Experts have negotiated access to thousands of records from institutions for unmarried mothers in Northern Ireland.
The documents are being assessed by the Truth Recovery Independent Panel, which is the first stage of an investigation set up by the devolved government.
After the Panel finishes its work, it plans to preserve the records in a permanent archive - aimed at providing relatives and survivors with the opportunity to research their past in a single location, with appropriate support.
More than 10,000 women and girls passed through around a dozen "mother-and-baby" institutions between the 1920s and the 1990s.
In Northern Ireland, there were also three Magdalene Laundries – in effect, workhouses where women and girls were made to carry out demanding duties.
