ENGLAND: THE OTHER WITHIN

PRM Teaching Part 4

Alison Petch,
Researcher 'The Other Within' project

References to teaching in the Annual Reports

The extracts given below are taken straight from the published Annual Reports of the Museum which have been published annually between 1893 and this year and are all the references to teaching in the Museum's Annual Reports

Section 1 - Annual Reports 1893 to 1941-2
Section 2 - Annual Reports 1942-3 to 1954-5
Section 3 - Annual Reports 1955-6 to 1963-4
Section 4 - Annual Reports 1964-5 to 1982-3
Section 5 - Annual Reports 1983-4 to 1992-3
Section 6 - Annual Reports 1993-4 to 2005-6

Please note that these edited extracts from the Annual Reports omit almost all mention to teaching outside of the mainstream Diploma / Masters teaching in the Pitt Rivers Museum. In addition to the activities recorded here staff supervised research students, lectured at other institutions, and lectured to visiting groups and schoolchildren.

1964-5 Mr. D.F.W. Baden-Powell, M.A., of Oriel College, retired at the end of Trinity Term, 1965, and Mr. D.A. Roe has been appointed by the Faculty Board to succeed him. ... The four new diplomas in Anthropology and Prehistoric Archaeology, replacing the former Diplomas in Anthropology, came into being at the beginning of the academic year. Teaching for the diplomas in Ethnology and Prehistoric Archaeology (for which this department is responsible), in spite of the anticipated shortage of applicants, went smoothly, the lectures and classes attracting a number of students who were not formally registered for diplomas. Experience suggest that there will be a gradually increasing number of applicants to take these diplomas, which fill a need not easily satisfied elsewhere. Discussions on the possibility of participation in a Honours School structure (whether at ‘Part II’ or ‘Part I and Part II’ levels) proceeded hopefully throughout the year.
The Curator lectured and held classes in the Michaelmas and Trinity Terms on the material culture of Africa. He gave a public lecture on ‘African Sculpture beyond the Garamantian Limits to the Bight of Benin’ in the archaeological series: ‘On the Periphery of the Classical World.’ ... Dr. A.J. Butt provided courses of lectures on Lands and Peoples (the Americas and Africa) in Michaelmas and Hilary Terms and gave tutorials, seminars, and practical on material culture throughout the year, including a practical course in field research methods in the Trinity Term. In co-operation with Mr. F. Huxley (St. Catherine’s College) she gave a series of seminars on Latin American social anthropological topics in Hilary and Trinity Terms. External lectures on ‘Shamanism’ and ‘South American Indian economies and settlement patterns’ were given to the Department of Extra-mural Studies ... Mr. K.O.L. Burridge gave his course of lecturers on Land and Peoples (Asia and Oceania) in Michaelmas and Hilary Terms and practical classes throughout the year. He also, provided a lecture course on the Study of Myth.
He gave tutorial supervision for advanced student, for the diploma, and for candidates for the Ethnology option in the Preliminary examination for the School of Geography, for which he was also Moderator. He was Secretary for the Diploma in Ethnology as well as Examiner. There was one candidate, whose performance gave cause for satisfaction that the first year’s course had been conducted on the right lines. ... Mr. Baden-Powell gave his customary series of lectures on the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods, as well as practical classes on early material culture and ethnographic parallels, the handling of stone implements, and the identification of teeth and bones. ... Mr. Britton gave courses of lectures on ‘The First Village Communities in the Old World’, ‘The later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in Europe’, and ‘Methods and aims of prehistoric archaeology’, and classes on the material culture of the Neolithic period in the Near East and Europe and of the Early Bronze Age of Europe, as well as on some problems of prehistoric archaeology.

1965-6 Ethnology Option in Preliminary Examination for Geography, 45 students; Diploma Students in Ethnology, 2 students; Diploma in Prehistoric Archaeology, I student; B. Litt., 3 students; D.Phil., 4 students.
Mr. Fagg: 2 lecture courses on West African Material Culture and the Arts and Industries of Africa.
Dr. Butt: 2 Lecture courses on Lands and peoples of America and Africa (Ecological Systems). Practical classes (3 terms on Material culture and Technological processes: Amerindian and African Peoples. 1 lecture course on Some Contributions of Latin American Research to Social Anthropological Theory.
Dr. Burridge: 2 lecture courses on Lands and Peoples of Asia and Oceania; 1 lecture course (6 lectures) on Ethnological Models; 1 lecture course (6 lectures) on Perspectives in the History of Ethnological Theory. Practical classes, 10.
Mr. Britton: Lecture courses on: The First Farming Communities in the Old World; The Later Neolithic Period in Europe; The Start of the Bronze Age in Europe. Practical classes: Material Evidence for Prehistory; Archaeology and the Natural Sciences; Method and Theory in Prehistoric Archaeology.
Mr. Roe: Lecture courses on : The Old Stone Age (two terms); The Old and Middle Stone Age. Practical classes: Material Culture of the Old Stone Age (two Terms); Material Culture of the Old and Middle Stone Age.

