Committee for the Pitt Rivers Museum as at 1 October 1990
    
Vice-Chancellor (Sir Richard Southwood)
The Senior Proctor (Dr. J. Norbury)
The Junior Proctor (Dr. H. Morphy)
The Assessor (Dr. D.P. Mingos)
Dr. R.H. Barnes
Dr. J.K. Campbell
Dr. Malcolm Coe
Professor B. Cunliffe
Professor G.A. Harrison
Professor K. Kirkwood
Mr Francis Maddison
Dr. D.F. Shaw
Dr. S. Simpson
Dr. C. J. White
Secretary: Dr. Schuyler Jones

1990-1991
The Pitt Rivers Museum
The Committee for the Pitt Rivers Museum, having received the following annual report from the Director, presented it as their report to Congregation.

Introduction
In the Spring of 1986 at the invitation of the General Board, the Director submitted a paper setting out his views on the future development of the Pitt Rivers Museum. As five years have now passed, 1991 seems an appropriate time to assess the museum's current position against the background of the earlier document. The Director drew up a new report, dated April 29th, 1991, which summarizes achievements and current problems. This was submitted to Faculty and subsequently forwarded to the General Board. It is somewhat disheartening to observe that while our achievements fitted neatly on two pages, our current problems required no less than three to deal with a budget deficit which now appears to be a permanent feature, staff shortages and related problems, lack of research and study facilities, conservation needs, lack of reserve collection space, museum security, and curatorial needs.

In the course of this reporting period documents were prepared in consultation with the Area Museums Service for South Eastern England (AMSSEE) with a view to meeting the criteria laid down by the Museums and Galleries Commission for museum registration. The scheme, launched in the Spring of 1988, involves the phased registration of some 2,500 museums in the U.K. by the Spring of 1992. It is with satisfaction that we are able to report that the Museum's long-established practices were entirely in accord with the Museums and Galleries Commission recommendations and guidelines and that in May of 1991 we were granted Full Registration status, subject to our adoption of one guideline concerning rules for the de-accessioning of artefacts, certain details of which had been the subject of discussion.

The Main Museum
During this reporting period three substantial changes were made in the museum with a view to improving visitor facilities. The North-West corner of the Court, partitioned off and closed to the public for several years, was cleared and this enabled us to bring back into service a disused run of wall cases. This was used for a new permanent display of Benin materials, incorporating the Dumas-Egerton Trust Collection, which was set up by Mr. Bob Rivers, Mr. John Simmons, and Mr. Andy Munsch. In conjunction with this Mrs. Linda Mowat carried out research and wrote the text for a booklet entitled Symbols of Kings; Benin Art at the Pitt Rivers Museum. The inclusion of Benin on the current primary school curriculum means that this display and its interpretation will be a useful resource for schools as well as being of interest to the general public.

The remaining sections of the reclaimed wall cases in the North-West Corner of the Court were redesigned, thanks to the initiative of Mrs. Linda Mowat, to provide long overdue space for the display of New Accessions.

Two other improvements were carried out as a result of the above changes. The box-like proportions of the Temporary Exhibition Gallery at the West end of the Court, for long a source of claustrophobic feelings in museum staff and doubtless some visitors, were partially relieved by cutting a large opening in the North wall. This allows visitors to enter the North-West corner of the Court directly from the Temporary Exhibition Gallery, taking them past the New Accessions display and the new Benin display.

The first New Accessions exhibit, set up in March, was devoted to materials collected in Southern India by Mrs. Linda Mowat. This was replaced in September by a display designed and mounted by our Canadian intern, Sally Seguin, on the theme of textiles.

Finally, we are particularly pleased to report that, thanks to the initiative, planning, and hard work of Ms. Julia Cousins and Mrs. Kate White, the museum for the first time in its history has something that can be called a shop. This has been set up at the West end of the Court near the main entrance where the old Benin display was located. Evidence of visitor approval has been clear and swift with a sharp increase in the sale of books, postcards, souvenirs, and other items.

