Bexley Archive holds photographs from the Boswell Collection, showing the lives of Gypsies in the borough in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

It also holds the papers of Erith Urban District Council and those of James Wellbeloved MP. Both contain descriptions of a long political argument about how to treat the Gypsies encamped on Belvedere Marshes. The article below tells the story that these papers reveal.

Gypsies in Bexley: 100 years on the Belvedere Marshes

Bexley Local Studies and Archives Centre holds a varied collection of archive material relating to the history and culture of the Sikh community living in Bexley. Oral history interviews, photographs and typed research notes on the history and culture of the Sikh Community in the London Borough of Bexley.

The project came about when, after undertaking a survey of the collections, it became apparent that there was hardly any material held by the Centre that was created by local BME communities. As part of the Centre's Audience Development Plan it was therefore decided to actively collect from these comunities in order to attract local users to the Centre and to ensure that the holdings reflected the ethnic composition of the Borough. The Sikh community were chosen as a pilot group because they constitute one of the Borough's largest BME groups. It is envisaged that the 'active archivist' approach to collecting material will continue in the future by working with other BME communities in the London Borough of Bexley.

The material consists of oral history interviews, photographs and typed research notes on the history and culture of the Sikh community in the London Borough of Bexley.

Mainly from Sikh communities living in Belvedere.

Date range 2004 - 2005

Oral history interviews in English and some in Punjabi.

Freely available - just visit the archive during opening hours.