ENGLAND: THE OTHER WITHIN
Analysing the English Collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum
The categories Ettlinger chose to use to categorise her working card catalogue
Alison Petch,
Researcher 'The Other Within' project
1965.5.1.257-9 Morris dancers from Bampton, photographed by Ellen Ettlinger 1950
1965.5.1.360 Postcard of Osmington White Horse, Dorset
1965.5.1.408 Stone signpost at Wroxton, Oxfordshire. Cutting from Country Life c. 1951.
1965.5.1.203 Sheap-shearing in Oxfordshire. Photograph by Ernest G. Rathenau, donated by Ellen Ettlinger
1965.5.1.241 Beating the bounds, Oxford. Ellen Ettlinger's card.
1965.5.1.252-254 Morris dancers from Bampton. Photographed by Ellen Ettlinger.
1965.5.1.287-288 Ripon Folk Museum. Card donated by Ellen Ettlinger.
1965.5.1.460 Amulets (horse-shoe and rodent feet) on door of house in Lake District, photographed by Ernest G. Rathenau c. 1950
1965.5.1.329-30 Working in Charles Early Mills of Factory Blankets, Witney Oxfordshire, 1948. Donated by Ellen Ettlinger
1965.5.1.400-1 Sheila-na-gig St Michael's Church, Oxford
1965.5.1.370-2 Working in stone quarry, Bladon, Oxfordshire. Photographed by Ellen Ettlinger, 1948.
1965.5.1.276-7 Michael Murphy and his family. Photo by Ettlinger 1948
Ellen Ettlinger donated a card catalogue system to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1965 [1965.5.1]. This consisted of three index card boxes made from red-coloured card containing yellow cards onto which were pasted cuttings and photographs (like the ones seen on this page). In addition there were two larger boxes of red cardboard, these contain mostly larger photographic prints (but a few cuttings) pasted or attached by photo corners to the mounts. There are approximately 600 images, mostly these are mounted on separate cards but some are mounted in pairs or quartets (again, see examples on this page). Pictorial cuttings are often enhanced with the related text cutting (mostly from Country Life and frequently letters to the periodical).
To retrieve any data from a database there needs to be a system of organization so that similar kinds of data can be retrieved easily. Ettlinger obviously realised this and at some point during or shortly after her ownership of the card catalogue systems she donated to the Museum she decided to instigate a system. On the top of the front of the card she often gave a number and then categorised the image or images into certain categories which are considered in more detail below. Note that the numbering system she used on the front of the cards has not been fully understood. On the reverse, or sometimes on the front as well, she pasted a typed piece of paper which repeated the categorisation and gave the accession number. As this number was only assigned after the cards were accessioned by the Pitt Rivers Museum, these pasted sheets may post-date the accessioning of the artefacts (though it is uncommon even at this date, for museum professionals to agree a permanent change to an artefact in this way). However it seems clear that the number and the subsequent description of the image are contemporaneous. It may be therefore that there are two separate systems on the cards, the ones on the front (listed below) with the numbers were used before the cards were donated and during the accessioning process it was agreed that fuller accounts (often including the name of the photographer for the first time or details on how the image was originally obtained) was added. Whatever the truth, it seems clear that the system was instituted by Ettlinger herself, and in some way reflects her intellectual processing of the images. It seems inevitable too, that the categories show the areas that principally interested her about folklore and daily life.
Here is a list of the categories Ettlinger devised for her card catalogue of photographs and cuttings. Note the ordering of the cards by accession number broadly (but not entirely) follows the categorisation in alphabetical order (that is the cards roughly are in the boxes sorted by categories in alphabetical order)
Art
Art (Barbarian)
Art (Celtic)
Art Sculpture
Art (Anglo Saxon)
Art (Romano British)
Burial (Ireland)
Burial (Jugoslavia)
Chapel (Bridge)
Chapel (Thatched)
Churches, England
Church, alms dish
Church Architecture
Church Art, Painting
Church Art Sculpture
Churches, England
Church Door
Church Font
Church Furniture
Church Bread-Charity
Church Memorial
Church (Misericords)
(Church) Relics
Church (Pyxcloth)
Church Reliquary
Church (roofbosses)
Church Scotland
Church (spire)
Church stables
Church Stained Window
Church weathervane
Costumes
Costumes (Ireland)
Costumes (Scotland)
Costumes (Sweden)
Dolls
Dollshouses
Dolmen (Ireland)
Domestic utensils
Dometic utensils (Ireland)
Domestic utensils (Wales)
Farmlife
Farmlife Cornstacks
Farmlife England
Farmlife Farmwagons
Farmlife harvest customs
Farmlife (Hedges and Fences)
Farmlife (hop-garden)
Farmlife (Ireland)
Farmlife (Scotland)
Farmlife spades
Farmlife (steam engines)
Festivals (beating the bounds)
Festivals (Easter)
Festivals (Hobby horse)
Festivals Lammas
Festivals (May Day)
Festivals (May Morning)
Festivals (May 29th)
Festivals (New Year)
Festivals (Proclamation)
Festivals (Shrove Tuesday)
Festivals (Whitsun)
Festivals (Xmas)
Folkart (Painting)
Folkdance (England)
Folkdance (Ireland)
Folkdance (Wales)
Folklorists
Folkmusic (Eire)
Folkmusic (Flemish)
Folkmuseum
Folkmuseum (Holland)
Folkmuseum Norway
Folkmuseum Sweden
Handicraft (England)
Handicraft (Baskets)
Handicraft (spinning) England
Handicraft (weaving)
Handicraft (wool)
High Cross
Hill figures
Horn
Idols (Denmark)
Idols (Germany)
Law and order (Gibbet)
Law and order (Lock up)
Old Industries (England)
Old Industries (Stone Quarry)
Pastimes
Pilgrimages
Pilgrimages (Germany)
Saints
Sheila-na-gig
Signs
Souterain
Standing stones
Stone circle
Ogam stone
Holed stone
Cursing stones
Rocking stones
Superstitions
Superstitions Amulets
Superstitions Curse
Superstitions Fairies
Superstitions Horsebrasses
Superstitions Oracles
Superstitions Talisman
Superstitions Unicorn
Transport Boats Ireland
Transport Carts
Transport Donkey
Transport of water
Transport of crops
Transport of seaweed
Turf cutting Ireland
Villages
Villages and Small towns
Villages Barns
Villages Belgium
Villages Ireland
Villages Scotland
Villages Tithe Barns
Villages Thatching
Votive offerings
Holy Well
Witches Broom
Witchcraft
Some of the categories are boldened above, these indicate those categories that are related to the scholarly papers that she published, mostly in Man or Folklore. It is interesting that some of the categories that are best represented in the card catalogue, especially the costume series, are not matched by a publication, or at least not matched by a publication that can be identified.