Temporary Exhibitions
I. Main Museum (Mrs. Linda Mowat and Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards)
The Goddess of Batik - Textiles from China by Chen Ning Kang and Fu Mu Lan closed on 8 March 1991.
Whakaahua: Photographic Images of Maori Life 1860-1930 ran from March 16th, 1991 to April 27th, 1991. The loan of this exhibition from the Commonwealth Institute in London was made possible by the generous sponsorship of the Friends of the Pitt Rivers Museum. The loan exhibition was supplemented by early photographs of Maoris from our own collections, selected specifically to display a different view of Maori culture. We are very grateful to Sir Hugh Kawharu for his support and advice during the planning stages and for his participation in the ceremony to welcome the exhibition to the Museum.
Wamo: D'Entrecasteaux Islands. Papua New Guinea. Photographs by Diamond Jenness 1911-1912 opened on June 1st 1991. In this exhibition the photographs were presented as having two important parallel contexts: as a record of the lives of the people of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands at a difficult period in their history and secondly as an historical record of the problems of anthropological fieldwork at a period when the discipline was undergoing fundamental methodological changes. The exhibition was very warmly received as suggesting new directions in ethno-historical studies. We are very grateful to Michael Young for his support and advice during the planning of this exhibition and for the loan of some of his own modern field photographs of the Islands.
Basketmakers: Meaning and Form in Native American Baskets has been in preparation for much of the year with a view to opening this major exhibition in 1992. We will be publishing an exhibition catalogue, edited by Dr. Howard Morphy and Mrs. Linda Mowat, with essays by scholars from North and South America as well as Oxford.
II. The Balfour Building (Dr. Hélène La Rue)
Sound Threads (27 April - 5 August, 1991) - an exhibition of Indonesian and Sarawak musical instruments and weaving. We owe thanks to Dr. Ruth Barnes who organised the concepts behind the exhibition and the accompanying Symposium which was held jointly with the CNRS, Paris in the Institute of Social Anthropology. The exhibition showed material collected in Lamalera by Dr. Barnes, and in Bima, collected by Dr. Mike Hitchcock, and included Javanese musical instruments and instrument making tools collected by Jamie Linwood. The fourth display contained specimens from the Museum's collections from Sarawak given by Rajah Brooke. We are grateful to Ms. Wendy Buck and Mrs. Joyce Weil for their help with this exhibition.
Bell Push (18 August - January, 1991) - an exhibition of bells and related materials from the Sharpe Collection which is on long-term loan to the Pitt Rivers Museum. Frederick Sharpe not only collected handbells but also wrote several of the county histories of bells. The collection includes bells, a small library, Sharpe's notebooks recording his visits to many bell towers, photographs of bells, casts of founders' marks and many other miscellaneous objects connected with campanology. For the last three years Mrs. Margery Berry has been painstakingly going through the whole collection entering each artefact, book and article contained in the box files into a data base. The exhibition was to mark the moment when sufficient work had been done on the storage and cataloguing of the collection to enable it to be used by visiting campanologists. To celebrate this event an evening was organised to which the Trustees invited many of the interested parties and at which the Launton Handbell Ringers gave a short recital.
Feasts and Festivals _ (January 1991 - January 1992) – an exhibition which gathered the calendar customs for the year into four groups, one for each quarter. It was planned therefore as a twelve month exhibition in which various elements could be changed during the year.

Other Museum Events
Angels: _an Art Week event
This year's Art Week exhibition was a small scale one by Chris Dorsett which gave him the opportunity to try out some ideas in conjunction with planning for the 1992 event.
Pitt Stop events continued to be very popular. Ms. El Khouri Klink, and Professor and Mrs. Weil have generously given up many afternoons to help make these a success. Thanks are also due to Ms. Emily Holmes who organised members of the Undergraduate Art Society, OPUS, to come and set up a mask-making and a totem pole-making session for participants.

In October we held a concert of Karnatic music from India in the Holywell Music Room. This was the first time that many of us had heard the saxophone used in a non-Western context. The musicians, Kadri Golpanath, and Mr. Zachariah with his Nadatarang, an instrument which he himself has developed, also gave an instructive demonstration in the Balfour Building.

In March Ms. Rosalie Lambourn organised the visit of a group of Turkish women musicians and they gave a Pitt Rivers Museum concert in the Holywell Music Room. Despite the uncertainties, anxieties, and disruptions caused by the Gulf War, the event took place as advertised and was a great success.

Visitors and Enquiries
In the course of the year the museum received more than 72,000 visitors in the two buildings; 8,780 of them in school or group visits.

About 120 written enquiries concerning the collections were received by the Documentation Department during the year, in addition to numerous telephone and personal enquiries. About 80 visiting researchers made arrangements to study the reserve collections during the year. In the Spring, we were particularly pleased to be able to assist Lady Freda Kawharu with her research on Maori textiles during her visit to Oxford with her husband, Sir Hugh Kawharu.

Visitor Survey
In view of the interest frequently expressed in the Pitt Rivers Museum Visitor Survey conducted in 1985, it was decided to undertake a follow-up survey in 1991, this time including the Balfour Building in the project. The questionnaire was drawn up by Linda Mowat and Hélène La Rue and interviewing took place between January and September, in and out of both University term and the tourist season. Interviews were conducted by Louise Gee, Sally Seguin, Tamara Lucas, Slawomir Soja and Kryzsztof Kowalski. Results of the survey were analyzed by Sally Seguin and Tamara Lucas.

Museum Documentation and Records (Mrs. Linda Mowat)
It is planned to publish computer catalogues of the Museum's North and Central American collections during 1992 to coincide with our major exhibition of Native American baskets. We are pleased to report that all the basic data entry for this project has now been completed. Many thanks are due to intern Sally Seguin for entering nearly 2000 records relating to Inuit material and Native American archaeological specimens.   

The Wellcome Collection of Amulets
Repeated attempts over the last few years to fundraise for the storage of this collection having been unsuccessful, it was decided to make a beginning from our own resources. Twenty-one multi-drawer metal cabinets have been purchased and work has begun at Osney Mead on the task of transferring the amulets from their storage boxes to these cabinets. This has resulted in a marked improvement in the accessibility of these collections and it is hoped that the project may be completed in the not too distant future.

Forty-one new collections of objects were received during the year:

Specimens Acquired by Purchase
Mr. S. E. Carter: items of Guatemalan costume from Todos Santos, Colotenango, Chichicastenango, Santa Catarina and Chajul, collected by Mr. Carter during the summer of 1990. (1990.51) Christies: from Australia, a Western Arnhemland bark painting of a kangeroo by Madagarlgarl and a NE Arnhemland didgeridoo painted by Mitinari (1990.54). Dr. Penny Dransart: a large coiled sweetgrass basket, a small basket, a partly made basket and samples of materials from the Miccosukee Indian Village near Florida, USA. (1991.20) Mrs. S. Long: Half of a nineteenth century Turkish towel with gold embroidery. (1990.55) Mrs. Jill Loveday: a woman's embroidered dress from N. Afghanistan. (1991.15).  Mrs. Iveta Shevkane: a Latvian man's costume in the Lielvarde style. (1991.22) Mrs. Maria Margarita Uricoechea: two coiled baskets made by Waunana Indians in the Chocó district of Colombia. (1991.7)

