Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford

The museum was established in 1884 when Augustus Pitt Rivers donated his private collection to the University of Oxford. A primary condition of the gift was the establishment of a permanent lectureship in anthropology at the university.

Following the Deed of Gift, Edward Burnett Tylor was appointed the first Reader in Anthropology in the UK in 1885, fulfilling the requirement for a permanent academic post.

To house the donated collection, architect Thomas Manly Deane was commissioned to design a structure adjoining the rear of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Construction of the new building began in 1885 and was completed in 1886.

The largest object in the museum's collection is a Haida totem pole, 11.36 meters tall, which originated from the Star House in Old Massett, Haida Gwaii. It was purchased by Edward Burnett Tylor and transported to the museum in 1901.

In 2004, the museum received a grant of £3,700,000 from the Higher Education Funding Council for England to construct an adjoining annex. Completed in 2007, the project returned academic staff to the site and provided a new conservation laboratory.

A second phase of development began in July 2008, resulting in the closure of the galleries. The museum reopened in May 2009 with a new entrance platform, an environmental control system, and a layout restoring the original view of the totem pole.

The museum was closed to the public from 17 March 2020 to 22 September 2020 due to the pandemic. During this time, the museum made critical decisions to remove human remains, including shrunken heads, from public display.