Adventures of an Imperfect Man In Search of a Handmade Life
Every traveler has a campfire has the center of daily life. The hearth has been our home for 1.5 - 2 million years now. No wonder it fascinates us and brings so much comfort. Nomads in a stationary culture are often tolerated at best and left only marginal space to congregate. This will probably never … Continue reading Traveller Life
Peter van Beek has documented the difficult life of nomads in a modernizing Europe. Fear, stereotypes, and unfamiliarity dominate their way of life and place them into a partially self-imposed, marginalized portion of society. Although there is terrible poverty, he documents family life and survival of these remarkable people. But it isn't all oppressive … Continue reading Romanian Gypsies
A tiny accommodation, side entry single horse style. It is documented that the adults with this style wagon generally slept outdoors except in very bad weather. It was a good way to confine the children and the valuables. This is part of a series of images, mostly Romany, Irish and Scottish Travellers collected from around … Continue reading Paris Travellers
This is part of a series of images, mostly Romany, Irish and Scottish Travellers collected from around the internet. Many of these historic images found on the web are without citation. When a clear link to a source is found, I try to include it. If a source is known, please pass it on and … Continue reading Travellers at Home
A somewhat dilapidated or damaged vardo in France 1920s - 1930s. People with no fixed address have always drawn suspicion while simultaneously their lifestyle is romanticized.
Travellers in Europe and Britain have always been associated with a style tent called a bender. This comes from the construction technique of cutting saplings and bending them into a dome, elongated dome, or half cylinder shape, These frameworks were then covered with tarps and made watertight in the temperate damp. The origins of this … Continue reading Tents and the Vardo Life; What is a Bender?
I really like everything about the image above. We see three very different types of wagon-home-conveyances and a family, wearing clothing of the time. Travellers on the margin of mainstream society have been shunned, persecuted, and culturally dismissed while at the same time romanticized for their freedom and seeming lack of attachment to a more … Continue reading A Romany Family in Scotland
I don't have much information about the image above but I like what it is depicting. Mom working the bellows while Dad heats up something he's working on while the kids all look on. Like most travelers in Europe, these (probably Roma) don't have fancy wagons or accommodations; just carts and some rough tents. We … Continue reading Itinerant Blacksmiths
... an interesting historical post about the fate of traveling folk in 17th century Scotland Scotland had draconian laws against travelling folk. Hostility towards “Egyptians” took off under King James VI, who was also famously opposed to Border Reivers, Gaelic-speaking Highlanders, alleged Witches, Protestant religious dissenters and tobacco smokers. Edinburgh, 13 May 1682: ‘His Royall … Continue reading Banished to New York:
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A Traveller's (sic) Tuesday. Just a glimpse into life in a bender tent. Despite the glamorous view of life on the road depicted by the romantic English Gypsy Caravans, this is how most Roma lived in 19th Century Britain. Gypsies, Camped on the Beach, near South Shields, Ralph Hedley Charlton, painted 1876.
Getting back to our theme of traveler's, caravans, and other wanderers of the world... a few images from Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret a French Naturalist Painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I believe I would enjoy siting around this campfire. Once a common scene, now virtually lost in an era of loud, fume-belching machinery. … Continue reading Traveler’s Life
From her ABOUT Page: Nukshi is a documentary and portrait photographer and an artist living and working in Nottinghamshire. Her sensitivity to situations, culture and people, has allowed her to adapt well to new challenges and environments. She captures her images by getting involved with people, their culture and lifestyle, which motivates her to preserve those times and moments. Knowledge and empathy with … Continue reading Photographer – Nukshi Alice
From a book published in 1880 about the Roma and some thoughts on how to "improve" their condition in Britain. He traces their history in Britain from their first recorded arrival in Scotland in 1514 and is an interesting and somewhat sympathetic read. Here are some images and a couple snatches of the writing. Several … Continue reading Images from “Gipsy Life” by George Coalville
Screenshot images from Tinker to Traveller, a documentary about "Two Californian anthropologists who spent a year living with the travelers on a Dublin site in 1970 return to Ireland to learn what has happened in the intervening years."
Romano Rai (Romany Rye) (Traditional, English) I'm a Romano Rai, just an old didikai, I build all my temples beneath the blue sky, I live in a tent and I don't pay no rent, and that's why they call me the Romano Rai. Didi-a-didi-a-didi-di-kai, chavves, Tika-dika-tika-a-lai Your Daddus tryin' to sell a mush a kushto … Continue reading Romany Rai
A couple modern bowtops by the wayside in Britain. Great colors.
Found these historic images in a Google search. Little information available other than what I put in the captions.
Janos Valentiny Hungarian artist (1842—1902) Oil, canvas; 1896
Adrien Moreau, French artist (1834–1906)
Preindustrial Craftsmanship 