Charles Booth Online Archive, 1799-1967

<p>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</p>The <a href="http://booth.lse.ac.uk/" title="Charles Booth Online Archive">Charles Booth Online Archive</a> is a searchable resource giving access to archive material from the Booth collections of the British Library of Political and Economic Science, based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Library and the University of London Library. <br> <br> Charles Booth's work is classic in several fields of social science, including sociology, urban studies, public administration, policy research, social surveys, demography and geography. His methodology combined gathering quantitative data alongside qualitative descriptions of the lives of Londoners in various districts, sometimes described house by house. He made innovative use of mapping for presenting and analysing data, and co-ordinating research efforts of his team. A second interest throughout Booth's research was the distribution of labour in London, including types of work, its stability and wages. This was the first such comprehensive labour survey to be linked, with meticulous detail, to the conditions that cause and maintain poverty in various regions of the city. Booth's work had lasting influence demonstrating the importance of social surveys for governance, demographics, and sociology. The archives of the LSE Library contain the original records from Booth's survey into life and labour in London, dating from 1886-1903. The archives of the University of London Library contain Booth family papers from 1799-1967.<br> <br> The website contains a detailed online catalogue of materials relating to Booth's survey. The catalogue is linked to digitised images of 31 of the survey notebooks and to an interactive digitised image of 12 'poverty' maps of London produced by the survey. The 450 original survey notebooks and maps are housed in the LSE library archives. In addition, an online catalogue of Booth family papers and digitised images of seven editions of the Booth family magazine is also available. <br> <br> In November 2015, the LSE Library released images of Charles Booth's <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lselibrary/sets/72157658449873093" title="Maps Descriptive of London Poverty">Maps Descriptive of London Poverty</a> to flickr. The images are available under 'no known copyright restrictions'. <br>