Travelling through time

This blog is kindly written for Museum Freelance by Richard O’Neill: a freelance storyteller, maker and author based in the north of England.

June is Gypsy Roma Traveller History month and there is a lot to celebrate, but finding it isn’t as easy as you might think, despite having a 500 year history in the UK.

As a boy in the early 1970s, I remember helping my dad find, buy and deliver horsedrawn vehicles including Romani caravans to a number of museums in the North East of England. It was a bitter sweet experience: in one sense it was a way of saving many of the old vehicles that my dad and his family had been born in, grown up with and used on a daily basis until trucks and modern caravans like the one I was born in took over. In another, it was marking the end of an era, a part of our culture becoming museum exhibits. And they were popular - no display seemed complete without a brightly painted caravan, for example the one in the Castle Museum York was an extremely popular attraction. Nearly fifty years later I’m looking back on fifteen years’ working as a freelance storyteller and maker, having worked with some of the leading museums in the UK including the IWM in Salford and London, MOSI, the Media museum in Bradford, and the Munnings in Essex.

The Story Keeper

As someone brought up in a nomadic Romani family, history was extremely important and was mainly handed down through the oral traditions of storytelling and song, as was the position of ‘Story Keeper’ which I now hold.  I’m concerned that our history isn’t featured in museums as much as it should be, and I do wonder if museums realise that there are a number of Romani Gypsy people who are current visitors, and a larger number who don’t interact with museums.

I was very fortunate growing up as I did being able to use my wood working skills to make new items and also restore a huge range of antiques and collectables. I was always fascinated by them and often thought about the people who made them, bought them and used them. I realised that - just like people - every item had a story, and the museums we sold the items to were in effect also keepers of the stories.

And now I really enjoy helping museums bring their collections to life through story, and to be able to create bespoke narratives and wooden items for them too. Story isn’t the only skill that’s having a rennaissance: recycling, making and eco-living are too. All of these things we have an unbroken heritage of.

My latest public performance at the Media Museum in Bradford showed off my family history of making traditional dancing dolls and delivering performances for family audiences - a skill and craft that has been practiced and developed in England since Tudor times (a fact like many others from the Romani community which most people aren’t aware of).

Greater representation of Gypsy Romani Traveller (GRT) communities in collections and audiences

I’m keen to encourage museums to include more Romani Gypsy culture into their spaces, for example my family made their toys and used them to entertain audiences along the banks of the Tyne in Newcastle and Gateshead in the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s, often to huge audiences. Yet there is very little in the area to acknowledge this - they were itinerants who didn’t leave many tangible markers. However, there are clues in many areas around the country in the Romani words taken into local dialect, and the names of roads, commons and even pubs. Every area in the country had a Romani Gypsy presence and they are woven through British history in so many ways including literature, Shakespeare to Dahl, through to agriculture, arts and entertainment.  Our histories are inextricably linked, that’s why I was so pleased to launch my children’s book Polonius the Pit pony at the National Coal Mining Museum.

There’s so many connections and interesting things to flag up and celebrate! I would encourage anyone to do an internet search of their area whether that’s the census or old newspapers - you’ll be virtually guaranteed to find something about Romani Gypsy communities.

A quick online search I did for ‘Gypsy Lane’ threw up a long list from Cleveland, to Leicestershire and Berkshire. These lane names are our landmarks and they show that Romani Gyspy people were there long enough for a lane to be named after them. It’s not just about celebrating GRT cultures, it’s about attracting new audiences into museums, and it’s also about representation. If young people - particularly those who come in on school visits - can’t see their culture positively represented amongst others, then they may get the idea that a career in museums is not for them.

I believe that there is a natural link between GRT communities and museums, through the traditional trades of recycling, woodcarving and repairing, and especially storytelling. I’d like to see more museums take up the challenge of seeing those links and creating more of them.

Ways to get involved and find out more

I know it’s not easy to do outreach with communities who don’t already have a relationship with museums as visitors, but one of the things we have to do as professionals is to raise our own awareness of GRT communities and their history. There are a number of really good online resources, like those from Friends Families and Travellers, an organisation that advocates for Travelling communities and promotes their cultures.

If you’re looking for contacts and further ideas the online newspaper Travellers Times is also a mine of useful information.

Finally, Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month has been running for a number of years now. It isn’t run by any single person or group and it’s really easy to get involved - take a look at the website and you’ll find lots of resources and ideas.

Are you a freelancer of GRT heritage?

I’d like to find out how many other people of GRT heritage are working in the sector, as I rarely meet others on my travels. If you are from the communities and want to get in touch and tell me what your doing, I’d love to hear from you.

Richard O’Neill is a Storyteller, Maker and Author based in the north of England. You can follow Richard on twitter.