Gypsy Roma and Traveller History Month
An exhibition celebrating Gypsy Roma and Traveller History Month.
![Exhibition with magic box display case in centre, exhibition cases and pictures to either side.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMExhibition_Front_1680x960_72.jpg)
Gypsy Roma and Traveller History Month Exhibition
An exhibition celebrating Gypsy Roma and Traveller History Month 2023, featuring a selection of photographs by Brian Morgan MA, MBA, who is a fine art photographer and Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.
Accompanying exhibition cases display photographs, letters, books and documents associated with the Gypsy Roma and Traveller communities and Appleby Horse Fair.
![Three exhibition cases against a wall with framed photographs above them.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMExhibition_side_1680x960_72.jpg)
Gypsy Roma and Traveller History Month Exhibition
An exhibition celebrating Gypsy Roma and Traveller History Month 2023, featuring a selection of photographs by Brian Morgan MA, MBA, who is a fine art photographer and Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.
Accompanying exhibition cases display photographs, letters, books and documents associated with the Gypsy Roma and Traveller communities and Appleby Horse Fair.
![Exhibition case with a selection of letters and other documents.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMcase4_1680x960_72.jpg)
Exhibition case 1
Dora Yates, bibliographer, linguist and Romani scholar was Secretary of the Gypsy Lore Society for many years after its revival in 1922. These letters are some of her correspondence with Walter Lloyd, whose account of meeting her and of being inspired to forge his own relationships with Roma people is recounted in the film Romani Rai which is the work of his son, filmmaker Tom Lloyd.
![Exhibition case with a selection of books about different traveller communities.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMcase5_1680x960_72.jpg)
Exhibition case 2
Traveller communities with their own distinct traditions and histories have emerged from all four corners of the British Isles, though not all are Romani in origin. There are the Kale (Welsh Roma), Pavees or Mincéirs (Irish Travellers, ethnically distinct from Roma), various different communities of Scottish Travellers, and Romanichal (English Travellers).
![An exhibition case with a selection of books.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMcase1_1680x960_72.jpg)
Exhibition case 3
A fairly recent, popular development has been the ghost-written Gypsy memoir. Several can be seen here, featuring two particularly famous recent examples by the self-styled ‘Gypsy King’ of Morecambe, Tyson Fury, and his wife, Paris Fury.
![Exhibition case with photographs and documents related to Appleby Horse Fair.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMcase2_1680x960_72.jpg)
Exhibition case 4
The Appleby Horse Fair, just fifty miles up the road from Lancaster University in the Cumbrian town of Appleby-in-Westmoreland, is said to be the biggest, and possibly oldest, annual gathering of Gypsies and Travellers in Europe. This year it takes place June 8th-14th. Many bow-top horse-drawn wagons and more modern caravan-trailers can be seen locally in May and early-June as Travellers make their way to the Fair.
![Exhibition case with books.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMcase3_1680x960_72.jpg)
Exhibition case 5
Texts: G H Borrow’s Lavengro (1851); J Hooper’s Souvenir of the George Borrow Celebration: Norwich, July 5th, 1913 (1913); W Starkie’s In Sara’s Tents (1953); J Seymour’s (ed.) The Book of Boswell: Autobiography of a Gypsy (1970); C H Ward-Jackson and D E. Harvey’s The English Gypsy Caravan: Its Origins, Builders, Technology and Conservation (1972); B S Vesey-Fitzgerald’s Gypsies of Britain (1973); D E Harvey’s The Gypsies: Waggon-Time and After (1979); A Sampson’s The Scholar Gypsy: The Quest for a Family Secret (1997)
![A man wearing a hat and holding a cigarette in his right hand.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMimage1_1680x960_72.jpg)
Appleby Horse Fair Images
Photographs by Brian Morgan
![A man in a dark jacket](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMimage2_1680x960_72.jpg)
Appleby Horse Fair Images
Photographs by Brian Morgan
![Horse drawn caravan crossing a stone bridge with trees behind.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMimage3_1680x960_72.jpg)
Appleby Horse Fair Images
Photographs by Brian Morgan
![A man holding a horse by the bridle. The horse is wearing a full-length coat. There are caravans.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMimage4_1680x960_72.jpg)
Appleby Horse Fair Images
Photographs by Brian Morgan
![Two men standing next to three horses and two canvas covered caravans.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMimage5_1680x960_72.jpg)
Appleby Horse Fair Images
Photographs by Brian Morgan
![Five vardo wagons, five horses and five people.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMimage6_1680x960_72.jpg)
Appleby Horse Fair Images
Photographs by Brian Morgan
![A man with a mud splattered face sitting on a sulky cart with two horses.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMimage7_1680x960_72.jpg)
Appleby Horse Fair Images
Photographs by Brian Morgan
![A woman riding a horse through a field.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMimage8_1680x960_72.jpg)
Appleby Horse Fair Images
Photographs by Brian Morgan
![A man wearing a hat and holding a cigarette in his right hand.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMimage9_1680x960_72.jpg)
Appleby Horse Fair Images
Photographs by Brian Morgan
![A woman and two young girls sitting on a wagon.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMimage10_1680x960_72.jpg)
Appleby Horse Fair Images
Photographs by Brian Morgan
![A woman standing between two horses.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMimage11_1680x960_72.jpg)
Appleby Horse Fair Images
Photographs by Brian Morgan
![A man in a hat.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMimage12_1680x960_72.jpg)
Appleby Horse Fair Images
Photographs by Brian Morgan
![Two women sitting.](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/GRTHMimage13_1680x960_72.jpg)
Appleby Horse Fair Images
Photographs by Brian Morgan
Gypsy Roma and Traveller History Month
Established in June 2008, the purposes of Gypsy Roma and Traveller History Month (GRTHM) are to raise awareness of the lives of traveller communities in the UK, to dispel misconceptions, to combat prejudicial and discriminatory attitudes, and to celebrate these unique, rich and diverse histories and cultures. Probably the most famous gathering of Traveller communities, the Appleby Horse Fair, also takes place in June - this year (2023) it will be June 8th-14th - just fifty miles up the road from Lancaster in the Cumbrian town of Appleby-in-Westmoreland. The 'Chakra' wheel is the official emblem of the Roma. It is reminiscent of the Hindu Chakra and, as such, honours the Indian heritage of the Roma people. The sixteen-spoke wheel also symbolises the wheels of the horse-drawn trailers that have traditionally been 'home' to travelling peoples and, according to current Shera Rom (Head Gypsy) Billy Welch, represents "our nomadic heritage to roam freely between heaven and earth." Heaven is represented by the blue background above, and the fields and forests by the green background below. The blood-red of the wheel itself also brings to mind those lost during historical persecutions, not least the 250,000 - 500,000 European Roma murdered by the Nazis during World War II.
GRTHM Libguide![Chakra wheel symbol, red wheel on blue and green background](/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/images/library/exhibitions-and-displays/grthm-exhibition/Chakrawheel.jpg)