Mass Observation Archive
@massobsarchive.bsky.social
An archive of everyday life, thought and feeling in the UK. Based at The Keep in East Sussex. Find out more at massobs.org.uk
Find out more: massobs.org.uk
Sign up to our newsletter: https://subscribe.emailblaster.cloud/MjEyMjQ/122.html
Find out more: massobs.org.uk
Sign up to our newsletter: https://subscribe.emailblaster.cloud/MjEyMjQ/122.html
Pinned
In 1982, inspired by the work of MO the National Lesbian and Gay survey began, it sought to capture what everyday life was like for queer people living in the UK. For our latest open call we're continuing the work of NLGS and asking what does it mean to be queer every day?
#lgbtqhistory
#lgbtqhistory
We're thinking about a set up like this and a calippo ice lolly on blue monday...
(Image from our the garden and gardening directive, 1998)
(Image from our the garden and gardening directive, 1998)
January 19, 2026 at 1:00 PM
We're thinking about a set up like this and a calippo ice lolly on blue monday...
(Image from our the garden and gardening directive, 1998)
(Image from our the garden and gardening directive, 1998)
We received these words of encouragement, on the back of an envelope, from one of our writers today! They might have meant it for the postal service, but we like to think it was for us 😏
January 13, 2026 at 2:00 PM
We received these words of encouragement, on the back of an envelope, from one of our writers today! They might have meant it for the postal service, but we like to think it was for us 😏
In 1982, inspired by the work of MO the National Lesbian and Gay survey began, it sought to capture what everyday life was like for queer people living in the UK. For our latest open call we're continuing the work of NLGS and asking what does it mean to be queer every day?
#lgbtqhistory
#lgbtqhistory
January 12, 2026 at 1:02 PM
In 1982, inspired by the work of MO the National Lesbian and Gay survey began, it sought to capture what everyday life was like for queer people living in the UK. For our latest open call we're continuing the work of NLGS and asking what does it mean to be queer every day?
#lgbtqhistory
#lgbtqhistory
Did you know we have a newsletter where you can keep up to date with all the latest MO news? We also share summaries and trends we've seen in the latest directive responses, as well as our latest events and opportunities! You can sign up here: subscribe.emailblaster.cloud/MjEyMjQ/122....
Subscribe - MO newsletter
subscribe.emailblaster.cloud
January 8, 2026 at 11:26 AM
Did you know we have a newsletter where you can keep up to date with all the latest MO news? We also share summaries and trends we've seen in the latest directive responses, as well as our latest events and opportunities! You can sign up here: subscribe.emailblaster.cloud/MjEyMjQ/122....
Prior to the winter break the MO team tallied up our end of year stats! 🧮 In 2025 we sent out 9 different directive themes, covering everything from feelings about your hands, to reflections on Covid five years on to how you feel the temperature 🌡️
January 6, 2026 at 12:27 PM
Prior to the winter break the MO team tallied up our end of year stats! 🧮 In 2025 we sent out 9 different directive themes, covering everything from feelings about your hands, to reflections on Covid five years on to how you feel the temperature 🌡️
We're excited to say that this event is now sold out! But we still have lots of exciting in-person events coming up throughout the year. View them all here: massobs.org.uk/engagement/e...
Come and spend Christmas with Nella Last, our most famous diarist! We'll be reading diary extracts from Nella, as well as some of our other early MO diarists.
Wednesday 17th December, 2-4 at The Keep. Tickets are free, but limited, book yours here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/christmas-...
Wednesday 17th December, 2-4 at The Keep. Tickets are free, but limited, book yours here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/christmas-...
December 8, 2025 at 12:33 PM
We're excited to say that this event is now sold out! But we still have lots of exciting in-person events coming up throughout the year. View them all here: massobs.org.uk/engagement/e...
We’re just finishing up cataloguing the amazing Ali Jacques collection. Ali was a woman of many talents and the collection features her fashion illustrations, acting audition tapes, sketches and drafts of scripts and novels.
