Few family historians have heard of the Mass-Observation
Archive as it is primarily used by broadcasters
and social historians, yet it contains a superb
collection of material. The Archive, originally
resulting from the work of the social research
organisation Mass-Observation, was founded in
1937 with the primary idea of creating 'an
anthropology of ourselves'. Both a team of
observers and a panel of volunteer writers
studied the everyday life of ordinary people in
Britain throughout the Second World War and into
the early 1950s.
The observational team of paid investigators
went to meetings, religious occasions, sporting
and leisure activities, in the street and at
work, and recorded people's behaviour and
conversation in as much detail as possible. The
material they produced is a varied documentary
account of life in Britain at that time.
The original panel of writers, from all over
Britain, kept diaries or replied to regular open-ended
questionnaires, called directives, sent out by
Mass-Observation's central team. For historians
of Berkshire and Berkshire family life, the best
source of local colour will be among these
contributions, both during the war and in post-war
times.
The Archive holds war diaries from nine men
and women with Berkshire addresses at some time
in their wartime existence. These range from one
or two entries to more substantial responses and
all are available to researchers on microfilm in
the reading rooms. Directive respondents from
Berkshire are more numerous. There are twenty-eight
with a local address, responding to topics such
as the food situation in 1942, the traditional
English Sunday, feelings about the end of the war
and the inconveniences of life in wartime.
The contemporary Mass-Observation Project has
also attracted Berkshire residents, responding to
present day directives, on a wide range of topics.
These have included holidays, growing up, general
elections and more unusual themes such as mothers
and literacy. A full list of topics covered since
1981 is available on the Archive website.
The identity of all volunteer contributors,
throughout the collections, is protected by our
access conditions. This means that we are not a
fruitful source for people tracing their family
tree or investigating wider family history. What
we hold is a singular and rich archive of social
and life history material, consulted by scholars
and visitors worldwide. In the spirit of early
Mass-Observation, we offer researchers the chance
to read how ordinary people feel and think and
make sense of their changing lives. So for those
writing their family history the archive is a
rich resource for filling in those gaps in our
understanding of wartime and postwar years.
The Archive came to the University of Sussex,
where it has stayed and flourished into the
twenty-first century, as a charitable trust in
the care of the University Library. It is a
repository of the original Mass-Observation
papers and has been collecting life writings
since 1981, through volunteer contributors. Our
website at www.sussex.ac.uk/library/massobs/
offers comprehensive details on the archive, and
how to visit us. Alternatively, you may contact
us by letter or email at the address given below.
The Archive, as part of the Special Collections
in the Library, is open to the public, subject to
our access conditions and visitors must make an
appointment. The Library is usually open from
Monday to Thursday from 9.15am to 5.00pm.
For further information contact us at The
Mass-Observation Archive, Special Collections,
University of Sussex Library, Brighton, BN2 9QL.
Email
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with any queries
