Upcoming closure dates
21 Dec – 5 Jan
Opening hours
The Balfour Library is located on the first floor of the Pitt Rivers Museum. Please press the bell for admittance if you do not have card access.
Term-time: Monday to Friday 12.30 – 16.00 (last entrance 15.45)
Vacation: By appointment only with Librarian.
There is some limited seating for the consultation of Balfour Library material only; for archive visits please contact Librarian.
Registering and borrowing
Any member of the the University of Oxford may register as a reader, but borrowing is normally restricted to undergraduate and postgraduate students of the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography and the School of Archaeology, as well as Human Sciences undergraduates, and academic staff. Other current University of Oxford members may be given borrowing rights, and external readers admitted for reference only use, at the discretion of the Librarian.
Holdings and services
The library holds about 20,000 books, 12,000 pamphlets and 300 journal titles (of which about 150 are current), on the subjects of Archaeology and Anthropology, especially in relation to material culture, art, world music, film and photography. The Balfour Library was founded in 1939 following the donation of around 4000 books and 6000 pamphlets by Lewis Balfour, bequeathed to him by his late father Henry Balfour, the first Curator of the Pitt Rivers Museum.
Services: Photocopier, microfiche, access to OLIS (Oxford Libraries Information Services), to which it contributes bibliographic records. Please note we are unable to offer inter-library loans or copying at this time.
Contacting the Library
Address: Pitt Rivers Museum, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PP, UK
Telephone: +44 1865 270 939
Email: library@prm.ox.ac.uk
Librarian: Mark R. Dickerson
Search the Catalogue
SOLO, Oxford University's online library catalogue, lists around 60% of the Balfour titles. The Balfour Library holdings have a BAL sublocation.
