Articles

This section of the website contains links to short articles on a variety of themes relating to Pitt-Rivers' life and collections written by the research team and associated researchers. Transcriptions of published and unpublished writings by Pitt-Rivers can be found in the 'Primary Documents' section.

A. GENERAL ARTICLES RELATING TO PITT-RIVERS' LIFE

1. Pitt-Rivers himself
1.1 Short Biography of Pitt-Rivers; 1.2 Portraits of Pitt-Rivers in the Pitt Rivers Museum's collections; 1.3 Portraits of Pitt-Rivers elsewhere; 1.4 Pitt-Rivers' travels; 1.5 Lane Fox and a railway accident?; 1.6 Did Pitt-Rivers have a sense of humour? 1.7 Pitt-Rivers in Canada

2. Family and friends
2.1 What's in a name? Lane Fox, Pitt Rivers or Pitt-Rivers; 2.2 Alice Pitt-Rivers; 2.3 Pitt-Rivers and Alice Pitt-Rivers according to the Stanleys; 2.4 Pitt-Rivers' hospitality; 2.5 Status and Pitt-Rivers; 2.6 The Stanley family's ethnographic collection; 2.7 Pitt-Rivers' family relationships: information from Agnes Grove, Pitt-Rivers' youngest daughter; 2.7 Children of Pitt-Rivers: 2.7.1 St George Fox-Pitt; 2.7.2 Alice A.L. Fox-Pitt, later Lubbock; 2.7.3 Agnes Fox-Pitt, later Grove; 2.8 Michael Pitt-Rivers' 'Cultural general'.

3. Homes and Living Arrangements
3.1 Pitt-Rivers' Homes Summary, and Detail; 3.2 Uplands, Guildford - Lane Fox's home in the 1870s; 3.3 Pitt-Rivers' Library 3.4 Photographs of Pitt-Rivers' homes

4. Career
4.1 Pitt-Rivers' military career; 4.2 Pitt-Rivers' membership of Clubs and Societies; 4.3 Inspector of Ancient Monuments.

5. Art
5.1 Pitt-Rivers' views on art; 5.2 Influences upon Pitt-Rivers artistic development and Pitt-Rivers' artistic interests; 5.3 Pitt-Rivers and the Aesthetic Movement; 5.4 Pitt-Rivers' Art Collections; 5.5 Artwork produced for Pitt-Rivers other than the catalogue of the second collection; 5.6 The Drawing Game; 5.7 Pitt-Rivers, drawing and the origins and development of art; 5.8 Pitt-Rivers' instructions in Notes and Queries (1874, 1892) on 'Drawing and Sculpture' and 'Ornamentation'; 5.9 The possible influence of the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition, 1857; 5.10 Account of the Museum of Ornamental Art: Oriental Museum, Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition 1857.

6. Other Interests
6.1 Pitt-Rivers' political views;  6.2 Pitt-Rivers and Spiritualism;  6.3 Pitt-Rivers and Sport; 6.4 Pitt-Rivers and the menagerie

7. Pitt-Rivers over time
7.1 Lane Fox and the 1850s; 7.2 Lane Fox and the 1860s; 7.3 Lane Fox and the 1870s; 7.4 Pitt-Rivers and the 1880s; 7.5 Pitt-Rivers and the 1890s; 7.6 1862: A year of interest for Lane Fox?; 7.7  1872: Lane Fox's first peak year?

8 Death of Pitt-Rivers
8.1 The death of Pitt-Rivers; 8.2 Pitt-Rivers' obituaries; 8.3 Pitt-Rivers' will; 8.4 Scott versus Pitt-Rivers 1900-1901; 8.5 'A memoir of General Pitt-Rivers'; 8.5 Pitt-Rivers' memorial

B. MUSEUMS THEORY AND PRACTICE, COLLECTIONS, PEERS, SOCIETIES, RESEARCH, OBJECT SERIES, LECTURES.

1. Museums
1.1 The ideal arrangement of Museums according to Pitt-Rivers; 1.2 What was a museum's purpose?; 1.3 Contemporary documentation of museum collections; Find out more about founding collection documentation; Find out more about the second collection's documentation: Find out about documentation of the British Museum's collections by A.W. Franks around 1876 1.4 Museums' opening hours; 1.5 Public attendance at Pitt-Rivers' museums; 1.6 Compare and Contrast: Two Pitt-Rivers Museums; 1.7 The British Museum and Pitt-Rivers, exchanges and donations; 1.8 Lane Fox and Ogam stones, in the British Museum.

