Abstract

The emergence of a new «history from below» concerned with the experience of the suffering of the poor has prompted a review of the analytical possibilities from interviews with indigent peoples as sources that are fully capable, deliberately or accidentally, of revealing the lives of individuals in the past. Within this universe of evidence, we have explored the analytical possibilities provided by a documented collection of 90 public interviews performed by public welfare inspectors working to intervene with government authorities to release persons detained in Mexico City as a result of their indigence during the Maximato period. These interviews provide insight into the birth of the social services professions and they present valuable narratives for the study of the symbolic, political, economic and social living conditions of the poor who provided the testimonials, along with promoting what we understand as «the new social question.»