Description of Materials
Books and other bound material:
There are several thousand titles in a large number of languages (including for example Swahili, Japanese, Hindi, Welsh, Basque and Lakota) on all aspects of Romanies. The language and linguistics holdings are particularly extensive, and include first editions of Paspati, Miklosich, Colocci, Ascoli and others. The collection of works of fiction with "Gypsy" themes is likewise extensive. There are also numerous photocopied volumes, stitched and hard-bound as books. It is a condition that in return for any information sent to students, journalists and others who have sought it, a copy of their finished pieces be sent to the Archives. It is also a condition in the Romani Studies classes offered here that all students provide two copies of each research paper, one of which is kept permanently in the Archives. It also contains copies of correspondence between early scholars in the field, some of which are kept in a classified file.
Photographs and Prints:
There is a large collection of several thousand black and white and color photographs, some donated by exhibited photographers, as well as diapositive slides and transparencies for screen projection. Two of these collections (by the photographers Richard Blau and Cristina Salvador) have been framed and publicly exhibited at the Gypsy Caravan during the Fall of 2001 when it came to Austin.
Audio and video recorded material:
This is kept off-campus due to restrictions of space, and consists of several hundred audio-cassettes of Romani music, language, radio interviews and personal messages, over one hundred vinyl recordings (331/3, 45 and 78 rpm) and some 300 CDs. There are also eight storage-boxes of videotaped material, mostly movies such as Carmen, Hot Blood, King of the Gypsies, The Virgin and the Gypsy, etc., but also dozens of commercial documentaries such as American Gypsy, The Gypsy Trail, &c., and recordings of television specials produced by 60 Minutes, 20/20, Nightline, Geraldo and others. The transference of these to DVD format is almost complete.
Framed prints and documents:
There are ca. 150 glass-framed original or reproduction pieces, such as historical edicts, book covers, commercial advertisements, steel engravings, depictions of the periods of slavery and the Holocaust, etc. These were hung as a three-month annotated public exhibition in the Union art gallery at the first Gypsy Caravan in 1999. Some have been used in documentary films. In addition, there are six portfolios of unframed posters, prints and other illustrations.
Other non-media material:
Cultural artifacts such as traditional blouses, skirts, aprons, flags, &c., as well as items associated with the popular image of Romanies also make up the Archives: numbers of sets of "Gypsy" tarot cards, tambourines, pan-pipes, Gypsy fishing lures, a crystal ball, palmists' advertising placards, ca. two dozen Gypsy dolls and marionettes, &c.
Subject Areas:
Principal subject areas include:
- History: India
- History: To the Byzantine period
- History: Post-Byzantine
- Politics, organizations
- Health and medicine
- Identity; The "Gypsy" image in works of fiction
- Film: VHS, (PAL/NTSC) and DVD
- Dissertations and theses, unpublished
- Private correspondence (restricted access)
- Bibliographies
- Livelihood
- Reading/Advising
- Wagons and tents: construction
- Women
- General treatments by country
- Language: Grammars and dictionaries; standardization
- Religion
- Education
- Holocaust
- Law, internal
- Law, external
- Slavery
- Biographies
- Gypsies in non-Romani literature
- Works of fiction
- Music: General treatments; scores and song sheets; vinyl recordings, CDs
- Art: General treatments; extensive framed and portfolioed materials