From Shelf to Showcase: how Pitt Rivers staff create a new display

UPDATE: read more about the work of the Technical Services staff here

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The installation of our new high level displays on the south wall of the Court (ground floor) of the Museum is now really beginning to take off. Two cases of Melanesian carving and a display of Balinese masks are finished, and displays of African and Asian masks are up next for installation.

Creating new displays here at the Museum is a team effort. Deciding what objects should be included involves the VERVE curator, conservators and technicians, with everyone looking at the objects in different ways:

• Curatorial staff look for visually engaging objects with great stories to tell and ensure that culturally sensitive objects are only displayed if appropriate. 

• Technical staff design the display and so look for objects that will make a visually interesting group that complement each other in terms of size, colour and shape. Too keep the Pitt Rivers style, technicians seek to create displays that are 'busy' but still 'clean' and balanced to look at.

• Conservation staff look to remove objects that are too fragile, too susceptible to damage (for example by pests or exposure to light) to be displayed. 

Selection often means retrieving material from storage, which may never have been on public display before. Once the selected objects have been catalogued and conserved they are taken to the Technical Services department and the display starts to be designed.

First, the technician works on the layout, which replicates the case dimensions on a flat table surface, and involves moving objects around so we know they fit and until the arrangement looks at its best.

Layout for the new display of Balinese masks and figurative sculpture
© Pitt Rivers Museum

PRM technician Ady laying out the new displays of masks from Sri Lanka (including 18 'Demons of Disease'), Tibet and China.
© Pitt Rivers Museum

Once the technicians are happy with the layout, they create a three-dimensional mock-up of the case. This enables them to test the display layout properly and make sure all the objects fit well and can be clearly seen by visitors. Suitable mounts and fixings for each object are made, as well as the internal case boards or 'cladding' that the mounts will be attached to. 

Mock-up for new display of West African masks © Pitt Rivers Museum

Complementary colours for the new cases are chosen. For the new displays we've tried to match the colours used in existing cases nearby to tie geographical regions together - so for example displays from Oceanic cultures have a bright blue background, whereas those from Asian cultures use green. Many of the African masks are made of dark-coloured woods or painted with earth-tone pigments, so we opted for a soft 'mushroom' colour to offer contrast. 

Upper cases left ajar to 'gas off', showing colour schemes © Pitt Rivers Museum

Once painted, the cases are left open to 'gas off' fully, before the objects are installed. As all the new VERVE displays in the Court of the Museum are high up, objects are installed using a scaffolding tower. We try to do this early in the morning when the Museum is closed to avoid any inconvenience to visitors, but some days you might spot one of our team high up, putting the finishing touches to cases.

Assembling the scaffold tower needed to install the displays
in our high-level cases © Pitt Rivers Museum

The completed case of Balinese masks and carvings © Pitt Rivers Museum

The final stage is to add interpretation which might include text panels, labels, audio tour entries, maps or diagrams. Because these cases are high up, they offer specific interpretation challenges so this is something we will have to test.

Once everything is completed, the cycle can start again with a new set of objects....

Sian, VERVE Curatorial Assistant

Collections Care and Careers Day: lifting the lid on museum work

The Museum held its first 'Collections Care and Careers' Day on Saturday 14 September. Held in collaboration with Oxford Open Doors, this is a new type of event, envisioned by the VERVE project to help open up the way the Museum works and offer members of the public the chance to talk with behind-the-scenes staff, helping to foster a shared sense of why caring for collections is important. 

The event was primarily aimed at teenagers and young adults who might interested in a career in the museums and heritage sector, although anyone was welcome to come along and in the end we had a lovely variety of ages attending, from 6 to 60!

The day was a great opportunity for project staff to show the often-unseen aspects of Museum life. Small groups went on tours around the Collections, Conservation and Technical Services areas - ostensibly following the path of an object as it travels through the Museum departments - and here their various roles and duties were explained; from cataloguing and labelling, to pest management, packing items for loan and dealing with hazardous materials. This approach meant we finished up in the galleries with the 'final' stage being the display, making it easier for visitors to digest the various processes and understand the level of work involved. As one said, it was a "brilliantly enlightening tour of lots of areas of the Museum – especially great to go on the same journey as a newly accessioned object." Another said, "Great tour, really enjoyed meeting all the people involved,"  so we hope made the point about the kind of people who work in museums - passionate, friendly and appreciative of the unique environment in which they work.

Meanwhile, downstairs, staff were on hand throughout the day with some of the tools of their trade (such as gloves, journals, databases and scale models) to answer questions from the public. Joining us from the Oxford University Careers Service was Lucy Hawkins who was able to provide advice on volunteering, relevant university courses, internships and professional publications such as Museums Journal. With thanks to the University of Manchester, the University of Leicester, the Institute of Archaeology at UCL, and the University of Leeds for providing course brochures. 

Tours of the Conservation and Collections Departments © Pitt Rivers Museum

VERVE's Collections Care and Career events will run twice a year. Next year we are likely to hold it in the spring to coincide with university term time. We hope to involve staff from a number of different departments within the Museum with the aim of informing and inspiring children and young people to consider the importance of their heritage, as well as the possibility of working within the sector. 

John Simmons, Head of Technical Services, talks to a visitor
about his team's work © Pitt Rivers Museum

The day was well-attended by around 100 people, ranging of people from those just beginning to consider working in areas such as conservation, archives and anthropology, to those interested in perhaps a change in career, to those who were just, well, interested! As staff, we all enjoyed the chance to demonstrate just some of the range of jobs available in museums - did you know, there are more than 50 distinct roles at the Pitt Rivers? - as well as answer some interesting and occasionally tricky questions about both the PRM and museums in general.