Events in the history of the Pitt Rivers Museum that took place in 1879.
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 | 28 | Pitt-Rivers is re-elected vice president of Anthropological Institute | Peter Rivière from contemporary newspapers | |
| February | 12 | Mr Parker writes to George Rowell accusing him of neglect of the Ashmolean collections and of its catalogue according to a letter to Professor Westwood dated July 1879, this appears to be the letter dated 13 February 1879 in Rowell's printed pamphlet | Ovenell Papers Ashmolean Museum RFO/A/3/11 / Printed pamphlet | |
| February | 21 | George Rowell writes to Parker [Keeper of the Ashmolean] disputing his account of the catalogue work, and in a following letter dated 26 February sends Parker the catalogue as it is at that point. He is working at the OUMNH on the Barlee collection of shells [he seems to have worked at the OUMNH in the winter and the Ashmolean in the summer] | Ovenell Papers Ashmolean Museum RFO/A/3/11 Printed pamphlet | |
| March | 14 | Tylor gives lecture to Royal Institution on the history of games | Megan Price pers comm. | |
| April | by | Edward Evans (who appears to have worked (as did George Rowell, his immediate senior) part of the time at the Ashmolean Museum and part at the OUMNH), is asked by J.H. Parker, Keeper of the Ashmolean, to work full time at the Ashmolean Museum helping to complete the catalogue started by George Rowell, whilst Rowell continues his work on a shell collection at the OUMNH. Rowell's arrangement is that he works in the summer at the Ashmolean and in the winter at the OUMNH. A letter dated 6 May 1879 from Parker to Rowell makes it clear that Parker asked Professor Smith to appoint an assistant to Rowell at the OUMNH to replace Evans. | Ovenell papers, Ashmolean Museum RFO/A/3/11 printed pamphlet copy of letter dated 28 April 1879 to Rowell from JH Parker | |
| April | 26 | Rowell reports to Parker that he has completed his catalogue of the Barlee collection of shells at OUMNH and had intended returning to the Ashmolean Museum to work. However, because he was informed that day that the manuscript catalogues he had prepared had been altered by Evans without his consent, 'I beg to inform you under these conditions I will gladly withdraw from the Museum at the end of my present year, i.e., on the first of June. | Ovenell papers, Ashmolean Museum RFO/A/3/11 printed pamphlet copy of letter dated 26 April 1879 from Rowell to JH Parker | |
| May | 1 | Rowell resumes work at the Ashmolean Museum (in accordance with his normal procedure, according to a letter of July 1879 to Professor Westwood |
Ovenell Papers Ashmolean Museum RFO/A/3/11 |
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| May | 6 | Parker writes to Rowell explaining his version of the disputed catalogue trouble. |
Ovenell Papers Ashmolean Museum RFO/A/3/11 |
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| May | 14 | Rowell sends J.H. Parker, Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, his note of resignation from his post at the Ashmolean Museum, according to Rowell he offers to continue to complete the Catalogue of the Ashmolean collection | Ovenell, 1986: 236; Ovenell Papers Ashmolean Museum RFO/A/3/11 [letter dated February 1880 to Bartholomew Price] | He continues to work at the OUMNH |
| June | 1 | Rowell intends to end his employment at the Ashmolean Museum according to a letter dated 26 April 1879 from Rowell to JH Parker, reiterated in further letter from Rowell to Parker dated 14 May 1879. | Ovenell papers, Ashmolean Museum RFO/A/3/11 printed pamphlet | |
| June | 20 | Rowell sends Parker his statement of payment, and offers to make up the Ashmolean Museum's account as usual for past year. During this time the source of the payment for Rowell's work at the OUMNH (whether it should be the Ashmolean or the OUMNH) comes into dispute. | Ovenell papers, Ashmolean Museum RFO/A/3/11 printed pamphlet | |
| July | 9 | George Rowell writes to Professor Westwood to dispute his account of the preparation of catalogues of the Ashmolean collections | Ovenell papers Ashmolean Museum RFO/A/3/11 | |
| August | 20 | J.H. Parker sends Rowell a final proof of (part?) the Catalogue of the Ashmolean Museum | Ovenell Papers Ashmolean Museum RFO/A/3/11 [letter dated February 1880 to Bartholomew Price] | |
| August - September | No day | Tylor attends BAAS meeting in Sheffield, he gives an address on man's antiquity | Relational Museum timeline; Megan Price pers comm. | |
| September | ||||
| October | after 2 | Rowell publishes a printed pamphlet 'for private circulation' of his correspondence with JH Parker and Professor Westwood regarding the catalogue of the Ashmolean Museum collections. He must have printed a first copy before this date but Parker asks that he includes a letter date 2 October on the blank page at the back of the pamphlet | Ovenell papers, Ashmolean Museum RFO/A/3/11 printed pamphlet | |
| November | 20 | Report appears in the Standard newspaper of the discovery of some Ashmolean Museum artefacts in an out-house of the museum. This discovery caused great controversy and publicity. In January 1881 J.H. Parker published a pamphlet printing the correspondence with George Rowell about this discovery (similar to the pamphlet printed by Rowell about the correspondence relating to the catalogue of the collections) | Ovenell papers, Ashmolean Museum RFO/A/3/11 printed pamphlet 2 | |
| December | ||||
| Unspecified | Tylor lectures at Royal Institution | Relational Museum timeline | ||
| Unspecified | Moseley elected Fellow of Royal Society | DNB entry | ||
| Unspecified | Moseley elected Fellow of Zoological Society | DNB entry | ||
| Unspecified | Moseley appointed assistant registrar to University of London until 1881 | DNB entry | ||
| Unspecified | Moseley publishes Notes by a Naturalist on the Challenger | DNB entry | 2nd edition published in 1892 | |
| Unspecified | The Tylors visit the Lake District | Megan Price pers comm. |
AP
