Comparison of English individuals statistics with statistics for individuals associated with collections up to 1945 created during the Relational Museum project

[Warning : biographical information about collectors who contributed to the English collectors was more available than that for the Relational Museum data-gathering so that these data-sets are not necessarily very comparable. In addition information about makers was not compiled during the Relational Museum project but was for the English figures, therefore the number of manufacturers for example has shot up]

Total number of individuals who are associated to the global collections in the PRM up to 1945, and who are associated with the English collections 1884-2007

1,455 [English] as opposed to 4,674 [figure used to calculate Up to 1945 statistics below]

[Note: I can calculate there are at least 4,687 now]

Top 10 Careers

English collections:

Career	Number	% of overall figure	Position
Archaeologist	199	13.6	1
Manufacturer	150	10.3	2
Academic	137	9.4	3
Antiquarian	131	9.0	4
Museum Professional	115	7.9	5
Historian	102	7.0	6
Natural Historian	88	6.0	7
Writer	87	5.9	8
Religious	83	5.7	9
Trader	79	5.4	10

Up to 1945 collections:

Career	Number	% of overall figure	Position
Archaeologist	582	12.4	1
Colonial Servant	489	10.4	2
Academic	372	7.9	3
Religious	352	7.5	4
Army	282	6.0	5
Museum Professional	276	5.9	6
Natural Historian	268	5.7	7
Anthropologist	252	5.3	8
Traveller	221	4.7	9
Medic	202	4.3	10

Comparison:

Career	Position ['English']	Position ['up to 1945']
Archaeologist	1	1
Manufacturer	2	N/A
Academic	3	3
Antiquarian	4	15
Museum Professional	4	6
Historian	5	N/A
Natural Historian	7	7
Writer	7	17
Religious	8	4
Trader	9	14

The most obvious omission from the English list of professions is, not surprisingly, colonial servants. Medics are also not so important in English collections. The most important differences are the much greater number of antiquarians and writers who contributed to the English collections (the first is self-evident, particularly as most folklorists were classified as antiquarians), the second is stranger. The relative decline in religiously orientated careers is a little odd, perhaps it shows the missionary effect up to 1945 (but not on English collections)?

What sex are individuals asociated with particular collections ?

	Female	%	Male	%
All up to 1945	966	20.6	3,308	79.3
All English	335	23.0	1,084	74.5

Slightly more females contributed to the English collections proportionally

Where were they educated ?

Education	English collections number of individuals	% of total number of 'English' individuals	Up to 1945 number of individuals	% of total number of 'up to 1945' individuals
Oxford University	144	9.8	508	10.8
Elsewhere	454	31.2	811	17.3
Unknown	857	58.9	3,355	71.7

Interestingly proportionally there are around the same proportion of people known to have been educated at Oxford University, the difference is that there are more people known to have been educated elsewhere, rather than just with unknown educations in the English collections.

Where did the individuals live ?

Place	English collections number of individuals	% of total number of 'English' individuals	Up to 1945 number of individuals	% of total number of 'up to 1945' individuals
Total Oxfordshire	426	29.2	904	19.3
Outside Oxfordshire	709	48.7	2,141	45.8
Unknown	320	21.9	1,629	34.8

Far more people are known to have been based in Oxfordshire who contributed to English collections, this is no surprise given the high number of people who contributed to the large Oxfordshire and English collections in general. The proportion of people known to live outside Oxfordshire is pretty similar, the difference lies in the reduced level of people whose residence is unknown.

Relationship between individuals and the museum

Status	Number of 'English' individuals	%	Number of 'Up to 1945' individuals	%
Other owner status only	298	20.4	589	12.6
Field collectors who are also Donors	378	25.9	1,490	31.8
Makers who are also Donors	38	2.6	-	-
Donors who are not field collectors or makers	320	21.9	22	0.4

Clubs and societies

Name of club	'English' individuals	% of all indiv.	.% def. biogs	'Up to 1945' individuals	% of all indiv.	% def. biogs
Society of Antiquaries	65	4.4	23.5	99	2.1	6.1
Ashmolean Natural History Society	36	2.4	13	49	1	3
Athenaeum	32	2.1	11.5	101	2.1	6.2
British Association for the Advancement of Science	65	4.4	23.5	155	3.3	9.5
British Academy	14	0.9	5	34	0.7	2
British School at Athens	5	0.3	1.8	18	0.3	1.1
Carlton	4	0.2	1.4	15	0.3	0.9
Folklore Society	43	2.9	15.5	44	0.9	2.7
Geological Society	27	1.8	9.7	56	1.1	3.4
Linnean Society	16	1.0	5.7	45	0.9	2.7
London Missionary Society	-	-	-	17	0.3	1
Royal Anthropological Institute	84	5.7	30.4	112	2.3	6.9
Royal Asiatic Society	6	0.4	2	32	0.6	1.9
Royal Geographical Society	31	2.1	11.2	133	2.8	8.2
Royal Society	42	2.8	15.2	72	1.5	4.4
Travellers Club	2	0.1	0.7	21	0.4	1.2
Zoological Society	14	0.9	5	42	0.8	2.5

This table is based on the comparatively sparse data compiled on overall individuals statistics for the Relational Museum project, but it does show the most popular clubs and societies for that cohort of people. It omits the following clubs and societies which are most popular with individuals associated with the English collections:

Oxford University Anthropological Society [1]

Law Society

Geological Association

Oxford Natural History Society

Royal Archaeological Institute

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