from the Introduction:
GURPS Historical Folks follows in the spirit of Rogues,Warriors and Wizards, but instead of providing templates for ultra-competent adventurers, this book covers members of everyday professions at Tech Levels 0- 3. By keeping the point totals low, these templates may be used “as-is” for characters in low-powered games or by GMs to create “average” members of the professions in a matter of seconds. Of course, players in higher-point-value campaigns can still use these templates as the basis for more powerful characters.
from Using This Book:
Historical Folks contains 116 templates, each with a description of the character type, a list of appropriate advantages, disadvantages and skills (along with an explanation of why these were chosen), and a few ideas on how to customize the template to different campaigns or settings. Each template is accompanied by a sample character that the GM can use as a “generic” member of the profession.