Virtual datasets - 2005

ESDS Qualidata has currently catalogued the following datasets in 2005. These represent data not held by the ESDS, but catalogued by us to enable users to more easily locate qualitative data held in other locations.

• Mass-Observation Archive, 1937 -
• British Oral Archive of Political and Administrative History, 1920-1980
• Managers and Their Jobs, 1964
• Cinema Culture in 1930s Britain, 1920-1939
• Study of the Abelam of Papua New Guinea and the Nso of Cameroon, 1939-1963
• Charles Booth Online Archive, 1799-1967
• Management of Strategic and Operational Change, 1958-1988
• 1968 : a Student Generation in Revolt, 1945-1985
• Pueblo : a Mountain Village on the Costa del Sol, 1900-1970
• In Hiding : the Life of Manuel Cortes, 1930-1969
• In Search of a Past, 1925-1983
• Studies of Poverty Among the Sub-employed in Three Special Areas, 1968-1969
• Transformed Landscape : Culture and Visual Imagery in a Town Built on Coal, 1997
• Old People in Long-stay Institutions, 1965-1970
• Miners' Strike, 1984-1985
• Papers of the Disability Alliance, 1973-1998
• Brian Jackson Collection, 1962-1983
• Women, Socialism and Feminism: Beyond the Fragments, 1970-1980
• Miscellaneous Papers of Hilary Wainwright, 1960-1990
• Papers of the Child Poverty Action Group, 1965-1998
• Social Rented Housing in Europe and America, 1920-1992
• Family and Social Network, 1930-1953; Roles, Norms and External Relationships in Ordinary Urban Families
• The Last Refuge, 1958-1959
• Katharine Buildings, 1885-1962
• Religion and Survival in Stalin's Russia : Old Believers in the Urals, 1928-1941
• On the Edge of Later Life, 1930-1990
• Three Hertfordshire Villages Survey, 1961

• Mass-Observation Archive, 1937 -
  Sheridan, D., University of Sussex. The Library. The Mass-Observation Archive.

  Date of Release: 21 December 2005

  Abstract: The Archive results from the work of the social research organisation, Mass-Observation, founded in 1937 to create an 'anthropology of ourselves'. Material was collected from a team of observers and a panel of volunteer writers who aimed to study the everyday lives of ordinary people in Britain. During the first phase of Mass-Observation a team of paid investigators went into a variety of public situations; meetings; religious occasions; sporting and leisure activities; in the street and at work, recording people's behaviour and conversation in as much detail as possible. A National Panel of diarists, composed of people from all over Britain, kept diaries or replied to regular open-ended questionnaires. Mass-Observation continued to operate throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s and 1960s, producing a series of books about its work as well as thousands of reports. Gradually the emphasis shifted away from social issues towards consumer behaviour.

  The archive contains papers generated by the original Mass-Observation social research organisation (1937 to early 1950s) and from a new phase of Mass-Observation, the Mass-Observation Project, which has been running since 1981. Once again this specialises in autobiographical writing recording everyday life in Britain. Around 3000 people have written for the Project at some point in its lifetime, and the current active mailing list comprises some 400 people. It is ongoing and still recruiting volunteers. However, the archive is especially valued for its collections dealing with life in Britain prior to - and during - the Second World War. Collections include;

  • The Worktown Collection 1937-1940
  • The Charles Madge Collection 1920-1970
  • Mass-Observation File Reports 1937-1972
  • Mass-Observation Topic Collections 1937-1964
  • Mass-Observation day Surveys, Time Charts and Directive Replies 1937-1938
  • Diaries 1939-1963
  • Mass-Observation Directive Replies 1939-1945
  • Mass-Observation Directives 1980-1990
  • Children's Millennium Diaries 2000

  The full catalogue record for Mass-Observation Archive, 1937 - is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• British Oral Archive of Political and Administrative History, 1920-1980
  Clarke, D.A.

  Date of Release: 6 October 2005

  Abstract: The aim of the project was to collect a systematic oral archive of interviews with key figures from politics, the civil service and the armed forces. Interviewees were selected predominantly from former Permanent Secretaries or former Cabinet Ministers, and were asked questions relating to the whole period of their official life, concentrating on the post-war years.

