Michigan State University Museum Romani Collections Rehousing Project

FAIN: PG-263588-19

Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI 48824-3407)
Lynne Swanson (Project Director: May 2018 to present)

The purchase of two storage cabinets for a recently acquired collection of 433 items from Europe and the United States that were made or used by, or that represent, the Romani people.  The collection includes cooking equipment, musical instruments, tools, jewelry, toys, and furnishings, as well as objects, such as dolls, dishes, cookie tins, and tarot cards, that demonstrate stereotypes of Romani people.

Michigan State University Museum is the recent recipient of a collection of 433 objects made and/or used by Romani people from around the world and objects that present stereotypes of Romani people. The William G. Lockwood Collection of Romani Ethnology and Gypsy Stereotypes is as geographically diverse as the Rom themselves, with objects from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The collection will be an outstanding resource for students and scholars who are researching the lives and the stereotypes of the often misunderstood Romani People. The specific goal of this project is to appropriately house this collection in museum-quality cabinetry, using appropriate storage materials and methods. New cabinetry is necessary to provide safe and permanently housing, once cataloguing and photography have been completed. The goal of the project is to provide this protection to promote the preservation of the collection over time.