Gypsies, Travellers, Roma, Showmen and Boaters: collections and cultures

Friday 25th February, FRIDAY 17th JUNE, 12pm - 1:30pm

Note: We have had to postpone this event due to speaker availability. If you already registered for this event, there is no need to register again. If you cannot make the new time, please contact chair.yh@cilip.org.uk. Our sincere apologies for the inconvenience!

Please join CILIP Yorkshire & Humberside for three fascinating presentations:


Samantha Heeson (@Samantha_Heeson) is a qualified librarian who leads on data analysis and data management in Library and Student Services at Leeds Beckett University. She provides senior managers, library decision makers and academic support colleagues with evidence and insight about learning resource usage, user engagement and library impact. She is also an inclusion champion in the higher education and library sectors.

She will be presenting a reading list and some Wakelet collections that she has curated to raise awareness of the achievements and rich cultures of and issues encountered by Gypsies, Roma, Travellers, Showmen and Boaters, who are recognised minorities in the UK.


Rhiannon Lawrence-Francis (@LULGalleries) is a Collections and Engagement Manager in Special Collections at the University of Leeds. She is responsible for developing the rare print and map collections, managing new acquisitions and overseeing cataloguing projects. She also has operational oversight of the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery and its events and exhibitions programme. In 2018 the Gallery hosted “Rights and Romance: Representing Gypsy Lives”, an exhibition co-curated by members of the local Gypsy and Traveller communities and Dr Jodie Matthews of the University of Huddersfield.

Leeds University Library's Gypsy, Traveller and Roma Collections are one of the five Designated collections held by the Brotherton Library. They comprise an extensive range of international books, manuscripts and archives relating to Gypsy, Traveller and Roma culture. Her presentation will explain the significance of the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma Collections, how they come to be in Leeds, and how the library sought to involve community members in the curation and cataloguing work of the 2018 exhibition.


Arantza Barrutia Wood (@fairarchives) is the Collections Manager at the National Fairground and Circus Archive, a role which she has held for eight years. Before that she spent twelve years working in museums and art galleries in various roles. Arantza has a BA in Fine Arts, specialised in Conservation and Restoration, and an MA in Museum Studies. She is currently undertaking an MA in Archives and Records Management at Dundee University.

She will give an overview of the archive, how to access the collections, a brief demonstration of the new records management system, 'Discover Our Archives', and the current exhibition and project, Engineering Fun: The Story of Orton and Spooner.

This event is free to attend. You will receive the Zoom link in your registration confirmation. 
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