  The subject matter of the interviews covers the period from 1920 to 1980, and includes details of the lives and work of the interviewees.

  This was a pilot project in oral history of 'elite' persons, a field comparatively neglected in Britain. The project consisted of 50 interviews with former Ministers, senior civil servants and Service chiefs. Interviewees were asked about their official careers, the aim being to uncover material not available from written documents. The aim of the project was to fill a major gap in British modern history/political research and is the first of its kind in Britain.

  The full catalogue record for British Oral Archive of Political and Administrative History, 1920-1980 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Managers and Their Jobs, 1964
  Stewart, R., Oxford Centre for Management Studies.

  Date of Release: 3 October 2005

  Abstract: This research project was conducted in the mid-1960s, and explored some of the similarities and differences in the ways in which managers actually spent their time at work. Approximately 160 managers in many different fields of business were asked to keep a four-week diary detailing the spread of their day-to-day work activities. The researcher then followed up the diaries in correspondence with individual managers, comparing their activities with others in the same field and seeking explanations for time patterns that were distinctive or unclear. This research material consists of the time diaries, analysis, hand-written statistical tables and subsequent correspondence.

  Some statistical data from the project have been lodged separately with the UK Data Archive (UKDA) as SN 29 Similarities and Differences in Managers Jobs, 1964.

  The full catalogue record for Managers and Their Jobs, 1964 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Cinema Culture in 1930s Britain, 1920-1939
  Kuhn, A., Lancaster University. Institute for Cultural Research.

  Date of Release: 3 October 2005

  Abstract: This collection predominantly comprises in-depth interviews with 1930s cinema-goers, covering cinemas attended, frequency, companions, favourite films and stars, choosing films, fan behaviour, other entertainments and hobbies, feelings about cinema. There are also letters and self-completed questionnaires covering similar topics as well as associated photographic and paper memorabilia.

  The full catalogue record for Cinema Culture in 1930s Britain, 1920-1939 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Study of the Abelam of Papua New Guinea and the Nso of Cameroon, 1939-1963
  Kaberry, P., University College London. Department of Anthropology.

  Date of Release: 26 September 2005

  Abstract: Phyllis Mary Kaberry, 1910-1977, was educated at the University of Sydney. Her first fieldwork was conducted in the early 1930s in North West Australia on the social status of aboriginal women. In 1936 she moved to London to work in the Anthropology Department of the London School of Economics as a research assistant. After obtaining her doctorate in 1939 she received a fellowship from the Australian National Research Council to undertake fieldwork among the Abelam tribe in New Guinea. This was to become one of her major fieldwork projects. She continued earlier work on researching the roles of women within the society and also wrote about the Abelam political organisation and religious cults. Kaberry moved on to work in the Cameroons in West Africa for the Colonial Social Science Research Council in the mid 1940s. This is where she did some of her most important and memorable work. She studied a culture called the Nso, and here she also focused on the position of women.

  The full catalogue record for Study of the Abelam of Papua New Guinea and the Nso of Cameroon, 1939-1963 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Charles Booth Online Archive, 1799-1967
  Booth, C.

  Date of Release: 23 September 2005

  Abstract: The Charles Booth Online Archive is a searchable resource giving access to archive material from the Booth collections of the British Library of Political and Economic Science (the library of the London School of Economics and Political Science) and the University of London Library.

  Charles Booth's work is a 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 British Library of Political and Economic Science 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 to 1967.

  The resource web site 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 library archives at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In addition, the site offers an online catalogue of Booth family papers and digitised images of seven editions of the Booth family magazine.

  The full catalogue record for Charles Booth Online Archive, 1799-1967 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Management of Strategic and Operational Change, 1958-1988
  Pettigrew, A., University of Warwick. School of Industrial and Business Studies.

  Date of Release: 15 July 2005

  Abstract: This research examinines the what, why and how of managing strategic and operational changes in firms in mature industries and links between the capability to affect change and the maintenance and improvement of competitive performance.

