"A letter has arrived!" Arrangement and description of the correspondence of Rudolph Amandus Philippi (1852-1904) (EAP1688)

The Rudolph Amandus Philippi fond (1851-1904) are documents held by the Dirección Museológica Archive. This collection contains records of the private and public life of Rudolph Amandus Philippi, the main naturalist and scientist of the 19th century in Chile. Among these documents are his correspondence, letters both received and sent. In total, Philippi had more than 1,000 letters with about 200 people and institutions for over 50 years. The letters' contents are key to understanding aspects of Philippi's daily life and his scientific work, as well as how a natural science collection was created in Chile. As an academic at the University of Chile and director of the Museum of Natural History, Philippi had relationship with other institutions and scientists in Chile and the world (including the British Library, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Marianne North, Ignacio Domeyko and President Montt). Currently, the correspondence is not organised, described or published. For that reason, this project proposes for the first time a complete arrangement and description of this documentation.