Romnichel Economie And Social Organization In Urban New England, 1850-1930

This study, based on ethnohistorical research, utilizes hitherto unexamined documentation on the Romnichel Gypsies in the U. S. to trace the evolution of their adaptations to the rapidly modernizing urban centers in the East between 1850 and 1930. Romnichels began immigrating to the United States fr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Urban anthropology 1982-10, Vol.11 (3/4), p.273-313
Main Authors: Salo, Matt T., Salo, Sheila
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business
Censuses
Children
Cities
Horse stables
Horses
Peripateticism
Socioeconomics
Sons
Urban anthropology
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Summary:This study, based on ethnohistorical research, utilizes hitherto unexamined documentation on the Romnichel Gypsies in the U. S. to trace the evolution of their adaptations to the rapidly modernizing urban centers in the East between 1850 and 1930. Romnichels began immigrating to the United States from England around 1850 when the country was undergoing the mechanization of its agriculture, rapid development of its industries, and growth of its urban population centers. These developments brought about an increasing demand for horses, which provided the Romnichels an opportunity to expand their peripatetic horse trading activities. Capitalizing on the differences in the supply and value of horses and aided by the newly constructed railroad links, the Romnichels began shipping horses to the urbanized areas of the East where the demand was greater. In several areas of the East, but especially in New England, the peripatetic horse trade developed into a highly organized business, with some Romnichels founding centralized sales stables in the larger urban centers. These stables became centers of Romnichel business and social activity around which other families, affinally or cognatically related to the founders, clustered. These communities were characterized by regionalism and systematic intensive exploitation of the urban market opportunities. Although the switch from a nomadic to a sedentary urban existence might seem to constitute a major break with the past, we argue that the peripatetic existence had actually preadapted Romnichels to urban life. Their flexibility is seen as due to generalized adaptation to the broader socioeconomic niche, of which the peripatetic and urban adaptations are simply variations.
ISSN:0363-2024