1966-7 The new combined departmental lecture room, demonstration room, and seminar room built by the University Surveyor's department inside the old corrugated iron shed (which since 1915 had contained a major part of the Museum's reserve collections) was ready for use by the beginning of Michaelmas Term, and proved a most successful, economical, and satisfactory conversion. ... Mr. Fagg: Lecture courses on: West African Material Culture, Preservation and Documentation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Material. ... Dr. Butt: Lecture courses and classes on: Ecological Systems of Selected Peoples of America and Africa (two terms), Material Culture and Technology (three terms), Practical Aids to Field Research. ... Dr. Burridge: Lecture courses on: Ecological Systems of Asia and Oceania (two terms), Perspectives in the History of Ethnological Theory, Ethnological Models. ... Mr. Britton: Lecture courses on: The First Village Communities in the Old World, Material Culture of the Neolithic, The Later Neolithic in Europe, Archaeology and the Natural Sciences, Prehistoric Europe: 2000-1500 B.C., Prehistoric Archaeology: theory and practice.

1967-8 Mr. Britton: Lecture courses on The First Farming Communities in the Near East and Europe, Raw Materials and Techniques in the European Neolithic, Prehistoric Europe: 3500-1500 B.C., Aspects of the Bronze Age in Europe. ... Dr. Burridge was absent on sabbatical leave throughout the year. Dr. Peter Ucko of the Department of Anthropology of University College, London, was appointed for lecturing and supervislon on a part-time basis during Dr. Burridge's absence. Dr. Burridge resigned his appointment as University Lecturer in Ethnology to take up his appointment as Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. Mr Peter Gathercole, M.A. (Cantab.), was selected to replace him by the Faculty Board's appointment committee. Dr. Butt: Lecture courses and classes on Ecological Systems of Selected Peoples of America and Africa, Material Culture and Technology, Practical Aids to Field Research, South American Systems of Belief; Prophets and Shamans. Mr. Fagg: Lecture courses on West African material culture, on the preservation and documentation of archaeological and ethnographic material. Dr. Roe: Lecture courses and classes on The Old Stone Age and the Middle Stone Age (three terms), and Material Culture of the Old and Middle Stone Ages (three terms).

1968-9 Dr. D.A. Roe: Having completed his teaching commitments in Michaelmas and Hilary terms, Dr. Roe proceeded to the United States for sabbatical leave ... Mr. D. Britton: Lecturing and tutorials on the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Europe and on archaeological techniques for the Diploma in Prehistoric Archaeology and for the Diploma in Ethnology. Dr. A. J. Colson: [NB previously known as Butt] Having completed three terms' lecturing and tutorials for the Diploma in Ethnology and for the Geography Preliminary examinations ... Mr. P. W. Gathercole, who assumed duty at the beginning of the academic year, has, in addition to his lecturing and tutorial duties ...

1969-70 Within 12 months of his appointment to the Lectureship in Ethnology with special responsibility for Asian and Oceanian studies, Mr. P.W. Gathercole, Fellow of Worcester College, has been appointed to the Curatorship of the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Downing Street, Cambridge, and assumes duty there on I October, though by special dispensation he will lecture and teach for the Department in Michaelmas Term. The question of his replacement had not yet been settled by the end of the academic year.
The newly created post of Assistant Curator has been filled (with effect from 1 January 1970) by Mr. Schuyler Jones, M.A., formerly of the Institute of Social Anthropology, whose special field of interest and fieldwork experience is in the cultural anthropology of Afghanistan, Nuristan, and the Hindu Kush areas of South Central Asia.
... Mr. D. Britton: In addition to his teaching duties in the field of neolithic and later prehistoric archaeology for the Diploma in Prehistoric Archaeology ... Dr. Audrey J. Colson was granted a year's sabbatical leave for the purposes of research and writing. ... Dr. D.A. Roe. Having completed lecturing and teaching duties on the Old and Middle Stone Age for the Diploma in Prehistoric Archaeology ...

