Romany Coppersmiths workshop
name: label: Collection Photographer
content: Alland, Alexander, Sr. (Alexander Landschaft), 1902-1989
label: Collection Author
content: Kaslov, Steve, ca. 1888-1949 (King of the Red Bandanna Romany Gypsies )
setName: label: See more items in
content: Carlos de Wendler-Funaro Gypsy Research Collection
label: See more items in
content: Carlos de Wendler-Funaro Gypsy Research Collection / Series 7: Photographs by de Wendler Funaro: Gypsies in the United States / 7.1: Rom
container: label: Container
content: Box 5, Folder 4
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Demonstration of metal-utensil repair processes in a workshop situation. The Romany Coppersmiths workshop, 214 Bowery, grew out of an approach made by Steve Kaslov to President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937. Eleanor Roosevelt's referral to the Foreign Language Information Service, Inc., a social service agency for the foreign-born, led the way to establishment of the workshop. Read Lewis of the PLIS, Chairman of the Intersection Committee on Gypsy Problems of the Welfare Council and its Special Committee for a Gypsy Workshop organized a fund-raising campaign in February 1939. By September 1939 he reported that the workshop was proceeding slowly. Also in 1939 the Gypsies associated with the workshop made a brooch for Eleanor Roosevelt on commission. In October 1940 Steve Kaslov was still writing on letterhead stationery identifying him as manager of the Romany Coppersmiths. We do not know how long the workshop was in operation; it is unlikely it continued after Steve Kaslov was imprisoned in 1942. Letters referring to Romany Coppersmiths are in the collection (box 2, folder 2). Correspondence of Steve Kaslov with Eleanor Roosevelt is in the FDR Library at Hyde Park, N.Y.; copies are in the reference file, Division of Community Life. #99.