Album of photographs and prints collected by DUR.

Description

Album containing black and white photographs (originals and reproduction prints) collected by Dorothy Una Ratcliffe of Gypsies/Travellers/Roma in the UK, Ireland, Europe, (Greece, France Hungary) and the USA.


Photographers include, Dorothy Una Ratcliffe, her husbands during this time(Noel McGrigor Phillips and Alfred C.Phillips) and social documentary photographers Alexander Alland (US) and John Topham(UK).


Subjects include Horse Fairs (Appleby, Brough Hill).



Many have text captions on the reverse with details about the photographs.













POSSIBLY STARTED BY DUR AND CONTINUED BY THE UNIVERSITY AS THERE ARE LATER ADDITIONS POST TRANSFER





A.), 1904-1960; also with 8 reproductions and an envelope containing negatives. On ff. 59; 25 x 32 cm. The envelope pasted in at the end contains: 2 epistolary notes from Richard Hargreaves,

Provenance

Originally catalogued in the Leeds University Romany Catalogue (1962) as item 1192.


These were at some point bound in red leather and gold embossed photograph album. Inside the front cover there is a DUR bookplate and a brown envelope at the rear marked, "negatives of photographs taken by DUR," - which is now empty.


There was also an empty envelope glued to the back cover labelled, " Envelope containing correspondence between Mrs McGrigor Phillips and Gypsy Williams.1940" This appears to have been since re-boxed separately, (see related objects).


It is not clear if the album was started by DUR before deposit in 1950 and updated by the University after this time, (as there are photographs post 1950) or whether it was all compiled by the University after its deposit. It appears that not all the items were mounted in the album as there is an accompanying box that includes loose items previosuly listed under ref, "1192, " in the original Romany Catalogue (1962).


The album too has since then been separated into indvidual leafs for conservation and access. It was catalogued by a placement student in 2011 who produced a handlist, ( attached MS Word document). These gave numbers to most of the photographs, - likely reflecting their original order in the album. This order has been maintained with the exception of some photographs.


Many of the photgraphs were also digitised in September 2011.


However it also appears to have mixed in photographs from subsequents acquisitions in 1968 and 1972. Where possible these have been seperated out so to try and include only items that were part of the original album. Any reference that was used in the 2011 handlist has been included in the 'alt ref.'


This has been re-catalogued with more detail as part of the NCG project in 2016.

System of arrangement

These have mainly been kept in the order as per the handlist created in 2011 (which suggests original order within the album). There are some exceptions [photographs from press agencies] where items have been removed as they appear to be part of a subsequent acquisition and were probably not part of the original catalogue entry as, "1192." These are instead referenced in BC MS Rom 1/4/4/5.

Access and usage

Reproduction

Access

Access to this part of the collection is protected under the Data Protection Act. You will need to complete a data protection access form and return it to Special Collections for review by staff before access can be granted

This material is in copyright. Photocopies or digital images can be supplied by the Library for research or private study. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain the copyright holder's permission to reproduce for any other purpose. Guidance is available on tracing copyright status and ownership.

Physical and technical conditions

Album has been separated into individual loose-leaf pages.


For a small number of photographs there are some negatives and these are listed per photograph where they exist. However they are held separately for preservation purposes.

Related material

The collection includes photographs by Alexander Alland. A larger photographic archive by Alland including his work with New York Gypsy and Traveller communities can be found at the National Museum of American History. Ref: AC NMAH 204 Alexander Alland Sr.


The descriptions of some of the photographs match those in the Romany Collection.

Related records in our catalogue