  Given the substantial changes in the economic, political, and business environment of large firms over the past two decades, a critical factor affecting the relative competitive position of British firms is the capability of firms to adjust and adapt to major changes in their environment - hereby improving their competitive performance. The importance of these adjustment and adaptation processes, suggest that the nature of management itself is a crucial aspect of the competitiveness issue. Part of the management task is to identify and assess changing economic, business, and political conditions. Then to develop and implement new strategies to improve the firms competitive performance. Such managerial processes of assessment, choice, and change were studied in eight in depth case studies. A longitudinal approach was used with the history of each firm over thirty years being examined. The research was carried out in two firms from a number of sectors, including; finance; publishing; and automobile manufacture.

  This project was part of the Competitiveness and regeneration of British industry initiative.

  Main Topics: Management; Operational Change; Competition; Industry.

  The full catalogue record for Management of Strategic and Operational Change, 1958-1988 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• 1968 : a Student Generation in Revolt, 1945-1985
  Fraser, R.

  Date of Release: 7 April 2005

  Abstract: This material formed part of a larger project which explored the memories, motivations and experiences of those involved in the politically radical, student movements of the late 1960s, in six of the West's industrialised countries.

  Interviews with leaders of the British and Northern Irish student movements cover in some detail the early marches; student strikes at various universities such as the London School of Economics; the founding of various new left journals; and the rise of the feminist movement in Britain. This includes conversations with Tariq Ali, Martin Jacques, Hilary Wainwright and Fred Halliday.

  Interviews with Irish student leaders document the early civil rights movement among Roman Catholic students in Londonderry and other venues, and the increasing violence engendered in Northern Ireland.

  Main Topics: Education; school life; family life; political development; nuclear disarmament; cultural life; youth culture; music; sexual behaviour; parents; student politics; universities; student organisations; demonstrations; anti-war movements; USA; socialism; political science; labour movement; Marxism; anarchism; women's liberation movement; revolution; revolutionary movements; subversive activities; political activities; political factions.

  The full catalogue record for 1968 : a Student Generation in Revolt, 1945-1985 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Pueblo : a Mountain Village on the Costa del Sol, 1900-1970
  Fraser, R.

  Date of Release: 7 April 2005

  Abstract: Ronald Fraser is a leading historian of twentieth-century Spain, using oral history techniques to document the experience of the Spanish Civil War and later changes in Spanish society. This collection uses 71 interviews to describe the changes that have affected a small Andalusian village during the tourist development of the Costa del Sol.

  Main Topics: Rural life; rural industries; rural areas; family life; family relationships; community life; civil war; occupational life; customs and traditions; poverty; Spanish history; Andalucia.

  The full catalogue record for Pueblo : a Mountain Village on the Costa del Sol, 1900-1970 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• In Hiding : the Life of Manuel Cortes, 1930-1969
  Fraser, R.

  Date of Release: 7 April 2005

  Abstract: Ronald Fraser is a leading historian of twentieth-century Spain, using oral history techniques to document the experience of the Spanish Civil War and later changes in Spanish society. This is a collection of 71 interviews with the last socialist mayor of Mijas, who survived thirty years in hiding from the Franco regime, and also with his wife and daughter. His re-appearance followed a general amnesty granted by the Franco regime for offences alleged to have been committed during the war. For the first time in over a generation, Manuel Cortes, barber by profession and life-long socialist, felt free to come out of hiding. This collection of taped interviews and transcripts with Manuel, Juliana and Maria Cortes, made shortly after Manuel's emergence, explored their experience of these times and formed the basis for Fraser's book "In hiding".

  Main Topics: Civil war; politics; rural life; rural industries; rural areas; family life; family relationships; community life; occupational life; local politics; political participation; political oppression; political reform; political beliefs; customs and traditions; Spanish history.

  The full catalogue record for In Hiding : the Life of Manuel Cortes, 1930-1969 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• In Search of a Past, 1925-1983
  Fraser, R.

  Date of Release: 7 April 2005

  Abstract: This oral history project explored the author's own childhood. Particular reference was made to relationships within his upper class family and household during the 1930s and 40s. This was achieved through interviews conducted with the traceable and surviving members of that family and household made during the 1960s and 70s. Most - but not all - were used in the subsequent publication. This unusual work is both intensely personal, being driven by the author's individual psychological journey to understand his own past, and historically illuminating, in its detailed examination of a particular sort of inter-war English country life and the changes to that way of life brought about by the Second World War.

