Pitt Rivers Museum

The much-loved Pitt Rivers Museum is unlike any other. Founded in 1884, it houses within an atmospheric building more than 500,000 objects, photographs and manuscripts from all over the world, and from all periods of human existence. Within these are exceptional objects of ritual significance, and objects made for tourists or trade. The Museum is loved by many and is widely regarded as one of the best of its kind. It is also a contested space that calls for innovative curation to engage with the more difficult aspects of its history; a place where many histories collide and where objects from Britain's colonial past sit side by side with more recent (and much older) ones. Curating that space and those collections is a challenge that we embrace. There is a popular perception that the Pitt Rivers Museum is a 'museum of a museum' but in fact none of the original displays still exist. The Museum has always adapted and changed over time, by updating displays, adding to the collections and consciously working to keep it relevant. Today, we continue to undertake this transformational work to ensure that the collections remain meaningful to contemporary audiences, whilst maintaining the multi-layered and dense displays, which have inspired, enthralled and intrigued many generations of visitors. Read our Strategic Plan for more information on how we are working to achieve these aims. Find out more about working with us, including current vacancies and benefits of working for the Museum. From 2012 to 2017, the Pitt Rivers Museum undertook a major £1.6m project called VERVE funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and other generous donors. VERVE (Visitors, Engagement, Renewal, Visibility, Enrichment) employed seven staff and aimed to deepen understanding of the Museum's displays, reach out to a wider and more diverse audience, exploit under-visited areas of the Museum, improve visibility, and address conservation risks. In that time, 1385 objects were put on display, 863 unique events were attended by over 64,000 people, and blog posts were read by over 88,000.