"I don't see 'anger and despair' being the appropriate driver of preservation"
When we started recording travellers in 1973 it was the practice at night for the people of the sites to light an open fire and gather round it to talk, sing, tell tales, discuss business.
When we returned in early 1975 we were greeted with empty sites and the glow of televisions through the trailer windows - the oral tradition had gone.
Singing and storytelling were very much a part of the communal reaction between families - when they went, so did the gatherings.
Jim Carroll