Was that Indiana Jones I just saw?

Every year, or a couple times a year, M has to go over to England for work. Some times this can be a week, or other times it can be a month or several months. More specifically it is a small town outside of Oxford called Abington. It is the home of Morland beer and just about the most exciting thing that happens there is the fact that it has a Tesco. It is located on the Thames and is only a couple hour walk or a 10 minute bs ride into Oxford.

Now Oxford is a nice town. If you are looking for a pub with some great food, you could go to the Turf (go through the Bridge of Sighs and turn left in a small little alley). On High Street, there is a very cool shop selling old maps anywhere from 100 years old to several hundred years old. Plenty of 2nd hand stores and major department stores to keep one busy.

Oxford is also the home of the world’s first modern museum, the Ashmolean. When it first opened, it was impossible to get tickets to kids. Those who were lucky enough to get a ticket, were given 15 minutes to walk on a guided tour. There was no looking around on your own in those days. Of course it was only the upper society that was granted entrance into the museum. Once a year they would open it to the public. The lines would wrap around the block and folk only got a 10 minute look around the museum, guided of course.

It was one of these visits that I found a true gem of a place. It is called The Pitt Rivers Museum. I actually found it on chance one day. I was walking through the University Natural History Museum, looking at all the dinosaurs and stuff, when I noticed a doorway in the rear of the building. The door itself was not ornate, just a wooden door with the name of the museum carved into the stone frame. M was not going to be done for another 4 hours, so I had some time to spare and so I walked through the door.

For the next three weeks, every single day they were open, I went there. I am sure that I could have become friends with the employees, but I was too busy. The Pitt Rivers Museum has over 1 million items. It is about 95% of those items are on display. To put this in perspective, the Smithsonian Institute only shows about .1% of their collection, while the Field Museum in Chicago shows about 2% of their collection. While both of those museum’s collections are larger, their actual buildings are also equally larger. What this means is that the Pitt Rivers is full. Not only that, but it is overflowing with stuff. It is a true Victorian museum.

Quick history lesson, Pitt Rivers was a General in Her Majesty’s Navy. As he traveled the world, he started to see similarities between cultures. So he started to collect things. Not just weaponry, which he did collect a lot of that, but he was one of the first to collect everyday ordinary stuff. His theory is that societies progress towards the same goal and as they progress, they will create the same items as a different society half way around the world using local supplies. When he returned to the UK, he created his museum. What made it different at the time, and still makes it different, is that the displays are not according to societies, but according to the particular items. So all combs will be together and all money will be together through all time. So you may see a silver dollar next to dolphin teeth which were used as money in Fiji.

Every time I walked through the door, I knew that I was going to find something new and did. The music from Indiana Jones would start to play in my head. Allow me to try to visualize the room. The museum itself is three floors. The top two floors open up to the bottom floor. Hanging from the ceiling is several rafts and a totem pole which goes up to the third floor is at the far end. I took N there this year, but we were not very successful with it because there are so many cabinets that the stroller did not really fit. The cabinets are packed solid and do not seem to have any order to them. The cabinet with model boats sits next to the cabinet with musical instruments. The cabinet with the firearms (from the very first to a modern Colt) is next to the cabinet with the shrunken heads (real ones, the first ones I have actually seen). The actual building is Victorian in design, so there is lots of rod iron and very pretty. The museum itself is dark, very dark. This is do to the fact that several of the exhibits are light sensitive and since they are all together, very little light is used. You can borrow flashlights from the gift shop.

The top 10 things at the Pitt Rivers museum

10. Fish scale armor
9. Shrunken heads
8. Item from Captain Cooks journey
7. African masks
6. Hawaiian regalia
5. Coca Cola purse
4. A witch’s spirit trapped in a bottle
3. Harpoons
2. Netsuke
1. Buffalo skin blanket

This place is for sure worth a visit for anyone that is traveling in or around London. Oxford is a simple bus ride away. The city itself is worth a visit, but make sure to save time for a visit to the Pitt Rivers, you will not regret it. Just one thing, do not forget your Indiana Jones hat, you might need it.

For more information concerning the Pitt Rivers Museum, such as opening times and special events, take a look at their website at: www.prm.ox.ac.uk