Mass-Observation

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Occupation William Empson
WE was an enthusiast for Basic English (a simplified form of the language which he favoured not only for exchanges among scientists and others from different language groups, but also as an introduction to the...
politics Kathleen Raine
KR 's second husband introduced her to Communism as well as to the sociological-literary phenomenon Mass-Observation . She was never wholeheartedly committed to these political views, and eventually rejected them.
Raine, Kathleen. Autobiographies. Skoob Books, 1991.
166-76
Residence Kathleen Raine
She and Madge lived until 1940 at Blackheath in a house which was also a base for volunteers with Mass-Observation (a project for recording the lives of ordinary people for sociological and historical study).
Pedersen, Susan. “Sam, Caroline, Janet, Stella, Len, Helen, and Bob”. London Review of Books, Vol.
39
, No. 18, 21 Sept. 2017, pp. 19-22.
Textual Production Naomi Mitchison
NM was enlisted by Tom Harrisson to keep a diary for Mass-Observation , a scheme for gathering information about the lives of the nation's people. By 1937 she was writing her diary, by request, one...
Textual Production Naomi Mitchison
The title quotation from Robert Burns describes the writer almost as a spy on society; it continues, And faith he'll prent it.
Mitchison, Naomi. Among You Taking Notes . . . The Wartime Diary of Naomi Mitchison 1939-1945. Editor Sheridan, Dorothy, Oxford University Press, 1986.
5
NM kept writing through difficult home front conditions, mostly at Carradale House...
Textual Production Naomi Mitchison
On the day Germany invaded Poland, NM began keeping a regular diary, as part of her work for the sociological study Mass-Observation .
Mitchison, Naomi. Among You Taking Notes . . . The Wartime Diary of Naomi Mitchison 1939-1945. Editor Sheridan, Dorothy, Oxford University Press, 1986.
31
Sheridan, Dorothy, and Naomi Mitchison. “Introduction”. Among You Taking Notes . . . The Wartime Diary of Naomi Mitchison 1939-1945, Oxford University Press, 1986, pp. 15-24.
15

Timeline

July 1935: An educated, married woman with small children,...

Building item

July 1935

An educated, married woman with small children, living at Ballingate in Ireland, wrote to the magazine Nursery World about her loneliness and depression, seeking suggestions for some affordable occupation.
Hill, Rosemary. “Keep Calm”. London Review of Books, 24 May 2007, pp. 23-4.
23-4

By May 1937: Mass-Observation, a social research organisation...

Building item

By May 1937

Mass-Observation , a social research organisation devoted to observing the habits, behaviour, and opinions of ordinary people, was launched: Surrealist in inspiration, it became documentary and socially inclusive in aim.
“Mass Observation Archive”. University of Sussex Library.
McAleer, Joseph. Popular Reading and Publishing in Britain 1914-1950. Clarendon Press, 1992.
6n7
Laity, Paul. “Damsons and Custard”. London Review of Books, 3 Mar. 2005, pp. 18-20.
18

12 May 1937: The coronation of King George VI became the...

National or international item

12 May 1937

The coronation of King George VI became the first outside broadcast by the BBC Television Service.
BBC Handbook: 1960. BBC, 1960, http://U of A HSS HE 8690 B86.
238
Briggs, Asa. The BBC: The First Fifty Years. Oxford University Press, 1985.
373
Pedersen, Susan. “Sam, Caroline, Janet, Stella, Len, Helen, and Bob”. London Review of Books, Vol.
39
, No. 18, 21 Sept. 2017, pp. 19-22.
20

January 1939: The information-gathering project known as...

Building item

January 1939

The information-gathering project known as Mass-Observation published Britain by Mass-Observation, an examination of the views of ordinary people on the Munich crisis of the previous September. It sold 100,000 copies in ten days.
Pedersen, Susan. “Sam, Caroline, Janet, Stella, Len, Helen, and Bob”. London Review of Books, Vol.
39
, No. 18, 21 Sept. 2017, pp. 19-22.
20

24 August 1939: The day after the German-Russian non-aggression...

National or international item

24 August 1939

The day after the German-Russian non-aggression pact was signed, the British government prepared for war with the Emergency Powers Act. The Act put the full authority of the law behind defence regulations issued by the...

11 February 1944: Mass-Observation published the results of...

Women writers item

11 February 1944

Mass-Observation published the results of a survey of 10,000 readers in a report for the National Book Council entitled Books and the Public.
McAleer, Joseph. Popular Reading and Publishing in Britain 1914-1950. Clarendon Press, 1992.
94, 269

24 October 1944: A railway clerk named Mrs W. recorded in...

National or international item

24 October 1944

A railway clerk named Mrs W. recorded in her diary (now in the Mass-Observation archive): I cannot write what I feel about all this evil. My soul cries out in distress. I am a Jew...

1949: Mass-Observation undertook the first comprehensive...

Building item

1949

Mass-Observation undertook the first comprehensive study of British sexual behaviour.
Duffy, Jonathan. “Britain’s secret sex survey”. BBC News: Magazine, 30 Sept. 2005.
“Sexual Behaviour 1939-50”. Mass-Observation Archive: Topic Collections.

1949: The research programme Mass-Observation published...

Building item

1949

The research programme Mass-Observation published Meet Yourself at the Doctor's, a collection of comments on the fairly recently founded National Health Service .
British Book News. British Council.
(March 1950): 173
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.

Texts

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