Biol 55, 443–463 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-022-09694-5

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