Specimens Acquired by Donation
Lady Allen (the late Consuelo Maria Linares Rivas) from Sir Peter Allen: a large collection of pre-Columbian, Tibetan, Chitrali, and other artefacts. (1991.17) Dr. Elizabeth Baquedano Pope: a Mexican wicker basket from Toluca state. (1990.52). Mr. G.J. Bridges: reproductions of a German rebec and an Italian portative organ, both made by the donor. (1991.10) Mr. D.R. Buxton: a Danakil copper bracelet from the Horn of Africa. (1991.5)  Mrs. Dunbabin: two painted Easter eggs obtained in 1988 from a convent in Moldavia, Romania. (1990.53) Mrs. Susi Dunsmore: 3 samples of contemporary textiles woven from nettle fibre in the Kosi Hill area of Nepal. (1991.28) Mrs. Helen C. Harper: a British Museum bronze cast of a Benin brass mask, made for the donor in 1959. (1991.16) Dr. Bertha Hensman: eight embroidered Taoist saints and a leading deity from a temple banner from Chengdu, Sichuan, China. (1991.8) Ms. Sarah Hosking: a Sepik figure from Papua New Guinea. (1991.12) Mr. John Hutchinson: a Pygmy bow and quiver of arrows from Eastern Zaire. (1991.18) Miss Winifred Irving: a collection of figures, baskets, combs, spoons etc. from Ghana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The collection was made by the late Miss Elise M. Lince, a Methodist missionary, between 1931 and 1973. (1991.11). Mr. Joe Johnson: two rotary calculators for English and Continental musical notation, invented by the donor. (1991.19) Dr. Schuyler Jones: from the Greenland Inuit a modern ulu (woman's knife) blade and a pair of carved sticks for smoking fish over a fire, collected in the summer of 1991. (1991.27)  Mrs. Linda Mowat: sherds from a plaster plate, designed for non-hazardous throwing during Greek festivals. These were obtained during the Panayia festival at Ano Poroia, Greek Macedonia, in August 1991. (1991.24 Ms. Claire Norton: a Malayan blowpipe with quiver of poisoned darts and two 'hats' or food covers from Sarawak. (1991.2 Mr. R.F. Ovenell: a headrest and a wrist-knife from the Turkana people of the Northern Frontier District of Kenya, collected during the Second World War. (1991.1 Miss Merlin Pennink: an original English ping-pong set, dating from around the turn of the century. (1990.50) Mrs. Alethea Pitt: two Pathan dolls from Baluchistan and three woven and embroidered envelopes which contained farewell letters to her father, Sir Armine B. Dew, when he retired as Agent to the Governor General in Quetta in 1922. (1991.3) Pitt Rivers Museum Workshop: a collection of obsolete English carpenter's tools. (1990.49) Mrs. J.M. Popkin: a Nandi girl's dancing apron from East Africa. (1991.6) Members of the PREMA course organised by ICCROM: a sample of contemporary strip weaving from Ghana. Presented when course members, curators and conservators from many African countries, visited the Museum in June 1991. (1991.14) Mr. Tony Quilter: an Oceanic club. (1990.58) Mr. K.D. Rosser-Roberts: a number of weapons, an Ashanti stool, a brass casting, a leather hat and other items collected in Ghana and Nigeria at the turn of the century. The collector was the donor's grandfather, Darius Rosser-Roberts, who was employed to teach British pottery techniques to West Africans. (1991.26) Mr. Peter Rosser-Roberts: a collection of hats, beads and figures acquired in Southern Africa, particularly Botswana and Lesotho, in the 1970's. (1991.25) Royal Armouries, HM Tower of London: a Snider rifle. (1991.12) Mr. Shurhozelie, President of the URA Academy in Kohima, Nagaland: an Angami Naga man's shawl, an example of contemporary weaving. (1990.48) Mrs. Grace Sutton: a quilled and inlaid box, probably from the Malay Peninsula. (1991.4) Mr. J.H. Tucker: a collection of Mesolithic stone tools from Burbage, N. Wiltshire. (1991.9) Mrs. Anne Walker: two woodsplint baskets from Nova Scotia. (1991.23) Mr. Keith Waters: a pair of English skating boots dating from the 1920's. (1990.59) Major I. Williams: a bronze drum from the Karen Hill Tribes of the Thailand/Burma border and a coconut fiddle from Chiang-mai, Thailand. (1990.56)

Specimens Acquired by Loan
The Dumas-Egerton Trust: a collection of some 35 brass and ivory works of art from Benin City, brought to England by George LeClerc Egerton in 1897. (1991.13)

Volunteers
We would like to thank Louise Gee, a former student of the Department, for starting work on the Visitor Survey in January 1991. As well as conducting interviews Louise designed the computer database for the storage and retrieval of survey data.

Mrs. Sally Owen continued to provide valuable secretarial assistance in the Documentation Department.

From June to September 1991 Sally Seguin of the University of Victoria in British Columbia served an internship at the Museum in partial fulfilment of the requirements of her University's Cultural Resource Management Program. During the summer she was an extremely helpful additional member of staff in the Documentation Department, entering nearly 2000 North American catalogue records in the museum's database, assisting with interviewing and data entry for the Visitor Survey, preparing a small exhibit in the New Accessions case, helping with the day-to-day accessioning of collections and answering enquiries. She also worked for the Education and Conservation Departments. We are very grateful to Sally for all her hard work and wish her every success in her future career.

