Gypsy Lore Society Victor Weybright Archives of Gypsy Studies
Archives Moves to Michigan
The Victor Weybright Archives of Gypsy Studies
has moved to the Michigan State University Libraries in East Lansing, Michigan.
Michigan State University Libraries intends to become an
important center for the study of Gypsy/Romani groups. The William G. Lockwood
Collection of Romani Ethnology and Gypsy Stereotypes is the first collection
acquired towards that goal.
The Gypsy Lore Society Victor Weybright Archives of Gypsy
Studies is an important addition to the establishment of the Gypsy/Romani
Research Collection within the MSU Libraries’ Special Collections.
Michigan State University invites further donations from
Gypsy Lore Society members and others. To explore donating materials, contact.
Seth Martin, Director of Development, MSU Libraries, 366 W. Circle Drive (DB
7), East Lansing, MI 48824; 517-884-6446; marti981@mail.lib.msu.edu.
Michigan State University agrees to take care of the materials
and provide access to researchers around the world. Books will be noted in the
online catalog as belonging to the Gypsy Lore Society Victor Weybright Archives
of Gypsy Studies and as a gift of the Gypsy Lore Society. Unpublished archival
materials will be described in a publicly viewable online finding aid, with a
link to the Gypsy Lore Society website.
The Victor Weybright Archives of Gypsy Studies was
established in 1978 by the Gypsy Lore Society, North American Chapter, now the
Gypsy Lore Society, in accord with the Society’s Articles of Incorporation.
Victor Weybright (1903-1978) was a publisher who helped found the North
American Chapter and provided financial support for its incorporation.
The Archives is a collection of books, articles, manuscripts,
and audio-visual materials useful to scholars in the field of Gypsy Studies.
Carmen Hendershott, volunteer archivist from 1979 to 2012, oversaw the
expansion of the Archives and detailed cataloging of the collection. As it
grew, finding a home for the Archives and making it available to researchers
became a perennial issue. In 2012 the Board of Directors decided that the Gypsy
Lore Society was no longer able to maintain the archives in such a way as to be
useful to researchers.
An opportunity to find that home came about through William
G. Lockwood, who donated his own Gypsy collection to the Michigan State
University Libraries.
The transfer of the materials took place in October 2017. Once
the Archives are cataloged by MSU, the catalog will be open to all on the web. The
existing incomplete catalog will be available to those using the Archives on
site.
Watch the Newsletter and Gypsy Lore Society
website for further announcements. |