What are the Issues Raised by the Ethnographic Displays at the Pitt Rivers Museum?

The Pitt Rivers Museum houses one of the most important collections of anthropological and archaeological objects in the country. The museum can be seen as a fascinating insight into foreign cultures and traditions, as ‘a new way of looking at the ordered cosmos’. Yet it can also been argued that it is a Colonial treasure chest of objects taken from their indigenous origins and used to highlight the ‘truth’ of evolution and the progression of the human species. Are there ‘truths’ revealed in the Pitt River’s museum display?

The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford was founded in 1884 by a leading anthropological figure of the day, General Pitt River, who donated his collection of 18,000 objects to Oxford University. Now the collection has reached over half a million, and is housed in an impressive Victorian building. The entrance is now through the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, where you enter to a low lit court with a large totem pole dominating the space. The original explorer or anthropologist donated many of the objects, and hundreds of objects are crammed into the original display cases.

The layout of the museum is unusual in that instead of housing objects together by country or culture, they have been divided into rough ‘types’. For example in the ‘Animal Forms in Art’ cabinet, you see small animal sculptures from Malaya, next to Canada, next to Greece next to China. This decision was originally due to the influence of Pitt Rivers himself, who wanted the museum to have an evolutionary purpose, and to show how societies evolve from simple to complex.

In effect, this method completely de-contextualises the objects, and distanced from their original purpose, they take on a new meaning within the museum complex. They take on the role of defining the foreign cultures on show as the ‘Other’ to the sophisticated European society.  On display there are few European objects, and even less from Great Britain.

In 2009 the museum re-opened after a ten-month long overhaul, in which more of the original display was re-established. The now dimly lit central court is explored by torches which are provided by the museum. This gives a sense of adventure to visitors’ self guided visit, and is especially popular with the children, who are further involved in the museum experience with craft activities, trails and activities sheets. As there are no long winded descriptive panels, you are left to draw your own conclusions as to the origins and uses of the objects

Another issue raised in this museum space is the treatment of sensitive materials, which originally had magical or religious purposes. One of the most visited displays at the Pitt Rivers is the ‘Treatment of Dead Enemies’, which has so many objects it needs two display cases. These seem to be constantly surrounded by curious spectators. One case in particular houses examples of skull trophies taken by various tribes, many from New Guinea, as well as the famous shrunken heads from the Upper Amazon. This ghoulish spectacle certainly draws in the crowds. However, this display raises questions about the origins of these objects. Now objects of curiosity, they were once living being, and this creating this spectacle of death could be seen as insensitive and disrespectful.

Exploring the darkened cabinets of the Pitt Rivers is undoubtedly a fascinating adventure. Yet it raises questions about what voice it gives the original claimants of these objects. I personally think, even in the limited space, more could be done to contextualize these objects. Without it, this collection of material culture could be forming a Colonial-esque outlook which silences those cultures considered to be less civilized and less advanced. Do the original cultures still have a claim to these objects, or have they become part of the makeup of this museum? Despite the aim of the museum to have an educational purpose, these objects to do necessarily teach truths without context and instruction. They become objects of exotic beauty and fantasy, almost passing into the realm of fiction.