Poor Law Projects Officer

This post will be responsible for supporting the delivery of two externally funded projects funded by the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the University of Nottingham Trent’ s Impact Fund.

The Testimony of the Victorian Poor is a collaborative research project led by The National Archives in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University and funded by The British Academy (award reference: ARP24/250692). The project aims to identify, list and transcribe thousands of letters written by the Victorian English and Welsh paupers and the wider poor, found within the Poor Law Union Correspondence volumes at The National Archives. The project will then seek to geo-reference and subject-code each letter and upload each transcription to the open research database Voices of the Victorian Poor. The project is a follow-on from two highly successful earlier funded projects; these additional letters will mean that some c.18,500 letters will be accessible globally for free in perpetuity.

A Century of Struggle: Pauperism and the New Poor Law in Wales 1834 – 1930 is a collaborative research project led by The National Archives in collaboration with Aberystwyth University and Nottingham Trent University. The project aims to provide, for the first time, a detailed picture of the totality of the New Poor Law in Wales. It is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) (award reference: UKRI1432).

This postholder will be responsible for overseeing the identification, listing and transcription of historical data, as well as the management of a sizable volunteer group (c. 35-50 people) all of whom will be working with 19th century poor law archives. The volunteer group will be working both on and off-site. The post holder will also be responsible for the delivery of communication outputs (including blogs, social media, and recorded talks to the public) to publicise the work of the project, as well as liaising with project partners, attending project meetings (reporting on the archival data-set work), and assisting the wider project team as required. The post holder will work closely with the Principal Records Specialist (Collaborative Projects) who will be leading each project.

This role will be part-time (0.3 FTE/1.5 days a week) until 31 January 2029, with the possibility of extension.

A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time.

For full details and to apply, please click the link following 'Museum Website' below.

Museum Website: https://nationalarchives.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/Careers/job/Kew/Poor-Law-Projects-Officer_JR200680