Current information about Screen 2 shields

Current Pitt Rivers Museum Information About the Shields Displayed in Bethnal Green Museum

This is about shields displayed in 1874 on Screen 2 at Bethnal Green Museum. Each shield is described on a separate page, and the information is presented in the same way in which it is stored on the Museum's database. It is a good example of the type of information now available to visiting researchers at the Pitt Rivers Museum. It includes information available in 1874, plus the results of subsequent research and other work on the shields.

All of the shields described here were donated by Lieutenant-General Pitt Rivers, and formed part of the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, donated in 1884.

How to read the information
Australian Heileman or shield
Parrying sticks and shields, Africa
Parrying shields of double antelopes' horns, India
Long narrow shields from the Asiatic Isles

The entry for each object starts with the description and number given in the 1874 catalogue, followed by the currently available Pitt Rivers Museum information.

For all objects in the Pitt Rivers Museum, information is stored on a computer database. The information for one object is stored in one record, each record being divided into the following fields:

general description: given at the beginning of each record, this is a summation of the entry that follows it, making it easier for researchers to identify the specific object
accession number: each object acquired by the Pitt Rivers Museum is given a unique number. All objects donated by Pitt Rivers are numbered 1884 (the date of accession), followed by a number which relates to the section in the original accession books prepared by PRM staff in the 1920s, and ending with a unique number for each object listed in the section, starting from 1. Thus in 1884.30.3, the date of accession is the first part of the number (1884), 30 is the section of the accession book which relates to this object (it is a section detailing shields), and 3 means that it is the third object listed in that section.
geographical information (Continent, Country, Region and Group of people): for the majority of these entries, little detailed geographical provenancing has been given in previous documentation of the objects. Detailed research at a later date might enable more exact geographical provenancing to be provided
dimensions: these are always given in millimetres. L = length, W = width, Diam = diameter
condition: the current condition of the object. Some of these objects have been conserved by the Conservation Department of the Museum because they were displayed in a special temporary exhibition 'The First Australians', part of the 'Australia in Oxford' event in 1988 - 1989. Other objects were conserved before they were shown as part of the permanent Upper Gallery shield displays in the early 1990s. Unfortunately, but inevitably, many objects were damaged before they arrived at the Museum
documentation: details about publications etc. that mention an object
field collector and when collected: when known, this information is given. Sometimes a range of broad dates is given when a more specific date is not known
other owners: this field gives more information about the previous owners of the shield, and any other available historical information relating to the period between the time that the object was collected in the field and the point when it was received at the Museum
notes: this field gives any other information that is available about the object, including the exact wording of all primary sources of information such as the Museum's accession books, exact descriptions of the shield by curatorial staff, etc. Note that the entries from primary sources are given in historical order, with the earliest entry given first. Some of the primary sources (the so-called black, red and blue books, and the Delivery Catalogues) were prepared before the object was donated to Oxford, by South Kensington Museum staff, or Pitt Rivers himself, or the people responsible for transferring the collections to Oxford. The accession book entry was prepared by a PRM member of staff in the 1920s (that is, significantly after the date of acquisition). Information on objects collected by named field collectors was also collated by PRM staff in a book called 'Collectors Miscellaneous XI'. Many Pitt Rivers objects have labels stuck on to them (either hand-written or printed), giving information about the object. These labels date from before the time the object was received by the PRM, and are usually written by Pitt Rivers
PR number: for objects in the founding collection, this is a number given by Pitt Rivers himself; in the following objects it always matches the number given in the 1874 catalogue. It is often written onto the object itself.