The purpose of this research is to gain insight in the rise and development of the working class and socialism in Friesland. In this context some seperate projects have been executed. Recently two sources have been published: Ut myn Beetster tiid, the memoires by the schoolmaster Tjepke Nawijn in particular about his youth and the struggle of the labourers in the peatmakers village Nijbeets (1889-1894), a reprint of Imke Klaver's Herinneringen van een Friese landarbeider (Mémoires of a Frisian agricultural labourer), and a small book Sporen van Domela in Friesland (Memories on Domela Nieuwenhuis).

At this moment the rise and development of labourer-villages in the eastern part of Friesland is studied. The main themes in this research are the rise of the labourer-villages (their inhabitants and the social circumstances which 'determined' them), patterns in marriages, professional and social mobility and the moral principles and values of the population. Previous results of this research are published in It Beaken.