Introduction to the Museum

Outline of the Pitt Rivers Museum in the 1990s

Documentation in the Museum

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The Pitt Rivers Museum is notable for two things: firstly, its displays are set up in to show objects typologically; secondly, each display case shows many objects - that is the displays are much denser than has become the norm for British museums. The Museum consists of three floors of permanent displays that are occasionally reorganised (e.g. see section on re-display in the upper gallery). There is also a small temporary exhibition space just inside the main entrance to the Museum, created in the mid-1960s, which is used to house special exhibitions on specific topics. These temporary exhibitions last for about a year. The Museum also has a smaller display area in the Balfour Building on Banbury Road, which is used for permanent displays of musical instruments and hunting and gathering societies' material culture, and for small temporary exhibitions.