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Question: What is Barry Roper Collection?

Answer: Barry Roper Collection was acquired by Pustaka Negeri Sarawak in 2020. Approximately about 2,047 items on Borneo which include a mixture of publications from rare books in the 19th century to publications from the 20th and 21st century. Barry Roper owns a secondhand bookshop called Eastgate which he opened in 1983. The shop has an entire floor devoted to Borneo in Beverly, Yorkshire, UK. He was brought up at Haisthorpe, near Bridlington, he joined the RAF in 1950, trained as an engineer, and spent 28 years in the service, specialising in helicopters. His postings included Cyprus, Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and Borneo. He was in Sarawak in 1964 and 1965. Roper, in an interview with The Yorkshire Post in 2017, reckons his collections as one of the world's best Borneo collections. The collections comprised of printed materials (books, maps, brochures, card games, etc), audio materials, pamphlets, correspondences, coins, photographs, artefacts, etc.

For more information, kindly contact Sarawakiana Division, Depository Services Sector via email at statedepository@sarawak.gov.my or call 082-440488.

(Source: The Yorkshire Post, 2017. Sarawakiana Division, 27 Dec 2022)