Minecraft world brings archives to life 

Catching rats, cleaning chimneys and building apartments – these are just some of the activities users can engage in while playing a new world build released for Minecraft Education.

Created by the Library at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Lancaster University in partnership with Minecraft design company BlockWorks, the world is designed to teach players about social inequality in Victorian London. It is based on the poverty maps of Victorian London created by Charles Booth between 1886–1903 and held in the LSE Library archive.  

The release of the world build coincides with LSE’s 130th anniversary during which the university will be celebrating its impact, past and present.

Radical when they were created, the maps revealed the true extent of poverty in London at the time. Each street covered by the maps was coloured to indicate the income and social class of its inhabitants, making them an important tool for visualising and quantifying social conditions and identifying patterns of poverty.  

The new game, called “Charles Booth’s London”, is structured around six different 'police walks' undertaken by Booth, accompanying police around their beats in London and taking notes along the way. 

Each walk in the game contains multiple activities which help bring history to life and give users an insight into Victorian London. These include conducting a survey of residents in their homes, building new Peabody apartments for families relocated from slums, shopping for a rich family and poor family in Covent Garden to understand their different needs, catching thieves in Seven Dials, cleaning chimneys, rat-catching and clearing sewers in Bedford Square. 

Spanning a large section of Bloomsbury, from Lincoln's Inn Fields to the British Museum, key landmarks featured in the world include the Royal Opera House and LSE Library where the build starts – before players are transported back to the old King’s College Hospital which stood on the same site in the 1890s. 

The world, developed by BlockWorks alongside Professor Sally Bushell from Lancaster University and staff at LSE Library, has been primarily designed as an educational resource in schools for GCSE students. It is accompanied by a learning booklet which references the original Booth maps in more detail. 

A version of the game for members of the public to play will be available on the Minecraft Marketplace later this year. 

Educational resource booklet

An accompanying educational resource booklet has been created to support teaching and learning activities using Charles Booth's London Minecraft world.

Download the teaching booklet.

Key facts 

It took a team of 15 professional Minecraft builders over two years to create the world. 

The world is made up of over 45 million blocks. 

Over 1000 new blocks and textures were added to the world build to create an accurate Victorian atmosphere, including different types of London brick and wooden paving from Houghton Street. 

Over 200 characters have been added to the map for players to interact with, including Charles Booth and other prominent figures from the survey team – including Beatrice Potter (later Beatrice Webb – who went on to co-found LSE).  

Additional information 

Download Charles Booth's London map for Minecraft Education

Find out more about LSE 130th anniversary celebrations 

Visit LSE Digital Library to view more of the archive

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