1970-1 The vacancy for a Lecturer in Ethnology caused by the appointment of Mr. P.W. Gathercole to the curatorship of the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Cambridge was advertised as a Lecturership in Ethnology and Assistant Curatorship, and from an impressive field of candidates, Dr. Schuyler Jones, first Assistant Curator of the Pitt Rivers Museum, was appointed. ... The resultant vacancy was advertised together with a second assistant curatorship which was approved as part of the supplementary provision for new academic posts in the quinquennium 1966-71 and appointments are expected to be made early in the next academic year. ... Mr. D. Britton, Fellow of St. Cross College, was on sabbatical leave during the year 1970-1. ...

1971-2 The vacancy for Assistant Curator caused by the appointment of Dr. Schuyler Jones to the new combined post of Lecturer in Ethnology and Assistant Curator was filled by the appointment of Mr. D.B. Tayler, and the additional new post of Assistant Curator was filled by Professor R.R. Inskeep, Head of the Department of Archaeology in the School of African Studies of the University of Cape Town. ...

1972-3 During the year a good deal of experimental flint knapping has gone on at the hands of Mr. Baden-Powell, Mr. MacRae, and Peter Jones, and some preliminary work has been done on the production of a short teaching film. ... Mr. D. Britton (University Lecturer in Prehistory), in addition to his normal teaching duties, collaborated with Dr. M. J. Aitken of the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art in the arrangement of a series of seminars on Science and Archaeology. ... Mr. R. R. Inskeep (Assistant Curator), served as Acting Curator from 1 October during the Curator's leave of absence... In Hilary term he delivered sixteen lectures on Aspects of African Archaeology, and also lectured at Cambridge and London.

1974-6
Student numbers total for Ethnology and Prehistory for Diploma, B. Phil (first and second years) B. Litt and D. Phil was 17 students

1976-7 During the year it has been possible to provide somewhat improved facilities for students and research workers using the collections without seriously impeding essential museum operations which must have a higher priority. The institution of a service to the standard which all the staff would like to provide must await the completion of the new building, the long-continuing reorganisation of the collections, and the provision of additional staff and space. Assistant Curators now have special responsibility for academic matters within their personal fields of interest and for defined sections of the collections, but because of the small number of academic staff a considerable degree of flexibility and great width of knowledge are still required of them.

1977-8
Student numbers total for Ethnology and Prehistory for Diploma, B. Phil (first and second years) B. Litt and D. Phil was 25 students

One Diploma candidate transferred to Prob.M.Litt. status, one passed, and two failed. One Prob.M.Litt. candidate withdrew. One M.Litt. in Ethnology was awarded.

1978-9
Student numbers total for Ethnology and Prehistory for Diploma, B. Phil (first and second years) B. Litt and D. Phil was 32 students

One candidate for the Diploma in Ethnology withdrew. One M.Litt. In Prehistoric Archaeology and two D.Phil.s in Ethnology were awarded. All diploma candidates were successful.

1979-80
Student numbers total for Ethnology and Prehistory for Diploma, B. Phil (first and second years) B. Litt and D. Phil was 29 students

Three D.Phil candidates withdrew, one lapsed in status. One M.Phil. In Prehistoric Archaeology transferred to D. Phil status and one withdrew.

1982-3 Dr. A.J. Colson (University Lecturer in Ethnology) resigned with effect from 31st December 1982. In the context of this resignation and of economy measures required by the University the Committee agreed that a new M.St. Course in Ethnology and Prehistory, to replace the existing Diploma in Ethnology, be proposed to the Anthropology and Geography Faculty Board. This represented a change of emphasis long desired within the Department, where it had been felt that there was scope and demand for a course exploring the common ground between the two subjects. It was also agreed, with the concurrence of all the curatorial staff in post, that teaching should be included in the duties of curatorial staff. This would in fact only give formal basis to the existing situation. The Committee recommended to the Faculty Board accordingly. ... Dr. A.J. Colson (University Lecturer in Ethnology) resigned at the end of 1982. The lecture course in Social Ecology which she gave was taken over by Dr. D.B. Tayler (Assistant Curator). ... Dr. D.A. Roe (University Lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology) extended his lecturing to include a special course in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Archaeology for undergraduates taking the recently-introduced Quaternary option in the Geography Honours School.