In July 1991 Tamara Lucas, a graduate of University College, London, started work at the Museum on a voluntary basis, helping with the Visitor Survey, documenting exhibits for the Archery display in the Upper Gallery, and carrying out a number of routine tasks in the Department.

Two Polish students, Slawomir Soja and Kryzstof Kowalski, were attached to the Museum in August. They helped with the Visitor Survey and also assisted Bob Rivers in preparing exhibits for the Archery display in the Upper Gallery.

Conservation (Ms. Sue Walker and Mrs. Birgitte Speake)
Most of the conservation work during this reporting period arose from the museum's programme of re-displaying collections, temporary exhibitions, new accessions, loans, and general maintenance of the reserve collections.

Temporary Exhibitions: All objects chosen for display in the Wamo exhibition were examined and treated as required and new mounts were cut for the original photographs. Approximately 200 American baskets and items of basketwork were taken out of the reserve collections and examined in the lab in preparation for the 1992 basket exhibition.

Loans: glove, string and shadow puppets were conserved and advice was given to the Royal Pavilion, Brighton on suitable display and environmental conditions for their exhibition.

Re-display: Approximately 20 shields from an old display in the North-West corner of the Court were examined, put through a programme of deep freezing, and enclosed in polythene bags before being placed in the reserve collections. There still remain some shields which are in need of conservation attention.
The last of the bows selected for a new permanent display in the North-East corner of the top gallery were examined and conserved as required.

The routine monitoring of environmental conditions continues in both museums. For a time the temperature rose substantially during the winter in the main museum. Heating engineers and humidity experts were consulted about the problem. Lighting consultants were asked to submit plans for reducing light levels in the main museum.

During the summer environmental conditions in the conservation laboratory, textile stores and study room deteriorated due to the removal of a large cedar tree, deemed to be unsafe, which had protected the buildings from an excessive build-up of solar heat. The resulting problem cannot easily be solved due to the poor insulation properties of the prefabricated structure in which these units are housed.

The museum's six thermohygrographs were cleaned and re-calibrated and a system of routine checks on their accuracy put into effect. The humidifiers have been overhauled. The textile study room, a clean working area, has been improved by taping over gaps between the ceiling boards.

Procedures to eliminate carpet and museum beetle from the collections are being vigorously maintained as there is evidence that the problem has not been eliminated as was previously reported following the Pest Control Survey in 1990. Good housekeeping methods and more general awareness by museum staff accounts for the finding of dead and live beetle and other evidence of activity rather than re-infestation. Sticky insect traps have been placed in cases and drawers containing vulnerable artefacts. A cycle of alternate deep freezing, thawing, and freezing continues to be used as standard treatment for new accessions. In addition the following items were also put through this regimen: North American clothing and models from display, an owl and owl pellets from an archaeology display, cloth from the Naga Hills, and, as already mentioned, shields from an old display in the Court.

Storage: As a matter of policy the conservation department is routinely up-grading storage methods in the light of the latest research. Current work is focused on the North American moccasins, cloth from the Naga Hills, and Chinese silk clothing.

Lack of space both in the textile stores and at Osney Mead continues to be a matter of concern.

Volunteers: given the amount of conservation work needing to be done and the severe understaffing of the conservation department, our volunteers are of crucial importance. Geoffrey Fouquet continues to work two days a week, Kerstin Hegarty one day a week, and Elspeth Woolcott one day each month. Sally Seguin, serving an internship at the Museum during the summer, was extremely helpful.

Fifteen African students from ICCROM in Rome spent a day in Oxford visiting the museum, the conservation laboratory, and textile store. They were pleased to report that the facilities available to them in Africa were better than ours.

Six conservation students from the Institute of Archaeology in London also paid the lab a visit. Three Turkish students from Oxfordshire County Museum were shown around our conservation facilities as was an ethnographic conservator from the National Museum of Oslo.

Sue Walker and Birgitte Speake attended a one day conservation seminar held at the Museum of London in October 1990. They also attended the annual meeting of the Oxford Conservators Group held at the Bodleian Library.

Birgitte Speake visited Linda Hylliare, Head of the Textile Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum, to discuss freezing as a pest control method. Ms. Speake also continued her part-time study of conservation at the Institute of Archaeology in London.

Photographic Department (Mr. Malcolm Osman)
During the early part of 1990 video equipment was purchased with the help of a grant from AMSSEE and this has enabled us to scan archive negatives and prints electronically. The resulting positive images are stored on high grade video tape by means of a conventional VHS video recorder. The stored images can then be viewed on a TV monitor or printed out using a video graphics printer.

In January the Linhof 5 x 4 studio camera was replaced by a Horseman monorail model. This camera has quickly proved its worth in both versatility and the excellent quality of its modern optics. This was demonstrably apparent when several new subjects were photographed for postcard production during the year.
    
Toward the end of the year work began on printing some negatives selected for the Diamond Jenness exhibition scheduled to open in mid-1991. This was the first time that the re-equipped darkroom had been used to produce a large number (more than sixty) exhibition quality enlargements. The Ilford 2150 RC processor in particular enabled the printing to be completed in less than half the time it would have taken previously.

Balfour Library (Mr. Richard Hanson)
New accessions in the library have grown at the rate of one metre of shelf space each month and this has resulted in a storage problem. Bob Rivers and his team have built twelve metres of new shelving in the library and further shelving is planned which, in theory, should allow the book collection to expand at the current rate for another two to three years, but we are rapidly running out of places where additional shelving can be constructed.
    