  Main Topics: Family life; households; childhood; childcare; parent-child relationships; siblings; psychoanalysis; servants; domestic workers; rural society; class; upper class; class differentiation; community life; oral history; world war; refugees.

  The full catalogue record for In Search of a Past, 1925-1983 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Studies of Poverty Among the Sub-employed in Three Special Areas, 1968-1969
  Townsend, P., University of Essex. Department of Sociology.

  Date of Release: 14 March 2005

  Abstract: This study of the sub-employed built on a national survey of poverty and the distribution of resources, carried out in the late 1960s, and financed by the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust.

  Conducted in Salford, Glasgow and Belfast, this later study focused on the economic and social conditions of the low-paid and sub-employed, the long-term and irregularly unemployed, and the chronic sick and disabled. It was undertaken to determine the extent to which poverty among these groups is related to local employment policies. Employment conditions, the distribution of income and other resources were investigated by means of a survey of households as well as a separate survey of the labour force policies and wage structures of local firms.

  Main Topics: Poverty; unemployment; unemployed; inequality; standard of living; social disadvantaged; disabled; sick persons.

  The full catalogue record for Studies of Poverty Among the Sub-employed in Three Special Areas, 1968-1969 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Transformed Landscape : Culture and Visual Imagery in a Town Built on Coal, 1997
  Byrne, D., University of Durham. Department of Sociology and Social Policy.

  Date of Release: 11 March 2005

  Abstract: This project's objective was to test the value of images as stimuli for discussion in focus groups. Conventionally, the stimuli are verbal points put by the researcher - this means that the traditional focus group works somewhat like a semi-structured interview in which the researcher has a set of topics to work through in an interview with a single individual. Here, the researchers wanted to proceed more on the lines of an unstructured interview in which a topic is established and the development of the discussion is directed by the person being interviewed. A subsidiary objective was to explore the meaning of the decline of coal mining to the people of South Shields. There was a particular concern with what they felt about the remaining visible signs of the industry. It is in this sense that the researchers were interested in the cultural impact of the 'transformed landscape'.

  Main Topics: Coal mining; coal miners; colliery closures; industrial closures; landscape; social change; interviews (research); qualitative analysis; social science research; research methods.

  The full catalogue record for Transformed Landscape : Culture and Visual Imagery in a Town Built on Coal, 1997 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Old People in Long-stay Institutions, 1965-1970
  Townsend, P., University of Essex. Department of Sociology.

  Date of Release: 10 March 2005

  Abstract: This study examined the provision and quality of care for elderly people in long-stay institutions. The collection includes: visit reports from a range of local authority and private homes, nursing homes, general and psychiatric hospitals; and notes based on interviews carried out with nursing and administrative staff in three case study hospitals. A draft report based on the research was prepared but not finalised or published.

  Main Topics: Old age; elderly people; residential care of the elderly; nursing homes; old people's homes; care of dependants; retirement; hospitals; hospital patients; nursing; nursing staff; hospital administrators; psychiatric treatment; welfare services; welfare service administration; social isolation; loneliness.

  The full catalogue record for Old People in Long-stay Institutions, 1965-1970 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Miners' Strike, 1984-1985
  Wainwright, H., University of Manchester. Manchester International Centre for Labour Studies.

  Date of Release: 28 February 2005

  Abstract: This material arises from the depositor's personal involvement with organisations supporting striking miners and their families, including 'Women Against Pit Closures' and the 'Miners and Families Christmas Appeal'. The deposit provides information on the development of grassroots organisations and the level of public support for miners. It includes newspaper cuttings, reports about pit closures, correspondence and pamphlets and newspapers from some of the organisations.

  Main Topics: Coal miners; labour disputes; colliery closures; unemployment; Labour Party (Great Britain); internal politics; party politics; trade unions; industrial relations; labour movement; women; pressure groups.

