The Peter Townsend Collection comprises a set of personal papers relating to his career, 1952-1996, and a series of sub-collections of papers relating to specific research projects carried out in the course of his academic career.
Personal papers, which span over forty years, concern his research and research interests, his position on various Labour Party Committees and the academic posts he has held. They include:
- General correspondence (1953-1980)
- Select correspondence (1956-1979)
- Press cuttings (1952-1994)
- University of Essex papers covering his work as Professor of Sociology (1963-1982) and as Pro-Vice Chancellor (1975-1978)
- Talks, lectures, seminars and conference papers (1954-1988)
- Miscellaneous thematic files encompassing issues such as deprivation, housing and community care
- Committee papers, press cuttings and correspondence relating to the Post-Ely Hospital Government Working Party (1969-1970)
- Labour Party correspondence and committee papers (1954-1985)
- Papers of the Disability Alliance (1970's-1990's)
- Papers of the Child Poverty Action Group (1965-1996)
Sub-collections or 'datasets' relating to Townsend's research projects include the following: (please note that sub-components of this EAD collection level record describe the content of datasets in further detail)
- The Family Life of Old People
- The Last Refuge
- Katharine Buildings
- Old People in Long-Stay Institutions
- Poverty in the UK
- Inequalities in Health
These studies relate to the period 1885 to 1995.