2. Collections and collecting
2.1 Pitt-Rivers on collecting; 2.2 Sources of Pitt-Rivers' collections Appendix 1 Information about individual dealers and auctioneers Appendix 2 Buying from auction houses; 2.3 Fakes, forgeries and reproductions; 2.4 East Asian objects in the Pitt-Rivers collections; 2.5 Pitt-Rivers' collections: the South American content; 2.6 Made in Japan: Japanese artefacts owned by Pitt-Rivers; 2.7 Pitt-Rivers and his contributions to Notes and Queries 1874 and 1892; 2.8 Locks and Keys; 2.9 Items donated by Pitt-Rivers to other collectors and collections; 2.10 Pitt-Rivers' Cesnola and Cesnola-Lawrence collections: 2.10.1 All the Cesnola sales from which Pitt-Rivers is known to have purchased artefacts 1871-1892 2.10.2 Cesnola-Lawrence collection sales in June 1883, May 1884, March 1888 and April 1892 2.10.3 Subsequent history of some of the Pitt-Rivers Cesnola collection from the second collection; 2.11 Pitt-Rivers acquisition of photographs, a case study

3. Peers
3.1 Friends and colleagues: Pitt-Rivers, John Evans, A.W. Franks and John Lubbock; 3.2 Pitt-Rivers and Henry Wentworth Acland; 3.3 Pitt-Rivers and Henry Balfour; 3.4 Pitt-Rivers and William Blackmore; 3.5 Pitt-Rivers and Greville Chester; 3.6 Pitt-Rivers and M.D. Conway; 3.7 Pitt-Rivers and John Lubbock; 3.8 Pitt-Rivers and Henry Nottidge Moseley; 3.9 Pitt-Rivers and John Linton Myres; 3.10 Pitt-Rivers and Flinders Petrie; 3.11 Pitt-Rivers and George Rolleston; 3.12 Pitt-Rivers and Walter Baldwin Spencer; 3.13 Pitt-Rivers and Edward Burnett Tylor; 3.14 Pitt-Rivers and Thomas Hardy; 3.15 Pitt-Rivers and Rolleston in Scandinavia 1879 3.16 Pitt-Rivers and Herbert Toms 3.17 Harold St George Gray.

4. Learned Societies
4.1 Pitt-Rivers and learned societies, an introduction; 4.2 Pitt-Rivers and the Folklore Society; 4.3 Pitt-Rivers and the Ethnographic Survey of the UK; 4.4 Lane Fox and the Royal United Services Institution; 4.5 Exhibiting objects at learned society meetings; 4.6 Pitt-Rivers' plates and lecture aides; 4.7 Drafting talks and papers, an example; 4.8 Pitt-Rivers and Notes and Queries and his contributions; 4.9 Pitt-Rivers and the Anthropological Institute museum.

5. Research
5.1 Typology and Pitt-Rivers; 5.2 Pitt-Rivers and evolution; 5.3 Pitt-Rivers, ethnology and anthropology 5.4 Pitt-Rivers and Egypt; 5.5 Pitt-Rivers and his contributions to Notes and Queries; 5.6 Pitt-Rivers and technology;  5.7 Pitt-Rivers and boomerangs; 5.8 Pitt-Rivers and boomerang technology; 5.9 Pitt-Rivers and shield technology; 5.10 Balfour and Pitt-Rivers' study of weapons; 5.11 John Evans' and Pitt-Rivers' use of 'degradation' of coins; 5.12 Pitt-Rivers and fieldwork; 5.13 Pitt-Rivers and history

6. Archaeology
6.1 Pitt-Rivers' archaeology, an introduction; 6.2 Research on Pitt-Rivers' own archaeological excavations from the Excavating Pitt-Rivers research project: Yorkshire 1 & Yorkshire 2; Surrey 1, Surrey 2, & Surrey 3; Isle of Thanet; Kent 1 & Kent 2; Mt Caburn 1 & Mt Caburn 2; Cissbury 1 & Cissbury 2; London 1, London 2, Acton 6.3 Pitt-Rivers' archaeological methodology in Cranborne Chase; 6.4 1885 Tour of Scotland as Inspector of Ancient Monuments; 6.5 The dispute over Pen Pits; 6.7 The General's Caravan; 6.8 Pitt-Rivers and stone tool technology;
This website has other articles about Pitt-Rivers' archaeology under various headings, but in addition you should go to Excavating Pitt-Rivers [2012-13] research project blogpost for further information about a project (and its findings) about his own excavations and the Pitt Rivers Museum collections from those excavations

