Persida Asova's collection of photo materials

Photographs from Persida Asova' s collection. Collection presents the Baptist society in Montana before and in the first years after the fall of Communism. It presents the involvement of the local Gypsies in the Baptist Church as worshippers and preachers.

Extent: 26 photographs.

Condition of original material: Medium quality of the photos.

Custodial history: Materials from Persida Asova' s collection of photos that presents history and culture of the first Baptist Evangelical society in Montana.

Author(s)/Creator(s): Unknown photographers.

Arrangement: The photos have been stored in the owner's home in Montana in a plastic bag. They were arranged as found.

A note about terminology: Some of the material in this collection relates to Цигани [Tsigani / Gypsy] communities. Since 1989, these communities are often referred to using the term ‘Roma’. However, not all members of these communities accept the term Roma or identify as Roma. In Bulgaria, this is a heterogeneous community that comprises different groups with different ethnic identification (Romani, Bulgarian, Turkish or Rumanian), mother tongue, way of life, religion, and occupation. Moreover, the original material in this collection pre-dates 1989, when the term ‘Roma’ was unknown in Bulgaria. For these reasons, the term ‘Gypsies’ is used to describe these communities in the catalogue rather than ‘Roma’ because this more accurately depicts the identification of the communities recorded in this collection at the time the documents and photographs were created. The Protestant missionaries who worked among this population and whose results are related to the material in the collection, also used the term 'Gypsies'.