Pitt Rivers Museum interior

The Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum displaying the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford. The museum is located to the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and can only be accessed through that building. Download high resolution version (500x667, 79 KB)Pitt Rivers Museum. ... Download high resolution version (500x667, 79 KB)Pitt Rivers Museum. ... The Louvre Museum in Paris, one of the largest and most famous museums in the world. ... Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Initiation rite of the Yao people of Malawi Anthropology (from the Greek word , man or person) consists of the study of humanity (see genus Homo). ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxfords natural history specimens. ...

The museum was founded in 1884 by General Augustus Pitt Rivers, who donated his collection to the University of Oxford with the condition that a permanent lecturer in anthropology must be appointed. Museum staff are involved in anthropology teaching at the University even today. 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers (14th April, 1827– 4 May 1900) was an English army officer, ethnologist, and archaeologist. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... A lecture on linear algebra at the Helsinki University of Technology A lecture is an oral presentation intended to teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. ... Initiation rite of the Yao people of Malawi Anthropology (from the Greek word , man or person) consists of the study of humanity (see genus Homo). ...

The original donation consisted of approximately 20,000 items, which have now grown to 500,000 items, many of which have been donated by travellers, scholars and missionaries. A missionary is traditionally defined as a propagator of religion who works to convert those outside that community; someone who proselytizes. ...

The museum's collection is arranged thematically, according to how the objects were used, rather than according to their age or origin. This layout owes a lot to the theories of General Pitt Rivers himself, who intended for his collection to show progression in design and evolution in human culture from simple to complex. Since this concept is no longer accepted in anthropology, the displays are today intended to celebrate cultural diversity. Design, usually considered in the context of the applied arts, engineering, architecture, and other such creative endeavours, is used as both a noun and a verb. ... This article is about evolution in biology. ... Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... Diversity is the presence of a wide range of variation in the qualities or attributes under discussion. ...

The museum has an incredibly high density of objects on display, and the displays are regularly changed.

In 2004, the museum received £3,700,000 from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to build a research annexe adjoining the museum. Building work will be completed in 2007, bringing the academic staff of the museum back to the site, and providing a laboratory for conservation of the specimens. The annexe will not affect the Victorian displays of the museum. The Pitt Rivers Museum, along with the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, has won The Guardian Family Friendly Museum of 2005. 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) acts on behalf of the UK Government to distribute funding to Universities and Colleges of Higher and Further Education in England since 1992. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD (or CE) era. ... Michael Faraday, 19th century physicist and chemist, in his lab. ... An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been investigated using the discipline of archaeology. ... Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Ascension to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian Era of the United Kingdom marked the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ... The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ...

References

• Baumgarten, Lothar. Unsettled Objects. Edition of Guggenheim Magazine published in conjunction with the exhibition AMERICA Invention. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1993. (Contains photographic documention of the Pitt Rivers' collection and essays on ethnographic collecting)
• Chapman, William Ryan. “Arranging Ethnology: A. H. L. F. Pitt Rivers and the Typological Tradition.” In Objects and Others: Essays on Museums and Material Culture. Edited by George W. Stocking, Jr. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
• Cranstone, B.A.L. and Steven Seidenberg. The General’s Gift: A Celebration of the Pitt Rivers Museum Centenary, 1884–1984. Oxford: JASO, 1984.

The front of the Guggenheim Museum from 5th Avenue This article refers to the Guggenheim Museum in the upper east side of Manhattan (New York). ...

External links

• Pitt Rivers Museum website