News

Journalists should contact press@prm.ox.ac.uk for further details and images concerning the Museum, its collections, research projects, events and activities. Download our press releases.

Hair of Tasmanian Aboriginal People Returned Home 24 March 2025

The Pitt Rivers Museum is returning five ancestral remains to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre. The five remains are all samples of human hair taken during the period of Imperial expansion and the colonisation of Tasmania without the consent of Tasmanian Aboriginal people. The hair was transferred into the care of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre during a small ceremony on Monday 24 March 2025. Two Tasmanian Aboriginal delegates travelled to Oxford to receive the hair samples and take them home.

Three of the hair samples had entered the museum collections as transfers from other departments of the University in 1886; one was donated in 1914 and the other was acquired at an unknown date. None of the remains have been on display in the Museum. The identities of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people from whom the hair was taken are not known.

Living Cultures 2024: Reconnecting with the Objects 30 September 2024

As the next step in the Maasai Living Cultures Project, a delegation of Maasai family representatives, plus representatives from PALCA, Orkiaama and Oltoilo le Maa, visited Oxford to reconnect with their family objects and to decide on their future care. After a week of healing ceremonies and deliberations, and following advice from Mokompo, it was decided that the objects would remain in the care of the Museum. Further information.

Statement from Prof. Laura Van Broekhoven, Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, in response to Museum hides mask "not for women's eyes" article in the Telegraph, 18 June 2024:

"This is a non-story. The Igbo mask has not been removed from display, as it was never on display and no one has ever been denied access to it.

 The Museum’s online collections now carry a cultural context message, which allows users, especially those from different cultures around the world, to actively choose which items they wish to see, and which to remain blurred from view. Only around 3,000 of our object records carry such a warning, so less than 1% of the overall collection.  No digital assets are withheld from view from women."

 Background information:

  • Contrary to an article which appeared in this morning’s Daily Telegraph, the Pitt Rivers Museum is not withholding an Igbo mask from display because it should not be shown to women. The mask in question is in storage in the museum, and there is no record of it ever having been put on public display. The museum displays around 50,000 items from its overall collection of around 350,000 objects.

  • Some collections and imagery of them are not appropriate for general public access online, and in this case, direct contact with the museum staff is encouraged to discuss the research need to consult them. Overwhelmingly this is for human remains, graphic or personal content, but also for copyright or other legal reasons. Only about 2,200 digital assets out of over 250,000 objects (less than 1%) are withheld from public view in this way. 

  • The primary purpose of the sensitivity warnings is to protect people who may find these images culturally distressing, rather than from stopping visitors or researchers seeing them or doing research on them. We have a global collection and as such, have a responsibility to more than one community. Users of the online collections database can choose whether to proceed with or without these warnings.

  • The Museum is not working with groups to ensure that that objects are ‘selectively displayed’. We are working with groups to allow them to decide how their own cultures are represented.

  • A 15th century Indian statue has been claimed for return from the Ashmolean Museum collection, not the Pitt Rivers. Further information on this is available here.

First Nations Ancestors Returned Home from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum 4 October 2023

On Wednesday 4 October 2023 the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum held a ceremony to return the remains of eleven ancestors to representatives of the respective communities and the Australian Government. Five of these ancestors are being returned to the custodianship of their respective communities, whilst six are being returned under Australian Government stewardship. Full press release.

Social Sciences Research Impact & Engagement Team and Pitt Rivers Museum shortlisted for Vice-Chancellor’s Professional Services collaboration award 20 February 2023

A dynamic collaboration between the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Social Sciences Division’s Research Impact & Engagement Team has been shortlisted for a prestigious Vice-Chancellor’s Professional Services Award for Collaboration. Further information

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ancestors Returned Home from the Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford University Museum of Natural History 10 November 2022

On Wednesday 9 November 2022 the Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford University Museum of Natural History held a ceremony to return the remains of 18 ancestors to representatives of the Australian Government and the First Nations People of the South East. More information.

