Emma Darwin aged 31 in 1839. Watercolour by George Richmond. Portrait reproduced courtesy of the Darwin Heirlooms Trust.

These small pocket diaries of Emma Wedgwood Darwin (1808-1896), the wife of Charles Darwin, are reproduced with the kind permission of their owner Richard Darwin Keynes. These 3,200 images are scanned from the microfilms prepared by Cambridge University Library where the diaries are kept.* There are sixty diaries covering the years 1824, 1833-1835, 1839-1845 and 1848-1896.

In 2019 the handwritten entries in all the diaries were transcribed by Christine Chua and published in Darwin Online.

Emma recorded many events such as visits and visitors, dinners, recipes, shopping lists and many notes on the health of her family including her husband. The books also contain drawings by her children.

• See an introduction to Emma Darwin's diary by Janet Browne.