Scope of project

The project is wide in scope. This site surveys over 40 distinct ethnic and religious groups based in London. It includes objects from prehistory to the present day, encompassing past societies such as the Normans and the Huguenots who have long since assimilated into the general population. It also looks at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) community and the disabled community.

The categorisation of people into ethnic and other types of communities may be questionable. However, in order to create a site which is easily searchable, we have linked the featured objects with one or more community groups. The ethnic categories are based on the 2001 census.  These define people by place of birth or descent (African) or culture (Arab) or religion (Muslim) or all of these.

As a result, there is a large amount of crossover between the communities. A prayer cap is linked to both Asian London and Muslim London. A caricature of Oscar Wilde is linked to both Irish London and LGBT London.


1929 The Gypsies: A woman carrying a baby and some wooden pegs accompanied by a man carrying flowers


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