Pitt Rivers Museum Director wins prestigious Kenneth Hudson Award for Institutional Courage and Professional Integrity 9 May 2022

We are delighted to announce that Prof. dr. Laura Van Broekhoven, Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, has been awarded the 2022 Kenneth Hudson Award for Institutional Courage and Professional Integrity. 

The award was announced at the European Museum of the Year Conference and Annual Award Ceremony, organised by the European Museum Forum (EMF) and hosted by the Estonian National Museum, Tartu, Estonia, from 4-7 May 2022. Further information 

Innovative Multaka-Oxford project at Oxford University Museums supported by £1million funding from Alwaleed Philanthropies 22 November 2021

We are thrilled to announce today that the award-winning Multaka-Oxford project has received landmark new funding. A generous £1million donation from Alwaleed Philanthropies will allow this innovative project at Oxford University’s History of Science Museum and Pitt Rivers Museum to run for a further five years. Full press release

Benin Bronzes: Statement from Oxford University's Gardens, Libraries and Museums 29 March 2021

Oxford University's Gardens, Libraries and Museums hold approximately 105 objects taken during the 1897 looting of Benin City; they are currently under the stewardship of the Pitt Rivers Museum.

The Pitt Rivers Museum has been working with Nigerian stakeholders, including representatives of the Royal Court and the Legacy Restoration Trust, to identify best ways forward regarding the care and return of these objects from the Court currently in the museums' care. Delegates from the Royal Court have visited Pitt Rivers (in 2017 and again in 2018), and representatives from the Pitt Rivers visited Nigeria in 2019 as part of the Benin Dialogue Group. This work is part of the Museum's continuous programme to research the composition and provenance of the collections and identify collections that were taken as part of military violence or looting, or otherwise contentious circumstances and engage in conversations with external partners about the future care of these objects.

Since 2017 the Museum has been part of the Benin Dialogue Group and subsequently the Digital Benin Project, a multi-lateral collaborative working group, bringing together museum directors and delegates from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, with representatives of the Edo State Government, the Royal Court of Benin and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria. Member museums are seeking to address the issues of return and restitution within their own governance structures. There are different laws that apply in different countries to the field of culture and the return of cultural objects. Conversation are developing at a differing pace in the various countries for initiating permanent returns.

We acknowledge the profound loss the 1897 looting of Benin City caused and, alongside our partners of the Benin Dialogue Group, we aim to work with stakeholders in Nigeria to be part of a process of redress.

Any request for the return of these artefacts would fall within article 2.2 of Oxford University's Procedures for claims for the return of Cultural Objects.

More information at https://prm.web.ox.ac.uk/committed-to-change.

Oxford University study leads cutting-edge scientific and historic analysis of elephant tusks found in 500-year old shipwreck 17 December 2020

An international team, including researchers from Oxford University, has discovered the origin of the largest cargo of African ivory found from the oldest shipwreck in southern Africa. This unique story that links shipwrecks, precious gold and silver cargo, diamond mining and elephants also highlights the extensive depletion of the West African forest elephant due to the ivory trade and the need for conservation of this majestic animal. Further information.

New Collecting Awards help curators to expand and diversify museums’ collections 3 December 2020

On 3 December 2020 Art Fund announced £300,000 in funding to help grow and diversify museum collections, awarded to rising curators through Art Fund’s New Collecting Awards. Five UK curators, including Marenka Thompson-Odlum at the Pitt Rivers Museum, have been announced as the latest winners of the New Collecting Awards and will receive funding to pursue projects that build and diversify their museums’ holdings. Further information.

Pitt Rivers Museum reopening reveals critical changes to displays as part of decolonisation process 14 September 2020

When the Pitt Rivers Museum reopens its doors to the public on 22 September 2020, visitors will see changes to some of the Museum's more contentious displays. Following an internal Review of Displays and Programming from an Ethical Perspective, all displays containing human remains have now been removed, including the popular 'shrunken heads' and new displays have been installed. Further information.