7. Scientific series
7.1.1 Introduction to Pitt-Rivers' many Series of objects; 7.1.2  Comparing London and Oxford series' displays of the founding collection 7.2 Founding Collection Scientific Series: 7.2.1 Weapons and physical anthropology series in 1874 Catalogue: a Physical Anthropology, Shields, Armour; b Boomerangs, Picks, Bows etc; c Clubs & Paddles; d Staves, spears, spuds, harpoons; e Ogee-section blades, axes etc, blow-pipes, morning stars etc, slings and stones and knives, daggers and swords 7.2.2 Other Series listed in the 'Black Book' (held at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, thought to be created by 1885): a Introduction to the Black Book; b Firearms; c Music; d Human Skulls; e Clothing; f Shoes; g Fans; h Personal Ornaments; i Modes of Navigation; j Fishing and Hunting; k Combs (and Mirrors); l Games; m Spoons and Vessels; n Pillows; o Bells; p Pipes; q Horse Furniture; r Owners' Marks and Writing. 7.2.3 Other Series listed in the 'Blue Book' (held at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, thought to be created by 1885): a Introduction to the Blue Book; b Pottery; c Idols and objects connected with religion; d Ornamentation Geometrical patterns; e Coil Patterns; f Patterns consisting of animal and vegetable forms; g Representative Art; h Masks; i Hafted stone and other implements; j Red numbers: Bone Objects (ancient) and Tools. 7.2.4 "Animal form conventionalised in Ornamentation" series; 6.2.6 Firearms series, partially explained in 1889-1890 by Pitt-Rivers. 7.3 Second collection, Farnham Museum Scientific Series: 7.3.1 A new series for Farnham Pitt-Rivers Museum?; 7.3.2 The form of the Christian cross, another Farnham Museum series; 7.3.3 'Series' in the Pitt Rivers Museum in the 1920s.

8 Lecture transcriptions
8.1 Whitechapel Foundation School 1875; 8.2 Uses and Arrangements of Museums 1889-90; 8.3 Other lectures.

C. PITT RIVERS MUSEUM FOUNDING COLLECTION 1850-1884

Founding collection, introduction

1. Displays at Bethnal Green 1874-1878, South Kensington 1878-1884, and Oxford [1884 and on]:
1.1 Displays at Bethnal Green Museum 1874-1878; 1.2 Displays at South Kensington Museum 1878-1884; 1.3 Chronology for South Kensington Museum and associated institutions; 1.4 Pitt-Rivers' accounts of the founding collection displays before 1884; 1.5 Nature's account of the South Kensington Museum displays in 1880; 1.6 Conway's account of South Kensington Museum in 1882; 1.7 Transferring the founding collection to Oxford 1.8 Anthropological Landscaping: ...Pitt Rivers, the Ashmolean, the University Museum and the shaping of an Oxford discipline; 1.9 The Pitt-Rivers collection at Oxford; 1.10 An account of the Pitt Rivers Museum displays in 1887 1.11 An account of the Pitt-Rivers displays at Oxford in 1888; 1.12 Tylor's account of the new Oxford displays of the founding collection 1891; 1.13 Pitt-Rivers' account of the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1891; 1.14 Opening of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

2. Objects from the founding collection:
2.1 Objects in the Bethnal Green Museum: the number game; 2.2 Degeneration and transformation: paddles from the Pacific: 2.2.1 Part I and 2.2.2 Part II; 2.3 Cost of objects in the founding collection; 2.4 Biographies for objects from the founding collection; 2.5 Industrialisation, Pitt-Rivers and the Pitt Rivers Museum; 2.6 Pitt-Rivers' excavated finds in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford; 2.7 Pitt-Rivers' archaeological finds pre-1880; 2.8 Pitt-Rivers' photographs in the founding collection; 2.9 Items field-collected by Lane Fox in France 1878-79; 2.10 Robert Bruce Napoleon Walker; 2.11 Items acquired before 1884 which were never part of the founding collection 2.11.1 Galway Brooch; 2.11.2 Other possible objects; 2.12 Items donated to others; 2.13 The collection of Irish artefacts: 1884.119.348 and Irish controversy

