The Rowntree Archives: Poverty, Philanthropy and the Birth of Social Science (360G-Wellcome-208443_Z_17_Z)

The project will arrange, describe, publicise and make publicly available the archives of the Rowntree Trusts and the Rowntree family for the first time. The outputs: open key 20th century archives on public health in the UK, including research about health problems caused by or related to alcohol, unemployment, housing, old age, and betting and gambling; open for research key records documenting the theory and practice of relationships between employers, philanthropy, social justice and public health; provide materials for researching the birth and early development of social science in the UK; will establish regular transfers of records from the Trusts to the Borthwick, thereby securing for public use records yet to be created. We will do this by creating fully searchable online finding aids to international standards, with authority files and access points mediated by current experts in the field, and links to related archives in York and elsewhere. The project’s success measures are: the production of publicly accessible online catalogues; the creation of research projects based on the archives; securing a sustainable future for the archives, including future archives.