  The full catalogue record for Miners' Strike, 1984-1985 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Papers of the Disability Alliance, 1973-1998
  Townsend, P., University of Essex. Department of Sociology.

  Date of Release: 25 February 2005

  Abstract: The Disability Alliance, formed in November 1973, is the campaigning wing of The Disability Alliance Educational and Research Association. It has grown into a national federation of over 250 organisations of and for disabled people, who joined together to press for the introduction of a Comprehensive Disability Income Scheme. Peter Townsend was a founding member of the federation and these papers provide an insight into the running of the organisation, the development of social policy on disablement and the course of political activism on disablement issues from the 1970s to the mid 1990s.

  Main Topics: Residential care of the disabled; pressure groups; disabled; physically disabled; mentally disabled; social policy; social security; social security benefits; social welfare; social justice; social disadvantage; care of the disabled; disabled facilities.

  The full catalogue record for Papers of the Disability Alliance, 1973-1998 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Brian Jackson Collection, 1962-1983
  Jackson, B., Institute of Community Studies.

  Date of Release: 17 February 2005

  Abstract: This collection comprises the papers of Brian Jackson who researched and campaigned in the field of education and childcare from the 1960s until his death in 1983. The material is collated into 85 boxes containing papers, diaries, reports, correspondence, press cuttings, publications, audio recordings and a small quantity of original qualitative research. The material is arranged under the headings: working class community; fatherhood; under-fives (childminding); the Open University; education and mass media; ethnicity and world affairs; Socialist martyrs. In total there are over 65,000 pages of material in the collection.

  Main Topics: Children; child-care; childminding; education; socialism; race relations; social class; working class; class differentiation; class consciousness; community life; adult education; corporal punishment; Open University; family life; child-birth; parenthood; fatherhood; motherhood; local government; broadcasting; telephone help lines; sociology; universities.

  The full catalogue record for Brian Jackson Collection, 1962-1983 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Women, Socialism and Feminism: Beyond the Fragments, 1970-1980
  Wainwright, H., University of Manchester. Manchester International Centre for Labour Studies.

  Date of Release: 15 February 2005

  Abstract: This deposit includes contextual material relating to 'Beyond the Fragments' which outlined the importance of bringing together fragmented movements, campaigns and political groups to develop a democratic and united socialist organisation, based on the experiences of the women's movement. The material includes reports and leaflets, information on women and the Labour Party, socialism and feminism debates, and correspondence and minutes of meetings from the Beyond the Fragments Conference in 1980. This deposit forms part of Hilary Wainwright's wider collection of material relating to socialist and feminist organisations, trade unionism and local government.

  Main Topics: Women; women's movement; socialism; Labour Party (Great Britain); pressure groups.

  The full catalogue record for Women, Socialism and Feminism: Beyond the Fragments, 1970-1980 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Miscellaneous Papers of Hilary Wainwright, 1960-1990
  Wainwright, H., University of Manchester. Manchester International Centre for Labour Studies.

  Date of Release: 15 February 2005

  Abstract: This deposit brings together miscellaneous material relating to Hilary Wainwright's involvement with various socialist organisations including: correspondence and pamphlets relating to student political activity in the 1960s; minutes of meetings and correspondence of the Socialist Society, the Socialist Conference and the Broad Left Organising Committee. There is also some material relating to a study of trade unionism in shipbuilding during the 1970s and notes on the Liberal Party. There are also numerous reports and pamphlets regarding trades councils, trade unionism, Thatcherism, unemployment, socialism and cuts in the public sector.

  Main Topics: Politics; student politics; Labour Party (Great Britain); Liberal Party (Great Britain); trade unions; unemployment; shipbuilding industry; industrial democracy; labour movement; socialism.

  The full catalogue record for Miscellaneous Papers of Hilary Wainwright, 1960-1990 is available through the UKDA.

  
  

• Papers of the Child Poverty Action Group, 1965-1998
  Townsend, P., University of Essex. Department of Sociology.

  Date of Release: 2 February 2005

  Abstract: This collection includes the correspondence, press releases and publications of the national pressure group, the Child Poverty Action Group, from 1965 to 1998. Executive Committee minutes are divided into six-monthly reports. A wide range of supporting reports, memoranda and publications are also included in the collection which illustrates the debate on poverty and social welfare through four decades.

