Introduction

Overskirt, sisi fale, of coconut fibre, feathers, and shell, 660 x 660 mm, from Tonga, from the Forster collection (1886.1.1332)This website is designed to provide researchers and the general public with access to all the information that the Pitt Rivers Museum holds about the objects in its care that were collected on the famous Pacific voyages of Captain James Cook (1728–1779). At its heart is a searchable catalogue that links to the relevant records in the Museum's regularly updated online database. The site also provides information about the collectors, Joseph Banks and father-and-son Reinhold and George Forster, about the history of the collections in the form of a timeline, further readings, and a bibliography. Further materials will be added as they become available.

The site builds on two earlier websites ('Forster Collection' (2001) and 'Pacific Pathways' (2003)), which were funded by grants from the Jerwood/MGC Cataloguing Grants Scheme 1997–98 (supported by the Museums & Galleries Commission, the Jerwood Foundation, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport); and the Innovation Awards Scheme of the Arts and Humanities Research Board (2001; award number B/IA/AN4817/APN13726).

The new site has been made possible by the generosity of The Clothworkers Foundation in awarding a Conservation Fellowship (2012–2013) to Jeremy Uden, Deputy Head of Conservation at the Museum. It thus makes available all the previous work carried out on the Museum's Cook-voyage collections by previous members of staff and visiting researchers, as well as the conservation and research work carried out by Uden during his Fellowship.

Jeremy Coote and Jeremy Uden (November 2013)