The Townsend archive provides open access to a range of original documents underlying the 1967/69 Poverty in the UK survey led by Peter Townsend. This survey pioneered the application of relative deprivation in measuring poverty.
The archive includes over 2500 digitised questionnaires from the survey. On these questionnaires you will find hand-written notes made, at the time of the interview, by the survey field workers. They provide telling details of the living standards and attitudes of that time. They are searchable by region, interviewer and survey booklet number.
The archive also covers a range of other papers associated with the administration and conception of the survey and notes and drafts of Townsend’s book. You can also download Townsend’s ‘Poverty in the United Kingdom’ book.
You will also find video interviews with researchers, fieldworkers and colleagues involved in, or associated with, the Poverty in the UK survey. David Donnison, Hilary Land, Adrian Sinfield, John Veit-Wilson and others reflect back on this landmark project. These interviews provide unparalleled insights into survey and research methods then and now, the relationship between social policy research and policy making across the last 45 years, and the impact, or otherwise, of research on tackling poverty.