Following the successful completion of the usability testing of an *alpha* version of this website, a *beta* version [www.histpop.org] was launched in July 2006.

In March 2004 the [JISC] funded AHDS History for a three year project to create a web-based user interface for browsing, searching, viewing and downloading almost 200,000 images of historical population reports.

The project completed will include the digitisation of almost 600 volumes of census reports, reports of the various Registrar-General's and other associated statistical material emanating from both the English and Scottish General Registrar Offices and their predecessors. The overwhelming body of material will be from the period 1801-1931 though there will be some exceptions. All textual material will be searchable, and many tables will be available in machine-readable format.

By February 2007 this online resource will be fully populated when it will offer a comprehensive view of the changing demographic structure of Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1937 by providing access to almost 200,000 pages of pre-World War Two census and registration material for the British Isles. For the first time, researchers will be able to search and browse a collection that includes all population reports for England, Wales and Scotland published by the Registrars-General and its predecessors for the period 1801 to 1920, and all the Census Reports for England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland for 1801 to 1937. In addition, ancillary documents from The National Archives and critical essays will provide an aid to understanding the contexts, contents and creation of the collection.

Funding for this project comes from the [JISC Digitisation Programme] . Including "histpop", there are six projects within this programme, the others being [Eighteenth-century Parliamentary Papers] , [Archival Sound Recordings] , [British Newspapers 1800-1900] , [Medical Journals Backfiles] and [Newsfilm Online] .

Access the Online Historical Population Reports [website and demonstrator]