Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

A small museum behind the Natural History Museum in Oxford.  Originally a collection of 20,000 archaeological artifacts, but is now home to over 300,000 objects.

The collection is shown behind glass cases arranged very close to each other, spread over 3 floors.  The ground floor looks very impressive by the quantity.  It is impossible to see everything in one day. 

The idea of showing a huge selection of the material is so people don't rely on just a few pieces the museum have chosen to display.  There is more to see and learn from, the visitors learn to recognise similarities and differences between objects at different times.

The museum has a very sufficient catalogue system for the artifacts.  As there as so many it keeps a track of the items and also helps with its history.  The public can access this catalogue on the Pitt Rivers Website.

The Museum is dark and some of the objects are very small, so magnifying gasses and torches are provided for the public to use to admire the collection in greater detail.  The idea of giving people a torch and magnifying glass os actually quite exciting, it allows yourself to explore what u want and not be told what to look at, which is the intension.  I like this kind of interaction even though physical touch is not being permitted, it still feels like you are getting really close to the objects.

The displays are arranged by function and type unlike the usual culture, country, date.  The labeling is very important for the museum, many of the old labels are still used.

Upstairs, some draws can be opened which contain more artifacts.  It is quite fun reading all the different labels and discovering what is in the draw, although i didn't see many people opening the draws when i was there.  It felt as if people did not know it could be done and when i was opening the draws, i think some people thought i wasn't suppose to do it.

In 2009 new display cases, entrance and stairs were designed to improve the place.  Although when i went there recently i had not been for 8 years and the ground floor display seemed exactly the same to me.  I did a project on the masks on display and the mask i chose to use for my design was still there in what i seem to remember is the same place.  It felt quite strange, but that system for the museum obviously works well.  It is always busy especially with families.