Intrepid Women Tea Towel

Through these different tea towel designs, discover the incredible stories of six female collectors featured in the Pitt Rivers Museum Intrepid Women exhibition, as they embarked on fieldwork in the early to mid-20th century. 

Browse the six bespoke tea towel designs from these pioneering women.

Please select a tea towel design from the drop down menu.

Beatrice Blackwood 1889 - 1975

This tea towel has been designed by Lisa Bates. Taking an unconventional path from early on, Beatrice Blackwood chose to apply to Oxford rather than follow the path expected of a woman of her class. She gained a degree in English in 1912 and a distinction in 1918 for the Diploma in Anthropology. She worked as a research assistant and demonstrator in the Department of Human Anatomy at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. From 1924 she spent 3 years gathering data about race and “physical type” in Canada and The United States, living in African American neighbourhoods in defiance of white convention, and was appalled at the racism she witnessed there.

Makereti Papakura 1873 - 1930 

This tea towel has been designed by Gill White. Makereti was born in New Zealand to an English father and Maori mother of the Te Arawa tribe. She became an extraordinary ambassador for Maori culture, a charismatic guide and performer, an Oxford anthropologist and a passionate author who died before her major work was published. Raised speaking Maori by her maternal uncle and aunt she had a traditional upbringing until the age of 10, when her father sent her to a school where she learned English. She became a popular and tour guide in Whakarawarewa at a time when this was a vital source of income for the geothermal region.

Elsie McDougall 1879 - 1961

This tea towel has been designed by Gabriele Kern. Soon after moving to the USA, Elsie McDougall began an intensive study of the materials and techniques of textile production in Mexico and Guatemala. She made close personal contacts and lived among indigenous communities for extended periods of time. She marvelled at the technical skill and artistry of the weavers and sought to document every part of the process through photography, extensive field notes and by collecting examples of work. Her collections are considered a key resource in the study of Central American textiles.

Ursula Graham Bower 1914 - 1988

This tea towel has been designed by Clare Crombie. At the age of 23 when travelling with her friend Alexa in North East India, Ursula Graham Bower encountered the Naga Hills and Naga people - and felt strongly that she had ‘come home’. In 1939 she returned unaccompanied and later settled in the village of Laisong - where she lived alongside the Zeme Naga community, studying and recording weaving and ways of life, taking photographs as well as some of the earliest colour ciné film by an anthropologist. She was also involved in delivering basic medical care to villages.

Audrey Butt Colson b.1926

This tea towel has been designed by Marina Price. Audrey Butt Colson started doing fieldwork in Guyana in the 1950s, making a film about the cultivation techniques of the Akawaio people. Her fieldwork provided evidence that demonstrated their sustainable lifestyle and harmonious relationship between property ownership and social obligations. Her work highlighted the disruptive effect of gold and diamond mining for the Akawaio and Arekuna people, who have managed their land in the Upper Mazaruni District with minimal environmental impact, through the generations from pre-colonial times until the present day.

Barbara Freire-Marreco 1879 - 1967

This tea towel has been designed by Juliet Bankes. At a time when men controlled the discipline of anthropology and Oxford refused to allow women to collect their degrees, Barbara Freire-Marreco was the first woman to enrol on the Anthropology Diploma in 1906, achieving a distinction in 1908 and becoming the first English female anthropologist to do fieldwork in the United States. She made two fieldwork trips to North America, living in Santa Clara with Pueblo people, and in Arizona with Yavapai people, participating actively in daily life, helping to gather and learn about local medicines, contributing to farm and women’s work.