London's Pulse, launched earlier this week, is a digitisation
project from the Wellcome Library. This online resource contains more
than 5000 fully searchable Medical Officer of Health reports from 1848
to 1973, detailing the health of Londoners in detail - borough by
borough and often street by street. It is available at: http://wellcomelibrary.org/
Here is part of the press release:
'The
site showcases the often-overlooked work of Medical Officers of Health
(MOHs), qualified medical practitioners who became influential agents of
social and medical reform in the city. Their yearly reports amount to a
health check of the capital over more than a century, recording vital
statistics on births, deaths and illness, infant mortality, and
infectious disease.
The reports also offer an unparalleled
insight into Londoners’ lives, covering a dizzying array of topics. They
contain details of London’s lost trades (such as hair-merchants and
pigeon-fatteners), provide reports on the conditions of child workers in
factories and families in slum housing, and trace changing tastes in
fast food from oysters to Chinese takeaways'.
