The Pitt Rivers Museum has collected photographs ever since its foundation. It holds important collections of 19th- and early 20th-century photography, and important fieldwork archives, such as the photographs of the traveller Wilfred Thesiger, whose collection alone numbers some 38,000 images. The Museum continues to collect photography, with a particular emphasis on well-documented field collections and contemporary practice. The Museum ’s manuscript collections comprise the papers of notable early anthropologists and curators associated with the Museum, historical documents and correspondence relating to its collections, and special collections of field notes.