Full helpers description
Sir Francis Galton -- Data and notes on twin studies
University College London Special Collections
Overview
As part of Sir Francis Galton's studies into heredity, he sent a circular to people who had twins in their families asking about how the twins had developed in life, and also for details of other family members. This collection contains the letters he received in response to this circular, and his notes about them. If you know that there were twins in your family in the mid 1800s then you may be able to find quite in depth contextualising detail about the twins themselves, and some genealogical detail about their close relatives.
Detailed usage description
Sir Francis Galton was a pioneer researcher into the role that heredity plays in human development and society. He was a pioneer in twin studies (which still take place today). He sent a circular to people who had twins in their families asking about how the twins had developed in life. The questions asked were:
- Names of the twins,
- How alike they were 'in body and mind',
- If they were alike, what anecdotes are there that illustrate their likeness,
- Up to what age were they educated together,
- When did their closeness begin to diminish,
- To what extent was their dissimilarity due to external influences?
There were also several questions about the twins' close relatives. There is a table of data submitted by a Charles Ansell of the National Life Assurance Society which contains a small amount of data (name, address, birthdate) about some 160 twins.
If there were twins in your family in the mid 1800s (Galton seemed particularly interested in families with several occurences of twins) then this collection may contain very detailed contextualising information about the lives of the twins. Many of Galton's correspondents went into considerable depth giving anecdotes about the twins.
How to tell if the collection is useful
This collection is not indexed by name, and working through all the notebooks is the only real way you will find out if there is detail about a relative in this collection. Therefore for this collection to be of any value to you, you obviously should have evidence that there were twins in your family in the mid 1800s and you should really have some evidence beforehand that a relative was involved in the study.
You may email a query to the , stating the name of the twins and why you believe that they took part in the Galton's work. You will need to view the collection in person.
If you plan to email the archivist with a query we suggest that you read our tutorial on how to do this most effectively.
Access arrangements
Access to UCL Special Collections is open to all, but you need to book an appointment. Details on how to do so are on the UCL Special Collections website.
More Information
The catalogue number is Galton 122. There is a collection level description on AIM25 and the collection is also described on the UCL Special Collections website.
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Abstracting information
| Usage | Themes | Geographic area covered | Size of collection | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Britain |
The collection contains letters about 150 pairs of twins, and the data from the National Life Assurance Society about 160 twins. |
1874 -- 1875 |