The need for conservation and preservation of the collection has been of concern this year. Sue Walker has provided regular advice on dealing with problems of high temperature, low humidity and excessive ultra-violet light which are now being dealt with.

This would have been a difficult year without the help of a number of generous and loyal volunteers. I would like to thank Ione Tayler, Melissa Rolls, Rosemary Breger, and Elvira Brockman.

The library has acquired nearly one hundred gifts of new books this year. I would like to thank all those individuals and institutions who have given so generously.

With just over two hundred new readers and over three thousand loans this has been a busy year at the issues desk. Volunteers have been particularly helpful in this area of the library.

Throughout the year regular contact with Mike Morris at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology has been maintained. Although the two libraries are separated physically, we are trying to ignore this fact and work together as much as possible.

Archives (Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards)
The trend of increasing use and activity in the Archive department has continued. Efforts this year have been concentrated on a project to make accessible on videotape those images which existed only in negative form or were especially vulnerable or inaccessible for other reasons. The work was undertaken by Alison Petch who joined the staff as Archive Assistant for one year, a post funded by a matching grant from AMSSEE. Ms. Petch has, in the course of the year, completed a major part of the collection and established a system which can be continued, perhaps by using volunteer staff. Using these videotapes, researchers can have quick first reference access to the collections in a way which avoids the need of handling delicate original material, the organization and supervision of which is extremely demanding of staff time.

In addition, building on last year's objectives, substantial in-roads have been made in the back-log of documentation and cataloguing of the archives. Final catalogues have been produced for the Blackwood and Evans-Pritchard collections. The advances made during this year with an Archive Assistant in post has highlighted the need of the Assistant Curator (Archives) to have this type of support on a permanent basis. As demands for access to the collections increase (both in number and complexity) and the demands made of the Assistant Curator (Archives) increase (due to teaching and the expectations of researchers, i.e., many are not content just to look at the collections, they wish to discuss them as well), it is becoming impossible to fulfil all functions satisfactorily. Work tends to be concentrated at a lower level, merely to keep going on a day to day basis, without addressing the major requirements of the collection and associated research.
    
The Archives have been responsible for two exhibitions this year, as reported under Temporary Exhibitions.
 
Archive materials were loaned to the National Portrait Gallery in London for the exhibition The Raj: India and the British 1600-1947.

In addition to numerous postal and telephone enquiries, 57 visitors from all over the world used the archive collections last year. In addition to those working on archival materials, there were a number of visitors who came to discuss more general questions of visual representation in photography or to look at the Museum's approach to collection management in archives.

The archives were most fortunate to receive a number of gifts including images from Hungary, India and Africa. We should like to thank the following for their kind donations: Dr. Veronika Vernier, Mrs. Geraldine Hobson, The University Museum, Oxford, Newbury Museum, and Miss W. Irving.
    
However, by far the largest and most significant addition to the collection this year, indeed this quarter century, is from Mr. Wilfred Thesiger. This major collection, which numbers over 35,000 images, documents Mr. Thesiger's famous travels in Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and Kenya. It has been deposited on loan, pending bequest, and we are deeply honoured that Mr. Thesiger has chosen the Pitt Rivers Museum as its final home. Already about half the collection is at the Museum and we are currently considering its conservation and cataloguing needs. An exhibition of photographs from the Thesiger Collection is planned for May 1993.

Publications (Julia Cousins)
The opening of the new shop in June 1991 was a major achievement for the Publications Department. This much needed development finally became possible when we were given a share of the funds set aside by the University specifically for Museum needs.

Given the limitations of money and space available for the shop, the final designs were planned to give the maximum display space compatible with security for the stock. Point Eight did the construction and fitting.

It was agreed that our trading policy should be to create a distinctive ‘Pitt Rivers’ shop, selling items which will promote the Museum itself or which are related to subjects represented in the collections. Souvenirs which we initiate will therefore use designs from the collections or be “personalized”. For other goods, wherever appropriate and practicable, we will trade with companies which promote the interests of the Third World in an ethical manner.

Kate White is now building up contacts with suppliers, so that we develop a real range of souvenirs and books to offer our visitors. We will not be able to judge our success for at least a year but the sales figures from the first few months are very encouraging.

Teaching
Museum staff continued to offer courses in Cultural Anthropology for graduate and undergraduate students (mainly Geography, Human Sciences, and the M.St. in Ethnology and Museum Ethnography). The core lectures for these, People, Environment, and Culture, were given, as in previous years, by Dr. Schuyler Jones, Dr. Howard Morphy, and Dr. Donald Tayler. Teaching for various options in the graduate M.St. course, Ethnology and Museum Ethnography, was provided by Dr. Hélène La Rue, Mrs. Linda Mowat, and Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards. Mrs. Linda Mowat also gave seminars on Museum Documentation and Research and contributed a lecture to the textile series organised for M.St. and undergraduate students. In Michaelmas Term she gave a lecture on Chinese batik in connection with The Goddess of Batik exhibition. During the year Mr. Inskeep supervised one research student, examined two D.Phil. theses for Oxford, and delivered ten lectures to Human Sciences students.

The Donald Baden _Powell Quaternary Research Centre (Dr. Derek Roe)
As part of the reorganisation of Anthropology in Oxford, which involved the disappearance of the old Institute of Social Anthropology and the Department of Ethnology and Prehistory, the Centre became a part of the Pitt Rivers Museum, but it has continued to operate, as in previous years, as the main focus for teaching and research in earlier Prehistoric Archaeology at graduate and post-doctoral levels.

