The only picture we have of the contents of Farnham Museum in the time of Pitt-Rivers are from the catalogue held by Cambridge University Library and in the account by Pitt-Rivers in his talk to the Society of the Arts in 1891. Here is an overview of the museum as given by these sources (and Dudley-Buxton in 1929).

Room 1 Farnham Museum -

Described by Pitt-Rivers in 1891 as 'No. 1 Room, 20 feet by 13, contains pottery, costumes, personal ornaments, now in use by peasants in Germany, France, Spain, and other nations'. Dudley-Buxton describes it in 1929 as being the entrance showing peasant costumes.

From the catalogue: A total of 466 objects. 169 (over one third) of all the objects are ornaments, the remainder are snuff-accessories, toilet articles, hats, clothing, pottery, glass and metal vessels, weapons, knives, walking sticks, an oil painting, bags and purses, pipes, tools, dolls. Three-quarters of the entire display were from Europe (mostly from his trips to Germany and Austria), the remainder of items were from Africa (the next largest representation) then Asian and Americas. There were no objects from Oceania or Australia.

Room 2 Farnham Museum -

Described by Pitt-Rivers as 'The 2nd room, 19 feet by 14, contains carvings by Brittany peasants, chiefly of the 17th century; French pottery in present use, and village implements of various kinds'. Described by Dudley-Buxton as 'Collection of Peasant Furniture from Brittany'.

From the catalogue: A total of 82 objects. 94 per cent of the display was from Europe, but only 10 per cent (8 objects) were from Brittany. Others were from Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic (from holidays Pitt-Rivers took in these areas). The items were mostly household utensils, clothing and ornaments, tools and weapons. They included an oil painting.

Room 3 Farnham Museum -

Described by Pitt-Rivers as 'The 3rd room, 18 feet by 13, is devoted to a series of tools, household utensils, cooking appliances, &c., of different periods'. By 1929 this room was now the library.

From the catalogue: A total of 257 objects. As described above, most of the objects seem to be tools and household utensils. The vast majority of these objects were from Europe (81 per cent) with none from the Americas and a small amount from Africa, Asia, and Oceania/ Australia

Room 4 Farnham Museum -

Described by Pitt-Rivers as 'The 4th Room, 24 feet by 14, has an additional series of country tools, and here commences a general series,  illustrating the history of pottery ...', it also contained enamels and glassware. Dudley-Buxton thought the most interesting thing about this room was its display of locks and keys.

From the catalogue: A total of 666 objects. Around a quarter of all the items in this room were locks and keys of various kinds, but over two-thirds (67 per cent) were items made from pottery. So far as the catalogue was concerned only 4 glass items were displayed in this room, and no enamel items were recorded. Around one sixth of the items were from Asia, but the vast majority were from Europe (three-quarters). There were a few items from the remaining continents except Oceania / Australia.

Room 5 Farnham Museum -

According to Pitt-Rivers this room continued the general series,  illustrating the history of pottery, and is also described by Pitt-Rivers as containing models of excavations, items from his excavations, and 95 models of ancient monuments. This was unchanged in 1929.

From the catalogue: A total of 325 objects. 90 per cent of the objects in this room were made from pottery. The remaining items were a few archaeological items found locally, a piece of variegated sandstone from the Czech Republic, Roman objects from Germany. All but 6 items came from Europe (98 per cent).

Room 6 Farnham Museum -

Continues the general series,  illustrating the history of pottery, and is also described by Pitt-Rivers as containing models of excavations, items from his excavations, and 95 models of ancient monuments. it is also described by Pitt-Rivers as 'The 6th room, 62 feet by 19 1/2, contains also a general series of implements of the palaeolithic, neolithic, and bronze periods, iron age, Roman, Egyptian, and mediaeval periods'. This is described by Dudley-Buxton in 1929 as showing 'pottery collections ...'

From the catalogue: A total of 6674 objects. 12 per cent were made of pottery, but 38 per cent were tools (mostly archaeological stone tools). The remainder were a miscellaneous selection of weapons, tools and metallurgy specimens etc. Again, most objects came from Europe (around 71 per cent), with only a handful from Oceania and around 10 per cent from Africa and Asia and 5 per cent from the Americas.

Room 7 Farnham Museum

Was not described by Pitt-Rivers in 1891 as it was being built at the time. It was described by Dudley-Buxton as showing 'The arts and crafts of modern and ancient peoples'.

From the catalogue: A total of 4142 objects. It is a very eclectic selection of objects including figures, toys and games, weapons, tools and household goods. This room is the first to have significant collections from Oceania and Australia (around 21 per cent), approximately the same size as the European and Asian collection. There are very few objects from the Americas, but the most significant collection was from Africa, over a third of the total number of objects in the room.

Room 8 Farnham Museum

Described by Pitt-Rivers as 'The 8th Room, 85 feet by 18, is devoted to agricultural implements and appliances, and contains spades and agricultural tools of all kinds ...' Dudley-Buxton calls this 'The Agricultural Room'

From the catalogue: A total of 456 objects. Just under a quarter are catalogued as being related to agriculture, just under half are tools. The rest are a miscellaneous selection of weapons, furniture, hunting and fishing related material, punishment devices and animal gear. Just over 60 per cent of the objects were from Europe with a very few from Oceania and Australia, and around 10 per cent from Africa, the Americas and Asia.

Room 9 Farnham Museum

Not described by Pitt-Rivers, Dudley-Buxton describes it as containing 'specimens of the ceremonial objects, weapons, &c., of modern savage tribes'

From the catalogue: A total of 3732 objects.A very miscellaneous selection of different types of objects. Despite its billing by Dudley-Buxton, at least in Pitt-Rivers' time it contained a large number of European objects (nearly 50 per cent of the total). The Americas, Asia, Oceania and Australia were the next largest at around 15 per cent each, with only 5 per cent coming from Africa.

There are also two other locations in Farnham Museum listed in the CUL catalogue:

Front hall and Office.

Only one object is listed for the front hall, a model of an Auvergne bagpiper [Add.9455vol3_p850 /7](this may be because it was actually Room 1 which Dudley-Buxton described in 1929 as the entrance). 36 objects were listed as being located in the office, a very random selection. In most instances the office is described as being 'Room 7 office'.

Bibliography for this article

Dudley-Buxton, L.H. 1929. The Pitt Rivers Museum, Farnham: General Handbook, Farnham: Farnham Museum.

Pitt-Rivers, A.H.L.F. 1891. 'Typological Museums, as exemplified by the Pitt-Rivers Museum at Oxford, and his provincial museum at Farnham, Dorset', Journal of the Society of Arts, Dec 18, 1891 pp. 115-122

AP, August 2010