  Main Topics: Pressure groups; children; child welfare; rights of the child; poverty; child care; social policy; social security; social security benefits; social welfare; social justice; social disadvantage.

  The full catalogue record for Papers of the Child Poverty Action Group, 1965-1998 (SN 4760) is available from the UKDA.

  
  

• Social Rented Housing in Europe and America, 1920-1992
  Harloe, M., University of Salford.

  Date of Release: 2 February 2005

  Abstract: The interviews in this collection are from a series of linked projects, begun in the 1970s, which studied the long term development and contemporary circumstances of the major housing tenures in Britain; France; (the former West) Germany; the Netherlands; Denmark; and the USA. In total 160 interviews were conducted.

  The study of social rented housing was the 'end point of an endeavour to understand the nature of housing in capitalist societies', which sought to examine how 'structures of housing provision are embedded in the wider economic, social and political structures of society'.

  Main Topics: Housing policy; homelessness; housing economics; social welfare; welfare policy; welfare states; urban planning; council housing; housing associations.

  The full catalogue record for Social Rented Housing in Europe and America, 1920-1992 (SN 4940) is available from the UKDA.

  
  

• Family and Social Network, 1930-1953; Roles, Norms and External Relationships in Ordinary Urban Families
  Bott, E., Tavistock Institute of Human Relations.

  Date of Release: 31 January 2005

  Abstract: This research was among the first to attempt to study families, in their natural habitat - the home. It is concerned with two main areas of family organisation: relationships to kin, friends and neighbours; and the way in which husband and wife carry out their respective roles.

  The twenty selected families were 'ordinary' in the sense that they were selected through formal and informal contacts, rather than from lists from agencies dealing with family 'problems'. This was more typical for the time of the fieldwork. The families differed in socio-economic status but all had children under ten years of age, all were English and of mainly Protestant background, and they all lived in various districts of London.

  The material collected here consists of a set of notes for each of 17 of the 20 families studied, drawn from a lengthy series of home interviews, observations and, in some cases, follow up interviews outside the home.

  Topics covered include:

  • family and social histories of each partner and account of their marriage;
  • internal organisation of the family; domestic tasks; finances; divisions of labour; child-rearing;
  • informal relationships outside the family; relatives, friends and neighbours
  • formal social relationships outside the family; school; church; clubs;
  • couples general views on issues such as class; money; politics; society and religion

  Main Topics: Families; family life; family members; family roles; households; gender; marriage; marital history; life histories; employment history; domestic routine; child care; household budgets; friends; neighbours; social interaction; social activities; social life; money; politics; society; social class; religion.

  The full catalogue record for Family and Social Network, 1930-1953; Roles, Norms and External Relationships in Ordinary Urban Families (SN 4852) is available from the UKDA.

  
  

• The Last Refuge, 1958-1959
  Townsend, P., London School of Economics and Political Science. Department of Social Policy and Administration.

  Date of Release: 31 January 2005

  Abstract: This dataset consists of material generated by a national study of 1958-1959, which investigated the provision of long-stay institutional care for old people. Interviews were conducted with 67 local authority chief welfare officers; and 173 institutions - local authority, voluntary and private - were visited and interviews made with their matrons, wardens and proprietors; as well as residents. In many cases, detailed notes were also made about the condition of the buildings and the facilities that were offered. Additional material includes diaries kept by residents and professionals, and Townsend's accounts of two institutions where he stayed and worked. This study sought to ask 'Are long stay institutions for old people necessary in our society, and, if so, what form should they take?'.

  Main Topics: Old age; elderly people; residential care of the elderly; nursing homes; old people's homes; care of dependants; retirement; nursing; nursing staff; poverty; welfare services; welfare service administration; social isolation; loneliness.

  The full catalogue record for The Last Refuge, 1958-1959 (SN 4750) is available from the UKDA.

  
  

• Katharine Buildings, 1885-1962
  Townsend, P., Institute of Community Studies.

