FBI Recovers Stolen Charles Darwin Letter, Returns It To Smithsonian

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A letter written by Charles Darwin that was stolen from the Smithsonian more than 30 years ago has been recovered and returned by the FBI.

The Darwin letter was part of the George Perkins Merrill Papers, a collection of correspondence and documents relating to the history of North American geology.

In the letter, Charles Darwin wrote to American geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden to thank him for sending two geological field studies of the American West, including of the region that soon after became Yellowstone National Park.

It was stolen from the Smithsonian Archives in the mid 1970s, shortly after the Archives received the Merrill Papers.

The text of the letter reads as follows:

"May 2nd
Dear Sir,
I am much obliged to you for your kindness & for the honour which you have done me in sending your Geological Report of the Yellowstone River & your Preliminary Field Report on the Colorado & New Mexico. I had heard of your Geological researches on the Colorado & was anxious to see the conclusions at which you had arrived, & I am therefore especially obliged to you for having sent me your works.
With much respect & my best thanks, I remain,
Dear Sir,
yours faithfully
Charles Darwin"

"Thanks to a tip from a member of the public, and the hard work of FBI Special Agents and Smithsonian employees to track and authenticate the Charles Darwin letter, we were able to return this artifact to the care of the Smithsonian Archives," said Assistant Director Abbate.

"It's a privilege to return a piece of the history of science and exploration in the United States to the American people."

The FBI established a rapid deployment Art Crime Team in 2004. The team is composed of special agents from around the country, each responsible for addressing art and cultural property crime cases in an assigned geographic region.

Since its inception, the Art Crime Team has recovered more than 2,650 items valued at over $150 million.

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