A collection of police mugshots from the turn of the 20th century have been digitised and made available online for the first time.

In an old manuscript at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth is a treasure trove of criminal profiles and mugshots which give us a fascinating insight into life in Mid and North Wales during the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Jason Evans, national Wikimedian at the National Library, has been scouring the archives and uncovered the book of police mugshots, which give a rare glimpse into the world of some of the poorest, most desperate and occasionally treacherous people at the turn of the century.

Speaking about his role in digitising the past, Jason said: “Sharing this content openly is all part of my role as national Wikimedian at the library.

“This started in 2015 as a temporary position aimed at sharing the library’s out-of-copyright digital content more widely on Wikipedia, and working with the community to improve content about Wales on Wikipedia in English and Welsh, but with massive engagement and interest in our content on Wikipedia the post is now permanent.

“Since we started we have held more than 30 events to train new Wikipedia editors and improve content. We have shared nearly 20,000 digital images with no restrictions on reuse. These have been added to thousands of Wikipedia articles and have been viewed a staggering 830 million times since the beginning of the project.

“Given that the library is currently closed, sharing content openly online and sharing stories about our collections has become more important than ever.

“Hits on our social media, websites and Wikipedia articles using our images have all skyrocketed since the beginning of lockdown, and our digital access and communications teams, working from home, have shifted all their efforts to sharing as many stories and as much of our rich content as possible online.”

There are over 100 images in the Cardiganshire crime book and they can be viewed by visiting http://zone47.com/crotos/dwynwen/?p195=84267496

You can also see the actual manuscript and all the information recorded about each prisoner at https://viewer.library.wales/4389767