Museums and other institutions with string figure artefacts

- an inventory of string figures mounted on card, string figures on film, string figure photographs, and recordings of string figure songs

Compiled by Martin Probert. Last revised August 2010.

This inventory of over 1200 string figure artefacts in more than 20 museums worldwide was compiled 1999-2003. Considerable thanks are due to the many archivists who have given generously of their time. A large number of fine collections have come to light. One delighted archivist wrote that "no one here realized we had this collection either – it was an exciting find!" Further additions to the inventory are welcome. The inclusion of reference numbers if known would be greatly appreciated.

String figure HOME PAGE (with links to this page,
to The Origin and Mathematics of String Figures,
and to a selection of 21st-century figures.)

	Click an institution for details of string figure artefacts held there	Mounted figures	Films	Photos	Sound
Europe
	British Museum	8		?
	British Library National Sound Archive				5
	Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford			11
	University of Cambridge Museum			45
	Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge		1
	IWF Wissen und Medien gGmbH, Göttingen		16
	Musée d'ethnographie, Neuchâtel, Switzerland			?	?
	(The following contributed to this site in 2010 by Stephan, Netherlands)
	Stichting Papua Cultureel Erfgoed, Netherlands		2
	Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies			13
	Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Netherlands			1
	Lunds Universitetet, Folkelivsarkivet, Sweden			8
	Nordiska Museet, Sweden
	Institutet för språk och folkminnen, Sweden			53
	Dansk Folkemindesamling, Denmark			106

		Mounted figures	Films	Photos	Sound
North America
	Canadian Museum of Civilisation		4	144	5
	Human Studies Film Archives		1
	National Anthropological Archives			14
	National Archives of Canada		1
	Peabody Museum, Harvard University	18		75
	University of Pennsylvania Museum	123		5
South America
	Museo Arqueológico Francisco Fonck	14

		Mounted figures	Films	Photos	Sound
Oceania
	Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies		1
	Australian Museum	196		185
	South Australian Museum	123
	University of Adelaide Library	11		22
	Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa			191
	New Zealand Film Archive		5
	New Zealand Television Archive		4
	Bernice P Bishop Museum, Honolulu	34	1	53+	1+