Helpful hints for searching

Field by Field Guide - Objects Collection database

All the catalogue entries are divided into specific information fields. The following text goes through each field, one by one, explaining what information is contained in each. If you wish to have more information about the construction of the database then please email objects.colls@prm.ox.ac.uk.

Accession number
The Pitt Rivers Museum accession number is a standard 3-part number, beginning with a date, then a collection number and then a specific object number from within that collection, e.g. 1991.2.1, the first object in the second collection accessioned in 1991. This is the easiest and most reliable method of retrieving information about an individual artefact if you know the number. If you are repeating searches it is therefore worth recording this information for any artefact that particularly interests you.

Continent
There is a pop-up list to select from. This field is most useful for retrieving details about objects for which we have no specific country of origin. It is better not to use this for searching if you know the name of the country.

Country
There is a pop-up list to select from based upon the current United Nations accepted list of country names. The museum tries to keep up to date with country names.

Region
The Museum prefers to use up-to-date names for geographical regions (areas of a country, islands etc) but in some instances this has not been possible. Searching for the current (generally anglicized) version of the name is probably the best starting point. This is not an easy field to use for searches as there are so many variations in the spelling of names.

Location in the Museum
This allows you to find out information about the artefact that you saw on a visit to the museum, providing that you noted its case number

Primary documentation
This field contains all the written information the museum holds about the artefact. This is the best field to use when searching for archaic or historical names for objects, peoples or places.

Keywords
This is the 'name' of the artefact, there is a pop-up list to guide your choice.

Classification
This is the class or typology into which the artefact you are searching may be classified, for examples 'spears' are classified as 'weapons'. Again there is a pop-up list to guide your choice.

Material
This is the material(s) from which the object was made. There is a pop-up list to select from.

Process
This is the technical process by which the object was made, for example woven or plaited or rivetted. There is a pop-up list to select from.

Individuals associated with the object
It is best to search for surnames only in this field, this will retrieve artefacts made, collected, owned or donated by any individual, group or institution associated with the collections.

Searching
Once a search has been performed, a short list of the relevant items will be returned, click on any of the entries to find out much more information. This will then give you specific information including the role of the individual in the object's history, the date the artefact was made and collected (if known) etc.