Pitt Rivers Museum and Museum of Natural History to reopen on 22 September 8 September 2020

The Pitt Rivers Museum and the Museum of Natural History are delighted to announce that they will both reopen to the public on Tuesday 22 September. Further information.

Major Funding Award from the Arts Council Designated Development Fund, 17 December 2019

The Pitt Rivers Museum is delighted to announce that it has been awarded £90,000 from the Arts Council Designated Development Fund, drawn from the National Lottery. This funding will enable a project to undertake conservation, research, photography and digitisation of the Museum's internationally significant textile and clothing collections. https://bit.ly/35vYHzw

Oxford University Museums win Collections Trust Award 2019 for project working with forced migrants, 16 September 2019

An award-winning project at the Pitt Rivers Museum and the History of Science Museum has received further recognition for its work creating volunteering opportunities for forced migrants. Multaka-Oxford was named winner of the 2019 Collections Trust Award at a ceremony on Thursday 12 September. Further information.

Professor Michèle Mendelssohn awarded TORCH-Pitt Rivers Museum KE Fellowship, 4 September 2019

Professor Michèle Mendelssohn has been awarded the TORCH-Pitt Rivers Museum Knowledge Exchange Fellowship. Further information.

Professor Clare Harris is elected to a Fellowship of the British Academy, 19 July 2019

The Pitt Rivers Museum is delighted to announce that Professor Clare Harris has been elected to the Fellowship of the British Academy in recognition of her outstanding research on visual/material culture of the Himalayas, Tibet and the Tibetan diaspora. Further information.

Pitt Rivers Museum wins University Public Engagement with Research Award

The Pitt Rivers Museum has won a Building Capacity Award in the 2019 University of Oxford Vice-Chancellor's Public Engagement with Research Awards. Press Release

Tsherin Sherpa is 'Artist in Residence' at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

Internationally acclaimed Tibetan/Nepalese artist, Tsherin Sherpa, has been visiting the Pitt Rivers Museum in June and July 2019 with funding from an Origins and Futures grant to conduct research on the Museum's collections from Tibet and the Himalayas. This will lead to an installation and exhibition inspired by the spaces, histories and objects of the Pitt Rivers, that will be on display in the Museum in 2022. Tsherin's residency is hosted by Clare Harris, Professor of Visual Anthropology and Curator for Asian Collections at the Pitt Rivers. For more information on the artist see https://bit.ly/327K04b.

Multaka-Oxford Volunteer Team wins Museums + Heritage Award

On 15 May 2019 the winners of the 17th Annual Museums + Heritage Awards were announced. The Multaka-Oxford Volunteer Team (Pitt Rivers Museum & History of Science Museum) won Volunteer Team of the Year.  Press Release

Pitt Rivers Museum shortlisted for £100,000 Art Fund Museum of the Year 2019

On 25 April 2019 it was announced that the Pitt Rivers Museum has been selected as one of five finalists for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2019, regarded as the largest and most prestigious museum prize in the world. The other four museums shortlisted are HMS Caroline, Belfast; Nottingham Contemporary; St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff; and V&A Dundee. Art Fund Museum of the Year 2019 Press Release.

Museum Curators receive £200,000 to boost research through Headley Fellowships with Art Fund

On 7 March 2019 it was announced that Professor Dan Hicks, Curator of Archaeology at the Pitt Rivers Museum, is one of the first recipients of funding from the Headley Fellowships with Art Fund. Professor Hicks will be researching the untold colonial histories in the Pitt Rivers collections. Project dates: April 2019 - March 2020. Further information.

Pitt Rivers Museum wins DCMS/Wolfson funding for Engaging the Senses Project
14 Jan 2019
The Pitt Rivers Museum had been awarded £70,500 in the latest round of DCMS/Wolfson funding awards, aimed at helping museums increase access to their collections. This award will fund Engaging the Senses: Activating the Pitt Rivers Museum’s Photograph and Sound Collections through digital audio-visual technology. Further information.

