Inspired by Barbara Steveni’s radical practice as an archivist and artist, we’ve charted some of the incredible archival collections across our city. If you’re unable to take part in Eloise Hawser’s Thames Path walk, why not take your own self-guided trip through the city – with plenty of collections that you can visit in person.
Modern Art Oxford
New displays in our ground floor spaces are highlighting our unique archival collection, detailing 60 years of leading contemporary art exhibitions.
You’ll discover photographs from our Community, Practice and Participation teams dating back to our founding as well as documents and letters detailing our history. Kick off the trail with a delicious pastry and a coffee to go, as you head out to discover the city and its incredible archives.
The Story Museum
Your next story adventure awaits! This most unusual museum features a whispering wood, an enchanted library, and an incredible archival collection.
The Story Museum highlights the human need for stories and celebrates the many ways that people can benefit from them. Their immersive exhibitions and gallery spaces, events and outreach work celebrate stories in all forms. Their collection features objects owned and used by famous authors, as well as props from stage and television and ever so much more.
Don’t forget to take a look at their phone box and window displays along Pembroke Street – there’s always something wonderful and whimsical to explore.
Museum of Oxford
A museum dedicated to sharing the story of Oxford itself. From medieval grave markers to Captain Scott’s marmalade (yes, really) you’ll find an incredible treasure trove of objects and stories.
The Museum of Oxford is nestled inside the Grade II listed Oxford Town Hall, a beautiful Victorian building right in the centre of Oxford. This year, it’s celebrating 50 years since it first opened its doors and shared its uniquely local collection.
From football to fairgrounds, marmalade to Morris Motors, patron saints to pubs, barges, bones, and all types of quirky customs—there’s something for everyone in the fascinating history of Oxford.
Pitt Rivers Museum
Discover more than half a million objects from across the world at the Pitt Rivers Museum. This is a collection to get lost in, with beautiful and fascinating objects everywhere you turn.
Inside you’ll find objects collected on Captain James Cook’s Pacific voyages, art and domestic objects from indigenous communities including the Haida First Nation and Blackfoot people, and so much more. Many of these collections are also available to view online.
As part of these collections, the Pitt Rivers Museum contains various manuscript collections, which are made up of the papers of notable early anthropologists and curators associated with the Museum. These include Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917), Henry Balfour (1863-1939), and Beatrice Mary Blackwood (1889-1975). These items relate to the Museum’s foundation, early history and collections.
Oxford Brookes University Archive
More than 150 years ago, Oxford Brookes was founded as a School of Art and it has continued to be an artistic powerhouse within the city alongside training the next generation of creatives.
The Special Collections and Archives at Oxford Brookes University hold collections relating to five collecting areas: Food and Drink, Publishing and Literary Prizes, Art and Architecture, Public and Allied Health, and the history of Oxford Brookes University. Their mission is to curate unique collections for teaching and research. As part of this mission they care for collections including the Jane Doe Collection, The Dorset House School of Occupational Therapy, and the Oxfordshire Artweeks Archive.
Oxford Brookes even cares for part of the Modern Art Oxford archive. The Museum of Modern Art Oxford Collection consists of around 16,000 international exhibition catalogues. The collection came together largely because the MOMA, with its emphasis on supporting research into contemporary art, participated in a catalogue exchange programme with galleries worldwide. The catalogues together give a very complete picture of what was happening in the international art scene from the late sixties onwards. The bulk of the material dates from the 1980s and 1990s. In 2002, when the gallery underwent a shift in emphasis and became Modern Art Oxford, Oxford Brookes bid to acquire this invaluable, unique library, and was successful due to the university’s commitment to making collections available for research and its long association with art as an academic discipline.
Film Oxford
Film Oxford’s mission is to see an inclusive, creative landscape in Oxfordshire, that reflects and celebrates diverse voices, and is a catalyst for social change.
This creative arts charity supports artists and filmmakers from a wide range of abilities and backgrounds. They deliver creative projects in local communities, aiming to serve groups who are economically or socially disadvantaged, or under-represented in the arts. Here at Modern Art Oxford we’ve been honoured to have work from the Shadowlight Artists on display at the gallery in collaboration with Film Oxford. You may not be able to go inside their studios on your trail, but you can discover more of their world and document your own when you join them for a training course. Film Oxford’s training courses and production work support their charitable activities with disabled artists, young people and socially isolated groups or individuals. They also have an extensive archive of films and artworks produced over the last 40 years.
Their YouTube Showcase channel features a collection of over 300 films spanning from the 1980s. Why not explore and discover captivating stories about Oxford and Oxfordshire’s past and present, created by local filmmakers, artists, young people, communities, and individuals? Save the link to watch these at home as you reflect on your archive trail.
Enjoy the video below from Shadowlight artist Danny and read more about him beneath.
He won the Best Dance Film Award at Oska Bright 2019 for ‘Time to Leave’, which was also selected by Agite y Sirva, an international touring dance festival based in Mexico that showcases in North, South, and Central America.
Time to Leave continues his interest in ancestral memory and the cultures of prehistory. Working with visual artist Roly Carline, he created a fish-god costume with iconography portraying his frustrations. The dance moves from the chaos he sometimes feels in everyday life to the soothing calm of a waterfall, where his fish-god is invoked. (It was Filmed in Oxford and at Henrhyd Falls in South Wales.)
Danny continues to create dance films. His latest project, “Finding Trixie,” explores his drag persona. It was selected for the Big Syn International Film Festival in London and was a finalist in the Movi | Mentale Film Festival in Naples in 2024.”
Enjoyed your walk around the City of Archives? Why not contribute your own favourite collections, hidden gems, and secret historical finds to our community archive.