Pitt Rivers museum: so many drawers, so little time
We were back in Oxford at the weekend for the wedding of some friends, and decided to visit one of our favourite indoor Oxford attractions again: The University of Oxford Natural History Museum, within which—-nestling like… something that nestles—-sits the Pitt Rivers museum. The Natural History Museum is in itself a beautiful building, with a glass roof and soaring painted steel roof beams. As is the way of many Victorian buildings, form and function are melded in a lovely way, from the steel flowers between the beams, to the columns in the gallery which are each made out of a different rock type found in the UK. So even the fabric of the building is educational. I spent some time wandering around and looking at the skeletons of dinosaurs, stuffed animals in glass cases and beautiful collections of shells, but my real goal was the Pitt Rivers museum in the dim back section of the building.
The Pitt Rivers is an anthropological and ethnographical collection of artefacts, many of which were collected by the founder, General Pitt Rivers. The museum is kept deliberately dim1 to protect the delicate artefacts, but that just serves to make it more mysterious and exciting. Instead of grouping objects by geographical region, collections of similar objects from around the world are kept together. Pitt Rivers had a surprisingly modern outlook on culture, and was interested was in the way that similar ideas tend crop up in different places around the world. At a time when many people in the West were obsessed with the so-called ‘primitive ways’ and odd customs of tribal groups, that must have been unusual. There is, for example, a whole (large) cabinet devoted to bull-roarers (shaped, sound-making pieces of wood tied to a length of twisted rope or string), from many different countries. It seems a truth universally acknowledged that a human in possession of a brain must be in want of an object to whirl around their head, with which to make a roaring sound.
Another lovely feature of the museum is the drawers. Most of the cabinets have many drawers underneath them, each containing yet more artefacts. You’re allowed to open the drawers to look, and you really never quite know what you’re going to find. You can spend hours just opening drawer after drawer of weird stuff, and wondering at the variety and strangeness of human culture. Most objects still have their original, neatly hand-written labels, which are often the only indication you have of the identity or purpose of the object. I loved the label on this baboon skull, which was supposed to be used for controlling the movements of baboons by a secret society set up for that purpose (the label is clearer on the large version if you click through). Well, someone has to, I suppose, otherwise there would be baboons all over the place. I also really liked a love charm figure “made from putty and rosebuds” from Devon in the UK. I think we’ve all been made into putty and rosebuds by a love affair at some time or another.
You can’t talk about Pitt Rivers without mentioning the shrunken heads. If you’re ever in the museum and can’t find them, just follow the sound of kids squealing in a disgusted/delighted fashion. Kids love ‘em, along with the human skulls with horns attached or sharp sticks poked through the eye sockets. In fact, the museum is great for children. The staff are very friendly towards kids, and the air of mystery and discovery (plus the weird shrunken heads, of course) is some kind of treasure trove for them. As I left, one of the curators was asking a couple of little girls whether they would like to follow some clues to find six wooden mice hidden around the museum, and they were practically exploding with excitement at the prospect.
1 Which is why my photographs are so rubbish. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. â
1
This is definitely one of Oxford's more interesting places. I like your photos.
The night event that the Pitt Rivers held on Friday was great fun. I have some photos from it here. Also, a few general photos from this fascinating place.
by Milan @ 22/05/2006 5:06 pm • Permalink •
2
ah yes the shruken heads. I committed a triple-whammy of oxford faux pas. I went to the Ashmolean before I took my finals and failed to visit the Pitt Rivers or go on a bus tour.
On the plus side there was sunshine and a beautiful quad.
by chris @ 22/05/2006 8:06 pm • Permalink •
3
nestling likeâ¦
A parasitic wasp in a caterpillar?
by Aaron F. @ 23/05/2006 1:05 am • Permalink •
4
The only art homework I ever enjoyed (being an appalling artist) was when we were told to take a sketchbook and go to the Pitt Rivers Museum. Living in Oxford really has its benefits.
by Matthew @ 23/05/2006 6:06 am • Permalink •
5
When I was a kid I would on occasion get together with a friend and make a museum in a garage or carport with skulls and fossils and what not, then we would charge admission. It didn´t pay my college tuition. I still love museums but my weakness is for the old victorian Natural history - ehnological ones. I am basically just a dillitante and enjoy the atmosphere of mystery and discovery . I have a hard time with the squeaky clean super pedagogical museums, although I know in my heart that they are truly advancing knowledge. By the way the case with a hairball, a pair of dentures and a battered wristwatch in the crocodile exhibition in the Kuching, Sarawak natural history museum is almost as good as shrunken heads. Cuts way back on your need to go swimming.
by john(jc.) @ 23/05/2006 8:06 am • Permalink •
6
Thanks for this I am planning an archaeology tour in the summer (Flag Fen, Avebury, Stonehenge, etc.) I think I will have a stop in Oxford and have a look at the Pitt-Rivers museum. If you like the kind of museum with a bit of everything in it, and are ever in Whitby I recommend a visit to the museum there http://www.durain.demon.co.uk it has loads of stuff including a 'hand of glory'.
by Keith @ 23/05/2006 10:05 am • Permalink •
7
The people with lighting up eyes in the photo are jawa's from starwars, surely!
MacMini's Rule!
by Kevin McAleer @ 20/06/2006 12:06 pm • Permalink •
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