Multaka-Oxford Project starts at Pitt Rivers Museum and Museum of History of Science

Multaka-Oxford is a project funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund until September 2019. It focuses on two collections at the museums: Islamic astronomical instruments at the History of Science Museum, and a recent acquisition of textiles from the Middle East at the Pitt Rivers. Click here for further information.

Pitt Rivers Museum wins Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund award

The Pitt Rivers Museum and the History of Science Museum have been successful in securing a major grant in support of a programme which will enable those affected by forced migration to play an important role through curation and public engagement with relevant collections. Further information.

Repatriation of Māori Ancestral Remains

On Wednesday 17 May 2017, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford handed over to representatives of the Karanga Repatriation Programme of Te Papa Tongarewa (The National Museum of New Zealand) the Māori ancestral remains previously cared for at the University of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum. The remains comprise seven toi moko (‘ancestral mummified heads’), and three kōiwi tangata (parts of a skull). More information.

Diversifying the University Voice – IT Innovation Award

The Pitt Rivers Museum, in partnership with TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities), has been awarded £60,000 from the University of Oxford IT Innovation Challenges Fund to create two mobile apps to share Oxford’s diverse voices, stories, research and collections to a wider public. Further information.

Professor Laura Peers wins Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement with Research 2016

The Pitt Rivers Museum is delighted to announce that Professor Laura Peers has won a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement with Research. Professor Peers won an award in the Project category with the outstanding Great Box project, a partnership project with the Haida Gwaii Museum and artists Jaalen Edenshaw and Gwaii Edenshaw. Further information about the award 

Appointment of new Director of Pitt Rivers Museum

Dr Laura Van Broekhoven, Head of the Curatorial Department and Curator of Middle and South America at the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (encompassing the Tropenmuseum, Volkenkunde and Afrika Museum) in the Netherlands and Assistant Professor of Archaeology at Leiden University, has been appointed as the new Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum. She will take up the directorship on 1 March 2016. Press release.

DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund Award

The Pitt Rivers Museum is delighted to have been awarded nearly £40,000 from DCMS/Wolfson Foundation's Museum and Galleries Improvement Fund, enabling the Museum to commission major new cases in which to display some of its outstanding collection of model artefacts, ranging from temples to tipis, from planes to palanquins and from canoes to igloos. Further information.

DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund award

The Pitt Rivers Museum is delighted to have been awarded £64,845 from DCMS/Wolfson Foundation’s Museum and Galleries Improvement Fund, enabling the purchase of a major new display case in which to exhibit the Captain Cook collections, brought back from his voyages to the South Seas in the 18th century. 

Pitt Rivers Museum wins £1m Heritage Lottery Funding

We are delighted to announce that we have received a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund of £1,049,400 towards our £1.6m project VERVE (Visitors, Engagement, Renewal, Visibility, Enrichment).

‘Excavating Pitt-Rivers’ Project

The Victorian archaeologist General Pitt-Rivers is world-famous for his development of modern scientific archaeology, but the earliest archaeological collections that he made have never been studied. The Pitt Rivers Museum, where these artefacts are held, has been awarded £76,654 by Arts Council England’s Designation Development Fund to document this important early material. 

Small Blessings – Amulets at the Pitt Rivers website launched August 2012

Explore these curious objects from Adrien de Mortillet's amulet collection and discover the intriguing stories behind them. See the website here.

Composer residency

We are delighted to announce that Sound and Music has awarded Nathaniel Robin Mann a joint residency with Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford Contemporary Music (OCM) through their ‘Embedded’ programme.

Renaissance Major Grant from Arts Council England – 2012 to 2015

The Pitt Rivers Museum, as part of an Oxford University and Oxfordshire County Museums consortium, has been awarded a Renaissance ‘Major Grant’ from Arts Council England (ACE).