Baripen Roma Archive
Preserving Roma history. Sharing Roma stories. Building pride for future generations.
Baripen Roma Archive is an archive dedicated to preserving, documenting and sharing the history, culture and lived experiences of Roma people in Britain and across Europe.
Established by Compas Charity in Peterborough, Baripen grew from a recognition that an extraordinary amount of Roma history remains undocumented, inaccessible or at risk of being lost. Roma communities have been part of European history for centuries, yet their experiences have too often been recorded by others, excluded from mainstream archives or absent altogether.
Baripen seeks to change this.
Our ambition is to create a significant and accessible collection of Roma-related archival material while ensuring that Roma people themselves are actively involved in interpreting, preserving and sharing their heritage.
Why we created Baripen
For generations, Roma history has often existed outside traditional institutions – preserved through family memories, oral traditions, photographs, personal documents and community knowledge.
At the same time, persecution, migration, war, displacement and assimilation have resulted in important historical material being dispersed or lost.
We established Baripen to provide a permanent home for this heritage.
The Archive brings together materials documenting both some of the darkest chapters of Roma history and the resilience, creativity, activism and everyday lives of Roma communities.
It is not only about preserving the past. Baripen is also about identity, representation and ownership.
We want Roma children and young people to be able to discover their history and see that Roma heritage is something to understand, value and be proud of. We want schools to have reliable resources through which to teach Roma history. We want researchers to have access to important primary sources. And we want the wider public to encounter Roma history beyond stereotypes.
Our Collections
Baripen began with the Paul Polansky Archive, an extensive collection containing primary material relating particularly to the persecution of Roma at Lety during the Second World War and the experiences of Roma communities in Kosovo during and after the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.
Since then, the Archive has grown considerably.
Today, Baripen brings together collections and materials associated with prominent researchers, historians, activists, writers and advocates who have spent decades documenting Roma history and communities.
Our holdings include collections from or associated with:
- Paul Polansky – writer, researcher and human rights activist whose extensive archive documents Roma experiences in Central Europe and the Balkans, including Lety and Kosovo.
- Professor Thomas Acton – sociologist and one of Britain’s leading scholars of Roma, Gypsy and Traveller history, politics and society.
- Grattan Puxon – Roma rights activist, author and prominent figure in the international Roma civil rights movement.
- Professor Ian Hancock OBE – Romani scholar, linguist and activist whose work has made a major contribution to the study of the Romani language, history and identity.
- Robert Dawson – researcher and collector whose extensive work documented Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history and culture.
- Willie Reid – whose collection contributes further historical and cultural material relating to Roma and Traveller communities.
Alongside these major collections, Baripen continues to acquire books, photographs, correspondence, research papers, publications, audio-visual recordings, oral histories, ephemera and other materials connected with Roma history and culture.
Together, these collections are developing into an important resource for understanding Roma life, history, persecution, migration, political activism, language, culture and identity across different periods and countries.
More than an archive
Baripen is not intended to be a collection that simply sits on shelves.
We are working to make the Archive a living cultural and educational resource.
Through Baripen we:
- preserve and catalogue historically significant material;
- digitise collections to make them more accessible;
- record oral histories and lived experiences;
- support academic and community research;
- develop exhibitions and educational resources;
- work with schools, universities, museums and cultural institutions;
- involve Roma volunteers, researchers and young people in archival work;
- organise talks, workshops, exhibitions and public events; and
- create opportunities for Roma communities to explore and interpret their own heritage.
A central principle of Baripen is that Roma people should not simply be the subjects of archives and research. They should also be researchers, archivists, historians, storytellers and decision-makers shaping how Roma heritage is preserved and presented.
Who is Baripen for?
Baripen is for everyone.
It is a resource for Roma communities and families wishing to explore their heritage; for children and young people discovering their identity and history; for schools and teachers looking for reliable educational material; for students, academics and researchers studying Roma history and society; and for members of the wider public who want to understand a history that remains largely absent from mainstream narratives.
We also welcome collaboration with archives, museums, universities, heritage organisations and individuals who share our commitment to protecting Roma cultural heritage.
Our Vision
Our long-term vision is for Baripen to become one of the UK’s leading centres for Roma archival heritage and an internationally connected resource for Roma history, culture and research.
We want to build an archive where historically important collections are professionally preserved while remaining connected to the communities whose stories they contain.
Over the coming years, we aim to continue expanding and cataloguing our collections, digitising material, recording oral histories and making increasing parts of the Archive accessible to researchers, schools and the public.
We also want Baripen to help develop the next generation of Roma researchers, archivists and heritage professionals, giving young Roma people opportunities to work directly with their history and to develop the skills needed to protect it in the future.
Ultimately, Baripen is about more than preserving documents.
It is about ensuring that Roma voices, experiences and contributions are remembered, respected and visible.
It is about connecting generations.
And it is about making sure that Roma history is not lost, but preserved and shared for generations to come.