Mr. Norman Cox, the caretaker/cleaner, retired in July 1991, and in his place we welcome Mr. John Morris. In the summer of 1991 some badly-needed redecoration took place in two main rooms and the central stairwell at 60 Banbury Road, the first such work for 16 years, and the creation of a computer room for the use of staff and students was begun. Funding for the new equipment came from a special University grant, and also from generous private donations from Mrs. Pat Greene and from Dr. W.H. Waldren, for which we are extremely grateful. A new drawing board was also purchased for the use of those working at the Centre. With the agreement of Mr. Francis Baden-Powell, Donald Baden-Powell's important collection of mollusca was transferred to the University Museum, together with some books relating to it; the collection is to remain a unit under its own name, and will be available for study.

It had been hoped to carry out some reorganization of the workrooms on the top floor, but this is held up until improvements have been made to the fire escape arrangements for the upper part of the building, about which we have been expressing anxiety for some time through the Departmental Safety Committee. It is to be hoped that the necessary safety work can be done during the coming academic year, and that the domestic work, badly needed to improve working conditions for graduate students, will follow soon after.

The Centre acted as host to various visiting groups of archaeologists during the year, and to many individual scholars (145 names in our visitors' book for the period reported). In July 1991, a well-attended day meeting was held for the Lithic Studies Society on the subject of the Pleistocene geology and Palaeolithic archaeology of the Upper Thames terrace in the Oxford region, something with which various members of the Centre have been continuously involved over at least ten years. The day included lectures, an exhibition of recently discovered faunal remains and of stone artefacts, and an afternoon excursion to the main sites.

The Centre's Research Associates continued their field work and research throughout the year. Dr. William Waldren as usual ran major excavation campaigns in the Balearic islands at three sites: the Son Mas sanctuary, the Ferrandell-Oleza settlement complex, and the Son Matge rockshelter. Dr. Peter Mitchell spent some months in southern Africa and carried out five weeks' fieldwork in Lesotho, including field survey, trial excavations at three sites and surface collection at several more. Dr. Kate Scott directed work throughout the year on exposures of the important interglacial channel at Stanton Harcourt, with its rich contents of large vertebrate faunal material, shells, wood and plant remains. It is very pleasing to report that this year supporting funds for her work have been forthcoming from the British Academy and the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, enabling two short seasons of intensive excavation, with proper teams of volunteers, to be carried out as well as the continuous less formal rescue operation. Mr. R. J. MacRae continued his watching brief on the active local gravel pits, recovering a substantial number of Lower Palaeolithic stone artefacts.

One new Research Student (Miss R. Charles) started work at the Centre this year, studying aspects of the Late Glacial archaeology of Britain and Belgium. Two research students successfully completed their doctorates this year (Miss P. Z. Dransart and Mr. S. Acheson). Amongst current research students, Mr. Robin Skeates was elected to the Randall-MacIver Studentship in Archaeology, for three years, starting 1 October 1991, and Miss S. Milliken won a two-year Leverhulme Scholarship for study abroad, to start immediately after completion of her doctorate.

Education (Dr. Hélène La Rue)
There was a steep rise in the number of children visiting the Museum in 1990/91 and this was accompanied by a corresponding growth in the numbers making use of the education service. One effect of the National Curriculum was to encourage visits based on various subject areas in the Museum. To support this the Education Service have been producing new Trails on Toys and Games, Boats, Textiles, Communications and Maps and Mapping. We also found a greater number of children coming to study as part of their Craft, Design and Technology course.

During the year the guides continued their membership of the Group for Education in Museums and attended various courses concerned with teaching for the National Curriculum and Education in Museums. For the first time this year we did not find any schools coming to us as a result of courses they were following on radio or television.

Once again it is a pleasure to record our grateful thanks to the Guides who not only make the Education Programme possible but also ensure its continuing success: Mrs. Joan Shaw, Mrs. Jean Flemming, Mrs. Sally Owen, and Mrs. Frances Martyn.

James A. Swan Fund
On July 31st 1991 the total assets of the James A. Swan Fund were £34,612. Four grants, totalling £5,500 were given in support of a variety of research projects during the year.