3. Miscellaneous:
3.1 Drawing objects at the Pitt Rivers Museum ; 3.2 Walter Baldwin Spencer and the transfer of the founding collection; 3.3 Cataloguing the Pitt Rivers Museum's founding collection; 3.4 Collecting immortality: the field collectors who contributed to the Pitt Rivers Museum; 3.5 Sir Francis Knowles:contributor to the documentation of the founding collection; 3.6 Balfour on the Evolution of Decorative Art; 3.7 Why does the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum keep growing?; 3.8 Who made objects in the founding collection, PRM?; 3.9 Who field-collected objects in the founding collection, PRM?; 3.10 Who owned the objects and gave /sold them to Pitt-Rivers for the founding collection?; 3.11 Individuals and institutions associated with the founding collection only; 3.12 Pitt-Rivers' pre-1884 archaeological investigations; 3.13 Items acquired before 1884 by Pitt-Rivers but never part of the founding collection; 3.14 Balfour's introduction to 1906 Evolution of Culture; 3.15 Balfour's address to the 1904 British Association for the Advancement of Science

D. SECOND COLLECTION 1880-1900

Introduction to the second collection

1. The art of the catalogue:
1.1 An introduction to the catalogue; 1.2 Frontispieces; 1.3 How were the illustrations created?; 1.4 How were the catalogues as a whole created?; 1.5 What did the artists try to depict?;  1.6 Artists and Assistants; 1.7 Artists training; 1.8 Who illustrated what?; 1.9 Charles Flower; 1.10 Alexander Peacock; 1.11 G.F. Waldo Johnson; 1.12 Courtney or Courtenay Shepherd; 1.13 William Stephen Tomkin 1.14 Other possible artists; 1.15 Pitt-Rivers and Photography of Objects; 1.5 Harold St George Gray's account of being an assistant, published in 1953 1.6 When did particular assistants work for Pitt-Rivers?

Comparisons of drawings and photographs, how accurate are the catalogue drawings? 1.16.1 Accurate depiction?; 1.16.2 Comparisons of catalogue drawings to photographs of the objects; 1.16.3 More comparisons; 1.16.4 Even more comparisons; 1.16.5 Benin artefacts drawings and photographs

2. People associated with the second collection:
2.1 Who made the objects?; 2.2 Who collected the objects in the field?; 2.3 Who owned the objects before Pitt-Rivers?; 2.4 Sources for Pitt-Rivers' second collection; 2.5 Individuals and institutions associated with the founding and second collections of Pitt-Rivers; 2.6 Individuals and institutions associated with the second collection

3. Pitt-Rivers' Estate on Cranborne Chase:

3.1 Farnham Museum:
3.1.1 Pitt-Rivers' own account of Farnham Museum 1889-1890; 3.1.2 Pitt-Rivers' own account of Farnham Museum 1891; 3.1.3 Pitt-Rivers' own guide to Farnham Museum; 3.1.4 A later edition of the Pitt-Rivers own guide to Farnham Museum; 3.1.5 Farnham Museum in 1889; 3.1.6 Visit by Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society to Farnham & Rushmore July 1891; 3.1.7 Farnham Museum in 1891; 3.1.8 Farnham Museum in 1894; 3.1.9 An eyewitness account of ... Farnham Museum in 1898; 3.1.10 Farnham Museum seen from 1905, 1911; 3.1.11 Other accounts of Farnham Museum; 3.1.12 Farnham Museum room by room; 3.1.13 1929 account of Farnham Museum room by room; 3.1.14 Preparing displays at Farnham Museum; 3.1.15 Pitt-Rivers and visitors to Farnham Museum
3.2 Map of Rushmore estate showing the position of Rushmore, King John's House etc

