The following letters and documents are transcriptions, they are all relevant to the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum and to the development of museum anthropology at Oxford. For a full catalogue of all Pitt Rivers Museum manuscript collections see here. Please note that these have been transcribed and not edited, all misspellings or mis-punctations are in the original and are not sic'd. Warning: these letters have not been proofread except by the transcriber
For a full list of all the transcribed correspondence which relates to the Pitt-Rivers founding collection, see here
Pitt-Rivers to Augustus Wollaston Franks 1880 About the proposal that Pitt-Rivers' founding collection rather than being kept at South Kensington Museum (and expanded) should be transferred to the care of the British Museum. Augustus Wollaston Franks, (1826-1897), collector and museum keeper, British Museum. See here for more information about him. [PRM ms collections Box 1, 1-33: 1-4]
H.N. Moseley to A.W. Franks March 1881 describing the benefits of having the Pitt-Rivers collection at Oxford, 'think the collection would be a splendid gain to Oxford and would do much in the way of letting light into the place and would draw well. Besides of course it would act as an introduction to all the other art collections & about to be made and would be of extreme value to students of anthropology in which subject we hope to allow men to take degrees very shortly.' [PRM ms collections Box 1, 1-33: 5-6]
Oxford University Gazette 30 May 1882, Decree to Convocation about the Pitt-Rivers Collection and its benefits to Oxford [PRM ms collections Box 1, 1-33: 7]
Letter from E.B. Tylor to Pitt-Rivers, 24 September 1882 writing about the effect that Oxford's acceptance of Pitt-Rivers' founding collection might have upon the plan to bring anthropology 'into the University course'. [NB this is not held by the Pitt Rivers Museum but in the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum's Pitt-Rivers papers, L8, it has been included here because it is very relevant]
Report for the Hebdomadal Council 19 January 1883 of the committee of members of Convocation considering the offer of the founding collection [PRM ms collections Box 1, 1-33: 8-11]
Report to Convocation, January 1883 describing the Pitt-Rivers founding collection and its use for University students etc, The same report was circulated in the University Gazette of 6 February 1883 [PRM Box 1, 1-33: 12-13]
Letters from E.B. Tylor to Pitt-Rivers February and March 1883 regarding the forthcoming anthropological lectures Tylor was to give in the OUMNH lecture theatre on February 15 and 21st and asking for more information about weapons series. [NB this is not held by the Pitt Rivers Museum but in the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum's Pitt-Rivers papers, L79, L80, L83, they have been included here because they are very relevant]
Letter from Pitt-Rivers to E.B. Tylor, dated 5 February 1883, answering the first letter above, giving what Pitt-Rivers would say about his collection, in summary, at a lecture and including his view on the collection's education value. [NB this is not held by the Pitt Rivers Museum but in the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum's Pitt-Rivers papers, L106, it has been included here because it is very relevant]
Deed of Gift, signed by the University of Oxford and Pitt-Rivers 20.5.1885 [Copy, PRM Pitt Rivers Museum papers, Box 2: 20] Note that a version of the above was also published in the University Gazette of 13 May 1884.
