The historical archive and library collections of the Gypsy Lore Society, mostly mid 19th to mid 20th century.
Wagtail emblem of the Gypsy Lore Society, which was founded in Edinburgh in May 1888 by scholars interested in the songs, stories and language of the Romany Gypsies, with the purpose of publishing their research in the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society.
From 1907 to 1973 the GLS was based in Liverpool, where many of its most active members were closely associated with the city and the University, in particular John Sampson (1862-1931), R.A. Scott Macfie (1868-1935) and Dora Yates (1879-1974).
The quarterly Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society was published in 4 series: Old series 1-3: July 1888-April 1892; New series 1-9: July 1907-1916; 3rd series 1-52: 1922-1973 and 4th series 1-2: 1974-1982.
The University of Liverpool holds the records of the Gypsy Lore Society 1888-1974, comprising: administrative files on GLS members' Gypsy research and the publication of the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, with the Scott Macfie Gypsy Collection of books, manuscripts, photographs, illustrations and press cuttings collected by R.A. Scott Macfie and other GLS members.
Entry for the Gypsy Lore Society in the online Encyclopaedia of the Nazi Genocide of the Sinti and Roma in Europe
The past Special Collections and Archives exhibition Picturing Gypsies is available in the online exhibition catalog page.
The Special Collections and Archives blog, Manuscripts and More, features the Gypsy Lore Society collections in several posts, including:
The Gypsy Lore Society archive on the road
GLS members often took to the road for excursions in Esmeralda the vardo (now housed at Worcestershire County Museum). Albums recording their trips include photographs taken by Fred Shaw. SMGC Shaw.
Photographs by Ivor Evans (taken 1924-1932)
Ivor Evans (1886-1957) was an anthropologist and ethnographer who became a Gypsy Lore Society member in 1927. He presented his photographs of Gypsies around East Anglia and South East England to the GLS Library as a Jubilee gift in 1938. SMGC Evans.
Rade Uhlik's Serbo-Bosnian Romani tales
Typescript copies of twenty tales collected in and around Prijedor and Sarajevo 1937-1940. The name and age of each of the storytellers is given, and the place of the storytelling. SMGC 3/2/5.
The Georg Althaus/Hanns Weltzel collection of papers and photographs of German Sinti families 1930s-1960s.