3.3 Rushmore, his country home:
3.3.1 Introduction to his homes including Rushmore; 3.3.2 Rushmore room by room; 3.3.3 An eyewitness account of Rushmore ... in 1898; 3.3.4. Rushmore Then and Now [1988]; 3.3.5 Rushmore Then and Now [2012]; 3.3.6 Different accounts of Rushmore; 3.3.7 Rushmore interior and exterior photographs from 1880-1900;  3.3.8 Views of Sandroyd School (Rushmore) in 2012; 3.3.9 Renovations at Rushmore 1880-1900

3.4 King John's House, his public art gallery
3.4.1 King John's House; 3.4.2 King John's House in 1891; 3.4.3 King John's House in 1894

3.5 Larmer Gardens
3.5.1 Pitt-Rivers' guide to the Larmer Grounds 1894; 3.5.2 Larmer Gardens; 3.5.3 Larmer Gardens in 1891; 3.5.4 An eyewitness account of ... Larmer Gardens ... in 1898; 3.5.5 Photographs of Larmer Gardens 1880-1900; 3.5.6 Larmer Gardens in 2012; 3.5.7 Views of the Larmer Gardens in May 2012

3.6 Cranborne Chase estate, Miscellaneous :
3.6.1 Estate excavations 1880-1900; 3.6.2 Cranborne Chase Excavations, Pitt Rivers' account; 3.6.3 Hinton St Mary: a Dorset Life article

4. Objects from the second collection:
4.1 Pitt-Rivers and Egypt; 4.2 A box of 'Mexican heads'; 4.3 Cecil Vincent Goddard's collections ; 4.4 Models of monuments now held by Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum; 4.5 Models of Celtic crosses now held by Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum; 4.6 Pitt-Rivers' Benin collection by Bernard Fagg; 4.7 Benin oddities; 4.8 How many objects in the catalogue of the second collection?; 4.9 How many drawings in the catalogue of the second collection?; 4.10 Grosvenor Gardens room by room; 4.11 John Sparks and Pitt-Rivers: a dealer and his client; 4.12 Correspondence with other dealers; 4.13 Purchases from the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1885; 4.14 Items from the Pacific in the S&SWM PR collections from the second collection; 4.15 Cesnola collections.

5. Items not listed in the Second Collection Catalogue but that appear to be part of Pitt-Rivers' second catalogue:
5.1 Part I items in other museums' collections etc; 5.2 Part II items from recent auctions; 5.3 Part III more items from recent auctions; 5.4 Part IV items from sales in the 1950s-1970s; 5.5 Part V items listed in the 1895 art catalogue; 5.6 Part VI items in the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum's [S&SWM] Pitt Rivers' objects collections; 5.7 Part VII items mentioned in the S&SWM's Pitt-Rivers' correspondence relating to items. 5.8 Part VIII Miscelleanously sourced items that were part of Pitt-Rivers' second collection but not listed in CUL catalogues; 5.9 Part IX Items which were said to be from the Pitt-Rivers second collection: 5.9.1 Part I general items, 5.9.2 Part II British Museum items; 5.10 Unknown objects listed in the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum Pitt-Rivers papers

6. Miscellanea relating to the second collection:
6.1 All of Pitt-Rivers' excavation assistants over time; 6.2 Herbert Samuel Toms: An excavation and museum assistant of Pitt-Rivers; A 1909 lecture by Toms 'Some Marvels of Savage Art'; 6.3 The September 1895 Exhibition at the Larmer Grounds with annotations; 6.4 Pitt-Rivers and Cerne Abbas; 6.5 Pitt-Rivers and Barvas ware; 6.6 Three bronze sleeping soldiers; 6.7 Salisbury and South Wiltshire Pitt-Rivers papers: 6.7.1 Preface to 1976 Catalogue; 6.7.2 Army papers; 6.7.3 Ancient Monuments; 6.7.4 Letters ...; 6.7.5 Business letters; 6.7.6 Personal accounts [Note that not all the sections have been transcribed]

E. THE RETHINKING PITT-RIVERS PROJECT

1. Introduction to the project; 2. The research project team and associated scholars; 3. Project workshop 4. Project exhibitions: Sue Johnson 2011, 2012; Documenting Pitt-Rivers 5. Introduction to the project website 6. Responses to the website

Please note that sometimes the figures that are given in the above articles differ slightly from the figures given in the statistical section. This is because the data is constantly being refined and changed by new information and each article reflects the situation as it was when it was written (and dated). Any major changes have been updated on all relevant articles.