Publications by Staff Members and Research Associates
Barton, N. and Roe, D. A. (Eds.), 1991. The Late Glacial in north-west Europe: human adaptation and environmental change at the end of the Pleistocene, pp. 279. London: Council for British Archaeology (Research Report no. 77).
Inskeep, Ray (Ed.) Archaeology and Arid Environments (in) World Archaeology, 22(3): pp.247-366.
La Rue, Hélène, 1991. A Whole Room for Music, Pitt Rivers Museum.
Mitchell, P. J., 1990. A palaeoecological model for Late Glacial and Upper Pleniglacial human settlement in Southern Africa (in) C. Gamble and O. Soffer (Eds): The World at 18,000 BP. London: Allen & Unwin.
Mitchell, P. J., 1990. A preliminary report on the Later Stone Age industrial sequence from Tloutle Rockshelter, Western Lesotho. South Africa Journal of Science
Mitchell, P. J. and Parkington, J. E., 1990. The archaeology of the Hololo Crossing Rockshelter. Cape Town: University of Cape Town.
Mitchell, P. J. One hundred and twenty years of archaeological research in Lesotho. African Archaeological Review.
Mitchell, P. J. and Steinberg, J M. Natwana Tsoana: a Middle Stone Age sequence from Western Lesotho. South African Archaeological Bulletin.
Mitchell, P. J. and Vogel, J. C. Implications of recent radiocarbon dates from Western Lesotho. South African Journal of Science.
Morphy, Howard, 1991, with Luke Taylor. ‘Interview with Djon Scott-Mundine’ (in) Taylor, L. (Ed) More Than Meets The Eye, Canberra: National Museum of Australia: 10-14.
Mowat, Linda, 1991. Symbols of Kings - Benin Art at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Pitt Rivers Museum.
Mowat, Linda & Elizabeth Edwards. 1991. ‘Terminology at the Pitt Rivers Museum - The Pragmatic Approach’ (in) Roberts, D.A. (Ed) Terminology for Museums, Cambridge: Museums Documentation Association.
Waldren, W. H., Ensenyat Alcover, J. and C. Cubi Grimalt, 1990. Excavation Report: Son Bas, Balaeric Prehistoric Sanctuary of Son Mas, circa 2100 BC to 200 BC, Baden-Powell Quaternary Research Centre, Oxford University and Deia Archaeological Museum and Research Centre, Deia, Mallorca, Baleares Spain, DAMARC Series 19.
Waldren, W. H., Ensenyat Alcover, J. and C. Cubi Grimalt, 1991. Prehistoric Architectural Elements: Ferrandell-Oleza Chalcolithic Old Settlement, Valdemossa, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain, Baden-Powell Quaternary Research Centre, Oxford University and Deia Archaeological Museum and Research Centre, Deia, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain, DAMARC Series 20.
Waldren, W. H. 1991. Myotragus balearicus: An Extinct Pleistocene Antelope from the Island of Mallorca, Materials from the Cave of Muleta, Soller, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain, A Descriptive Report, Baden-Powell Quarternary Research Centre, Oxford University and Deia Archaeological Museum and Research Centre, Deia, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain, DAMARC 21.
Waldren, W. H., M. Van Strydonck, 1991. Ferrandell-Oleza Prehistoric Settlement Complex: Younger Settlement, Talayot 1, Dating the Activity Sequences of the Structure, A Radiocarbon Analyses Survey. Baden-Powell Quarternary Research Centre, Oxford University and Deia Archaeological Museum and Research Centre, Deia, Mallorca, Baleares Spain, DAMARC Series 22.
Waldren, H. W., Ensenyat Alcover J. and R. C. Kennard, 1991. Second Deia Conference of Prehistory: Archaeological Techniques and Technology, Tempus Separatum, BAR International Series, Oxford.
Waldren, W. H., 1991. Age Determination, Chronology and Radiocarbon Recalibration in the Balearic Islands, (in) W. H. Waldren, J. Ensenyat Alcover and R. C. Kennard (Eds.), The Second Deia Conference of Prehistory, Vol. I, Tempus Separatum, BAR International Series, Oxford.
Waldren, W. H., 1991. Simple Approaches to the Analysis of Prehistoric Pottery, (in) W. H. Waldren, J. Ensenyat Alcover and R. C. Kennard (Eds), The Second Deia Conference of Prehistory, Vol. II, Tempus Separatum, BAR International Series, Oxford.
Waldren, W. H. Ensenyat Alcover, J. and C. Cubi Grimalt, 1991. The Balearic Prehistoric Sanctuary of Son Mas, circa 2100 BC to 200 BC, Valldemossa, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain, (in) W. H. Waldren, J. Ensenyat Alcover and R. C. Kennard (Eds), The Second Deia Conference of Prehistory, Vol. I, Tempus Separatum, BAR International Series, Oxford.

