"Rabbit skins"
Contains digital mediaDetails
Type of record: Archive
Title: "Rabbit skins"
Classmark: BC MS ROM 1/5/19/10/9
Original reference: BC MS Rom 1161
Creator(s): Frederick Lawson
Date(s): c.1927
Size and medium: 1 sketch
Manifest: https://iiif.library.leeds.ac.uk/presentation/cc/j3n9hmt2
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/506440
Collection group(s): Gypsy, Traveller and Roma Collections
Description
Charcoal drawing of a rack built outside a Gypsy Traveller wagon to hang rabbits that had been hunted/killed.
Labelled, "Rabbit skins [indecipherable word- possibly location]."
No date. (Possibly c.1927 as per other drawings in ths group).
Additional description
"This is a frame used for drying out rabbit skins (pelts) probably for sale in a nearby town. They’d have made use of everything from the animal, - probably having eaten/sold the meat and sold the pelts for income. At this time [the picture is undated but estimated to be c. 1920s/1930s]there was a fashion for wearing fur (e.g. stoles) so there would probably have been a good market for them."
"Rabbit pelts would also have been traded with other dealers (horses/pot makers) at fairs such as Appleby. These fairs were a chance for other Gypsy and Traveller families to trade with each other because no one did/does everything."
"Rabbits would usually be caught by sling or snare; which might seem cruel today but they were often doing it to feed a family. Poaching penalties back then were severe – could be shot – but hedgehogs could be found under hedgerows which weren't private land, so that’s how they came to be eaten."
"In comparison with the poor who lived in the cities (slums) at that time, Gypsies and Travellers probably lived well - with a roof over their head, food to eat, fresh water and fresh air."
Comments are a summary of discussions with members from Gypsy and Traveller communities based in Yorkshire including members of the Cunningham, Hanrahan, Mulvanny, Rennard and Taylor families. (Re-visiting Collections Workshop Oct 2016).
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