Living the Poor Life: untold history of the poor now online (UK)

"Thousands of pages of Victorian workhouse and poor law records have been made available online following the conclusion of a major project by The National Archives. Living the Poor Life involved more than 200 volunteers across the country, including local and family historians, researching and cataloguing 19th century records from the huge Ministry of Health archive (MH12). The records comprise letters, reports and memos passed between local and national poor law authorities and help shed light on the lives and experiences of the Victorian poor. Dr Paul Carter, Project Director and Principal Modern Records Specialist, said: 'The importance of this series of records cannot be overestimated. The Poor Law Union correspondence is unrivalled in giving us that window in the archives to examine the lives of the Victorian poor"