A £70,500 grant will help visitors to enjoy even more the Pitt Rivers Museum’s fascinating collection of unusual artefacts.

The attraction, in the Parks Road building accommodating the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, was founded in 1884 by General Pitt Rivers and now features 550,000 items.

The grant from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport/Wolfson Fund will pay for Engaging the Senses a project to ‘activate the museum’s Photograph and Sound Collections through digital audio-visual technology’.

The scheme is designed to improve visitors’ engagement and introduce elements of digital exploration and learning in the galleries for a variety of audiences.

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Dr Laura Van Broekhoven, director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, said: “‘We are very grateful to DCMS/Wolfson for this opportunity to allow our visitors to access the full breadth and depth of the collections, now also giving access to unique sound recordings, photography and film.

“The project will allow us to show many more fascinating historical and cultural facets of the collection.”

A digital interactive table top, listening station and interactive screen will display unique photographs and sound collections.

The museum recently launched a new website with a wealth of information to enhance the visitor experience and staff want to bring new material into the museum.

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Curators say the challenge of Engaging the Senses will be to show material in the photo, film and sound collections without distracting from the objects on display.

Last year the museum welcomed a record 502,000 visitors.

The new audio-visual elements will allow the growing number of visitors to see the objects that are on display, search the museum’s digital collections, and view film footage and photographs from around the world.

Dr Chris Morton, curator of photograph collections, said: “This very welcome funding will bring collections such as the fabulous travel photographs of Sir Wilfred Thesiger, into the galleries for all our visitors to explore and enjoy, as well as the incredible collection of sound recordings of polyphonic singing made by Louis Sarno among the Bayaka of Central Africa.”

The award forms part of the latest round of funding in which 35 museums will receive a share of £4m.