Rockin' Reindeer Christmas Trail

This Christmas we're testing your reindeer spotting skills! Can you spot all the reindeer in the Museum with our festive Rockin' Reindeer Trail? The trail is based across both the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and will highlight lots of reindeer related objects in the collections.

Can you spot all 10 reindeer across the Museums? © Pitt Rivers Museum

Here's a sneak peek of one of the objects featured in the trail: 

Reindeer skin knickers, Siberia 1915.50.111 © Pitt Rivers Museum

These knickers would have been worn by people who lived in cold places like Siberia in Russia. They are made from reindeer skin and the fur is on the inside to keep the person wearing them warm and cosy, which was essential as temperatures can drop to -50 c. These knickers would have been worn by a woman with leggings and thigh high boots. They are not often worn today because the skills of making them lie with the older generation. Also most Inuit and Evenki peoples living in Alaska and northern Russia live in heated homes so there isn't such a need to wear them. Some people still wear them but on rare occasions such as when hunting. 

Come and take a closer look at these reindeer skin knickers in the Museum and discover more reindeer objects that we have on display. The trail runs from Saturday 19th December until Sunday 3rd January during opening hours. 

Carly Smith-Huggins, Families Education Officer

Welcome!

Welcome to our new Education Blog! We will use this space to let you know about the diverse activities we run for lots of different audiences.
 A good starting place must be introducing the team, so here goes:

Left to right: Salma Caller, Andy McLellan, Simone Dogherty,
Maya Herbolzheimer, Shirley Careford, Becca McVean
© Pitt Rivers Museum

Andy McLellan, Head of Education, leads the department, provides the vision, and goes to lots of meetings. He is particularly interested in film projects and has worked with teenagers in care, schools and community groups. He arrived at the Pitt Rivers Museum in 2000 to start up the Education Team, which now encompasses seven staff.

There are Education Officers for different audience groups. Salma Caller works with Adults, Secondary Schools and Communities. She draws on her background as an artist and having travelled widely to help interpret objects to this wide range of audiences. Becca McVean works with Primary Schools, utilising her skills as a trained English teacher, and Simone Dogherty enchants families with her cheerful smile and demon design skills.

We are lucky enough to have a Music Education Officer, Isabelle Carré, who delivers specialist projects and workshops and can often be seen playing giant African xylophones, Indonesian gamelans or Korean drums.

Isabelle Carré introduces primary school pupils to giant
Ugandan xylophone in the African Music session © Pitt Rivers Museum

Maya Herbolzheimer is the only full-time member of the Education Team and works as an Activities and Outreach officer for the HLF-funded VERVE: Need Make Use project. She organises outreach activities in the ‘pop-up’ Pitt Rivers tent around Oxfordshire, and runs events in the Museum such as workshops, demonstrations and evening events for adult audiences.

Our long-suffering Joint Bookings Officer, Shirley Careford, co-ordinates visitor bookings across the Oxford UniversityMuseum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers, and manages the Visitor Centre. She’ll always try to sort out your problem but cross her at your peril, particularly when Tottenham Hotspur has lost.

So now the niceties of introductions are over, you’ll be hearing from us over the next few months. From the daily grind to the sublime heights of project work. Keep reading…