Events in the history of the Pitt Rivers Museum that took place in 1986.
Readers are reminded that this table is a work in progress and may be amended or added to at any time.
| Month | Day | Event | Source of Information | Notes |
| January | 1 | Howard Morphy begins in post as Assistant Curator to replace Schuyler Jones who is now Curator | Annual Report 85-86 | |
| January | No day | New temporary exhibition opens, 'On Top of the World' featuring the museum's collections of headgear | Annual Report 85-86 | |
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| May | ||||
| June | 26 | Balfour Building the new museum at Banbury Road opens, nearly a year later than originally projected. The building was to have been opened by the University Chancellor (Lord Stockton) but at the last minute it was opened by the Vice Chancellor, Sir Patrick Neill, because of ill-health | Annual Report 85-86 | |
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| November | ||||
| December | No day | Peter Narracot, the museum's first photographer, retires. He is replaced by Malcolm Osman. | Annual Report 86-87 | |
| Unspecified | Displays worked on during the year: Court continued, including a new Treatment of the Dead display, Magic and Wtchcraft | Relational Museum timelines / Annual Report 86-87 | ||
| Unspecified | Music-maker gallery opens at Balfour Building, Banbury Road | Annual Report 2006-7 | ||
| Unspecified | Electric lights installed in cases to improve displays | Annual Report 85-86 | ||
| Unspecified | The first two computers used in the museum are bought using a grant from the University's Research and Equipment Committee. Computerised documentation of the museum's holdings begins | Annual Report 85-86 | ||
| Unspecified | 2 new Museum publications are published, Dr Kenneth Oakley's Decorative and Symbolic Uses of Fossils, Occasional Paper No. 13, and Birds and Animals, a children's colouring book illustrated by Francis Turner | Annual Report 85-86 |
AP