  Date of Release: 31 January 2005

  Abstract: This unpublished study of social change focused on the inhabitants of Katharine Buildings in Stepney, London. The Buildings were established in 1885 as an experiment in improving working-class housing conditions and were influenced by the ideas of Octavia Hill, Beatrice Webb and Ella Pycroft. Professor Townsend's study includes his analysis of the original ledgers and notes kept by Webb and Pycroft. In addition interviews with residents, some of whom were descendants of the original inhabitants, were also conducted. The accounts of interviews and questionnaires - with many open-ended questions - provide a unique picture of a working class community in transition through such issues as family history, household composition, occupation, income and leisure pursuits.

  Main Topics: Social change; housing; urban communities; urban renewal; working class life; family life; community life; family networks; rented accommodation; tenants.

  The full catalogue record for Katharine Buildings, 1885-1962 (SN 4756) is available from the UKDA.

  
  

• Religion and Survival in Stalin's Russia : Old Believers in the Urals, 1928-1941
  Smith, S.A., University of Essex. Department of History,
  Korovushkina, I.P., University of Essex. Department of History.

  Date of Release: 31 January 2005

  Abstract: This project sought to shed light on the revival of religion that took place in post-Communist Russia by examining its persistence under Communism. It concentrated on the fate of one religious community, the Old Believers, in one region, the Urals, during the 1930's and a time when persecution of religion was at its most intense. It looked at how the Old Believers responded to the onslaught on organised religion unleashed by Stalin and also to the deeply destabilising social and economic changes which accompanied forced collectivisation of agriculture and rapid industrialisation. It examined the extent to which Old Believers resisted persecution, accommodated to Soviet institutions or were gradually assimilated into mainstream society by various secularising forces. Through a combination of archival research and in-depth interviews, the project aimed to understand the social, cultural and psychological mechanisms whereby religious identity was maintained and transmitted in Old Believer families and communities.

  This project will be of interest to social scientists concerned with issues of social exclusion, especially as practised by the state, and to governmental and public organisations concerned with human rights, especially those of religious minorities. There are a total of 51 interviews and transcripts, all in Russian.

  Main Topics: Communism; Communist Party (Russia); collectivism; economic and social development; identity; minority groups; religion and state; religious communities; religious discrimination; religious persecution; Russia; state control; social change; social conflict; social exclusion; Soviet Union; subcultures.

  The full catalogue record for Religion and Survival in Stalin's Russia : Old Believers in the Urals, 1928-1941 (SN 4932) is available from the UKDA.

  
  

• On the Edge of Later Life, 1930-1990
  Thompson, P., University of Essex. Department of Sociology.

  Date of Release: 31 January 2005

  Abstract: The project was carried out between 1991 and 1993 to establish sources of self-identity and relate this to prospective ageing, and to consider how earlier life experiences contributed to adaptability to ageing. In-depth life history interviews were carried out with individuals aged 55 to 59 drawn from participants in the pilot study for the British Household Panel Study.

  Main Topics: Old age; ageing; retirement; death; bereavement; children; grandchildren; grandparents; parents; education; personal relationships; work; leisure; health; personal appearance; sex.

  The full catalogue record for On the Edge of Later Life, 1930-1990 (SN 4934) is available from the UKDA.

  
  

• Three Hertfordshire Villages Survey, 1961
  Pahl, R., University of Essex. Department of Sociology.

  Date of Release: 31 January 2005

  Abstract: This was the first social study of the influx of middle class managerial and professional commuters to Hertfordshire villages; and the impact that this selective migration of newcomers had on formerly rural communities. One of the three villages studied still maintained the character of a predominantly rural, agriculturally centred, parish, whilst the two other villages were situated on the 'rural-urban fringe frontier'. This study focused on questions of segregation; the relationship between class and commuting; the social and geographic origins of the population studied; and the pattern of economic and social links with 'the outside world'.

  Main Topics: Social change; social mobility; geographical mobility; family; family life; class; middle class; community life; community participation; occupations; occupational status; politics; rural life; communications; transport; rural transport; commuting; social life.

  The full catalogue record for Three Hertfordshire Villages Survey, 1961 (SN 4877) is available from the UKDA.