Joseph Harley

Joseph Harley is an expert in the history of poverty over the early modern, Georgian and Victorian periods and researches the topics through myriad approaches including consumption, welfare, material culture and social relations. Joseph also researches human-animal relationships (especially with dogs) and the lives of people who lived in workhouses, especially, c. 1690-1834.

He has published a number of articles on these themes and three books. His book, 'At Home with the Poor: Consumer Behaviour and Material Culture in England, c. 1650-1850', was published with Manchester University Press in 2024. He has also recently finished co-editing 'Objects of Poverty: Material Culture in Britain from 1700' for Bloomsbury, which will be published in summer 2025.