Between Wallace’s Lines: a Self-Made Victorian Naturalist and Philosopher

Join the Natural History Institute for a Speaker Series talk by Yavapai College professor Dr. Jeb Bevers, who will share his research into the life and work of Victorian naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace spent a dozen years collecting and authoring his works on the natural history of the flora and fauna in the upper Amazon basin and across the Malay Archipelago, and is perhaps best known for independently developing a parallel theory to Charles Darwin’s natural selection.

Those these biological achievements are most famous, Wallace had a far wider range of influence on public thought and considerations than just science. He lived and worked in multiple cultures, which influenced his unique ethnological perspectives and views of differing political and economic systems. Throughout his 90 years, Wallace had a myriad of personal interests. He crusaded for greater public education, progressive social reforms, and conservation of forest reserves. He was also enamored with spiritualism, something that was all the rage in the 19th Century. At the time of his death, he was one of the best known and most well-respected scientists and philosophers in the western world. Learn why in this extensively-researched talk, informed by Dr. Bevers’ studies in Wallace’s personal library collections, now held at the Linnean Society of London and the Centre for Research Collections at the University of Edinburgh

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Jeb Bevers teaches biology courses and mentors undergraduate research at Yavapai College in Arizona. Professor Bevers’ doctoral research focused on the microevolution and recolonization of pikas (Ochotona princeps) on the volcanically impacted landscape of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. His master’s degree in biology from Portland State University focused on the biogeography of Tasmanian mammals. In 2011 Professor Bevers instructed a course in Ecology, Conservation, and Interactive Educational Outreach to grade schools in Asunción, Paraguay at the Universidad Católica under a Fulbright scholar grant. Current research areas include fossil surveys and a small museum collection from three Neogene terrestrial sites in Arizona and 19th Century biology and paleontology. His sabbatical activities in 2022 included research on Alfred Russel Wallace’s annotated book collection held at the Linnean Society of London and at the Centre for Research Collections at the University of Edinburgh.