S&SWM PR papers L664

L664

Society of Arts | John Street, Adelphi | London W.C. | 24th March 1891

Dear Sir

Mr Wheatley has given me your letter. I am sure that the Council would readily welcome a Paper from yourself on the subject you suggest - the uses and arrangements of Museums.* Our arrangements for the present Session are complete, but if you will permit me I will put the Paper down for the Session which begins in November next.

As you are aware the subject of Museums is one with which the Society in past times has dealt largely. It had a great deal to do with the establishment of the South Kensington Museum

Yours faithfully
H.J. Wood
Secretary

Gen'l A. Pitt Rivers F.R.S.

--------------

THE FOLLOWING LETTER IS THE FIRST WHICH HAS BEEN TYPED ON A TYPEWRITER, PRESUMABLY BY HIS SECRETARY, FROM PITT-RIVERS

COPY

Rushmore | Salisbury | March 30th, 1891

My dear Sir,

I am much obliged to you for your letter of the 24th inst. I am aware of the important part that was taken by the Society of Arts in regard to Technical Museums, and the great value they have had in promoting education in Art. My subject is neither Museums of Reference like the British Museum, nor Technical Museums like South Kensington, but Typological Museums, using the term in its natural history sense, as applied to the history of the arts, and their value as a means of general education, especially for the working classes, and the sample is my Museum at Oxford, for which the University voted £10,000 to construct a building for it.

I am going to give an opening address at Oxford at the end of April, and after that, if it suited your Society at any time, I would send a paper on the subject with diagrams.

Yours very truly
A. Pitt-Rivers

------------

L665

Society of Arts | John Street, Adelphi | London W.C. | 31st March 1891

Dear Sir

I am sure a Paper such as you propose would be interesting and valuable to the Society. I will therefore put your name down on the list for next Session, and will write to you again in the early Autumn when the arrangements for the Session are under consideration.

Yours faithfully
H.J. Wood
Secretary

Gen'l A. Pitt Rivers F.R.S.

*Pitt-Rivers paper was published as '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. See here for a transcription.

Transcribed by AP May 2011 as part of the Rethinking Pitt-Rivers project.