Staff Activities
Mrs Elizabeth Edwards finished editing the volume sponsored by the Royal Anthropological Institute (Anthropology and Photography, 1860-1920) which is now in press with Yale University Press. In October she made a research trip to Germany to see a major exhibition of anthropological photography (Der geraubte Schatten) and to discuss the project with a number of those involved with it. She also availed herself of the opportunity to do research in some of the collections. She attended the RAI Film Festival in Manchester, the Museum Ethnographers Group Conference What is Ethnography? in Bristol, and various other specialist seminars and workshops. In February she gave a lecture to the Friends of the Pitt Rivers Museum. During the reporting period she also ran seminars on aspects of photography curatorship and collections management for a number of archive and museum bodies.
Mr Ray Inskeep answered enquiries throughout the year which ranged from a request for information on the material culture of the Blemmyes to how to structure an introductory course of lectures for undergraduates on the archaeology of Africa (from Perth, Australia). A number of visiting scholars were accorded access to collections for study purposes. Arrangements were concluded during the year for the transfer of the Tollard Royal Iron Age collection to Salisbury Museum, and much time was spent in arranging for the very large collection of Upper Palaeolithic material excavated by Dr. N. Barton to be transferred to its owners, the Bournemouth City Museum. A considerable amount of time was also devoted in the summer months to sorting and re-packing a large part of the Baden-Powell mollusca collection prior to its removal so that the computer network could be installed. Mr. Inskeep also undertook planning of the layout of the computer room, having been the prime mover behind the idea of a computer facility for graduate students and other users. Thanks to the efforts of technician Mr. John Simmons, good progress was made during the year on the re-organisation of the reserve collections of archaeological materials at 60 Banbury Road.
Dr. Schuyler Jones, in addition to lecturing to graduate and undergraduate students, supervising doctoral candidates, and attending meetings in Oxford and London, spent a good deal of time on matters related to fund-raising. In July and September he was once again in Copenhagen, continuing research on Tibet and Prince Peter's Tibetan Collections in the National Museum. August was spent in Western Greenland in Sisimiut kommune where he obtained some Inuit artefacts for the museum and participated in the excavation of Dorset and Saqqaq sites with a small team of Danish archaeologists. During this reporting period he completed work on his book-length annotated bibliography of Afghanistan, which is to be published early in 1992. He remains a Trustee of the Horniman Museum and a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the History of Collections.
Dr. Hélène La Rue decided to concentrate on trying to get a 'first entry' for every musical instrument into the computer database. This was completed successfully within the year. Now work is being carried out to add to and correct the information held. As a result of this survey she noted that instruments were not only on view in displays according to their use (e.g. ritual, etc.) but that the card entries were often filed under those headings. This means that there are more musical instruments than we had previously thought.
Having completed work on the musical instrument data base Dr. La Rue worked out a related system for classifying recordings in the Sound Archive. In the course of this she discovered just how large our sound archive actually is: probably the largest of any Museum in the United Kingdom.
Dr. La Rue continued to edit the CIMCIM Newsletter. She also attended the UK Council for Indian Music and is a committee member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Howard Morphy was Junior Proctor for 1991-1992 and spent most of his time on University business. He remained a Council Member of the Royal Anthropological Institute and a Trustee of the Esperanza Fund. He is on the Editorial Boards of Man, Oceania, and Art History and became Editor, with Fred Myers (NYU), of a Series for OUP on ‘the Anthropology of Cultural Forms’. Dr. Morphy gave Seminar papers at Cambridge, London (RAI workshop Anthropology/biology), Kent, Reading, UCL, and Edinburgh. He was awarded a research grant by the ESRC enabling him to employ a research assistant to study competing conceptions of landscape in Northern Australia. Dr. Morphy became Chairman of the Standing Committee for the School of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Mrs Linda Mowat attended the Annual General Meeting of the Museum Ethnographer's Group in Bristol in May 1991, and continued to edit MEG NEWS, the organization's newsletter. In August she attended a one-week Oxford Summer School in Plaited Basketry as background for the 1992 BASKETMAKERS exhibition. During the week she organized a visit to the Museum and reserve collections for course members. As well as learning the elements of basket making she was able to acquire two early 20th century Northeastern American baskets for the Museum from a fellow course member and to establish useful contacts with professional basketmakers with a view to preparing an educational programme to accompany the exhibition in 1992.
Dr. Derek Roe continued his usual teaching of graduates and undergraduates, and his research on Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology in Britain and elsewhere, notably East Africa. He is contributing text to two major forthcoming publications on East African sites: East Turkana (the work of the late G. L. Isaac and his colleagues) and Olduvai Gorge (Mary Leakey's volume on Beds III, IV and Masek). During the year he added to his existing editorial commitments membership of the Prehistoric Society's new Editorial Board, and advised in detail on several full length texts, and some shorter ones, for various publishers and authors. In April 1991, during a visit to the United States, he lectured at Harvard University. He gave special lectures on three occasions at Oxford; made study visits to excavations in progress in Britain; and advised the National Museum of Wales on the content and possible dispersal of the vast Stopes Collection of Lower Palaeolithic artefacts.
Dr. Donald Tayler, apart from his curatorial and teaching commitments, was Assessor for the Geography moderations option in Ethnology, and acted as Chairman of Examiners for the M.St. and M. Phil in Ethnology and Museum Ethnography. From Trinity Term he was the ethnology co-ordinator for the Human Sciences Prelims and Chairman of their Library Committee. He continued to advise on Amerindian entries for the Oxford Illustrated Encylopaedia.

Friends of the Pitt Rivers (Mrs. Sally Owen and Mrs. Felicity Wood)
The Friends Lecture programme for 1990/91 was marked by the first Beatrice Blackwood Lecture in October, which was given by Professor Ernest Gellner and entitled Anthropology between East and West, and between Love and Curiosity. This, the Friends' first public lecture, was given at Rhodes House and honours the memory of the remarkable Somerville anthropologist who served the Pitt Rivers for forty-eight years.

In the Autumn of 1990, an evening event was held at the Balfour Building with a private view of the Bell Push exhibition and a recital by the Launton Handbell Ringers.
    
On two separate evenings Friends of the museum enjoyed an illustrated talk by Linda and David Mowat on their visit to Southern India and a discussion between Schuyler Jones, Howard Morphy, Dale Idiens, and David Jones on current curatorial problems concerning human remains and sacred objects in museum collections.
    
In the Spring of 1991 Elizabeth Edwards gave a talk on photographs, anthropology and history, Stephen Hooper spoke on Fijian decorated bark cloth, and Tim Allen gave a lecture on the recent excavations at the Vineyard, Abingdon. The Friends sponsored the exhibition of photographs of Maori life: Whakaahua, their first exhibition. In June, the Friends were invited to the private view of Wamo: an exhibition of photographs of New Guinea, taken in 1911 and 1912 by Diamond Jenness. This was busy evening for some as it was followed by the A.G.M., a film on Trobriand Cricket and a buffet supper for Sally Owen who was stepping down after 7 years as secretary, having served in that capacity since the founding of the Friends. Felicity Wood was elected Hon. Secretary.
    
In September a group of 10 Friends had a successful four day visit to Leiden and Amsterdam. They visited museums in Leiden and had an especially interesting visit to the Tropical Museum, Amsterdam where they were met by some of the curators and shown the reserve collections.
    
Our Friends continue to provide volunteers who give valuable help in running the Education Service. Friends have also been on duty in the museum during times staff shortages and have helped in the Balfour Library.

Acquisition and Disposal Policy
At the recommendation of the Museums and Galleries Commission we publish herewith our Acquisition and Disposal Policy [not transcribed]