December 2, 2025 at 3:22 PM
We’re just finishing up cataloguing the amazing Ali Jacques collection. Ali was a woman of many talents and the collection features her fashion illustrations, acting audition tapes, sketches and drafts of scripts and novels.
We've just sent our our most recent directive! Topics include feeling the temperature, sexuality and secrecy and Christmas greeting cards and we’re really pleased to be partnering with academics from @northumbriauni.bsky.social, @liverpooluni.bsky.social and @manchester.ac.uk on these!
November 19, 2025 at 4:52 PM
We've just sent our our most recent directive! Topics include feeling the temperature, sexuality and secrecy and Christmas greeting cards and we’re really pleased to be partnering with academics from @northumbriauni.bsky.social, @liverpooluni.bsky.social and @manchester.ac.uk on these!
A big thank you to everyone that came and spoke to us at @ihr.bsky.social yesterday! We loved chatting to everyone about all the different ways MO materials could be used in all manner of research!
November 5, 2025 at 11:16 AM
A big thank you to everyone that came and spoke to us at @ihr.bsky.social yesterday! We loved chatting to everyone about all the different ways MO materials could be used in all manner of research!
Well, have you?
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November 3, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Well, have you?
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For those that weren't able to make our webinar with @patcollier.bsky.social and Jim Connolly, you can now catch up on YouTube!
Learn more about the Everyday Life in Middletown archive as well as how the writers in archive write about comprehend crisis
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
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Learn more about the Everyday Life in Middletown archive as well as how the writers in archive write about comprehend crisis
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
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Everyday life in Middletown - YouTube
Find out more about the Everyday Life in Middletown project here: https://bsudsl.org/edlmiddletown/. Cover image: A photo submitted to the Everyday Life in M...
www.youtube.com
October 28, 2025 at 10:55 AM
For those that weren't able to make our webinar with @patcollier.bsky.social and Jim Connolly, you can now catch up on YouTube!
Learn more about the Everyday Life in Middletown archive as well as how the writers in archive write about comprehend crisis
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
🗃
Learn more about the Everyday Life in Middletown archive as well as how the writers in archive write about comprehend crisis
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
🗃
Come and spend Christmas with Nella Last, our most famous diarist! We'll be reading diary extracts from Nella, as well as some of our other early MO diarists.
Wednesday 17th December, 2-4 at The Keep. Tickets are free, but limited, book yours here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/christmas-...
Wednesday 17th December, 2-4 at The Keep. Tickets are free, but limited, book yours here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/christmas-...
October 27, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Come and spend Christmas with Nella Last, our most famous diarist! We'll be reading diary extracts from Nella, as well as some of our other early MO diarists.
Wednesday 17th December, 2-4 at The Keep. Tickets are free, but limited, book yours here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/christmas-...
Wednesday 17th December, 2-4 at The Keep. Tickets are free, but limited, book yours here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/christmas-...
Do we trust politicians less now than in previous years and decades? @nickclarkegeo.bsky.social and @drjennings.bsky.social make use of MO materials to consider the extent to which we trust politicians and the factors which influence our opinions.
blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
Do incidents of Westminster “sleaze” damage trust in politicians? | British Politics and Policy at LSE
Trust in politicians has never been high, and even though the global trend is towards people trusting governments less, not every event of corruption will contribute to that trend.
blogs.lse.ac.uk
October 22, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Do we trust politicians less now than in previous years and decades? @nickclarkegeo.bsky.social and @drjennings.bsky.social make use of MO materials to consider the extent to which we trust politicians and the factors which influence our opinions.
blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
Are joining us for our event today? Make sure you've signed up to receive your link to the webinar!
Our next event, 'Everyday Life and the Crisis Ordinary in Middletown, U.S.A.' is now open for booking! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/everyday-l...
October 22, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Are joining us for our event today? Make sure you've signed up to receive your link to the webinar!
Reposted by Mass Observation Archive
In autumn 2000, fuel protests brought Britain to a standstill - just as record floods swept the country.
David Tomory and Timothy Cooper explore what ordinary people made of oil, climate, and crisis at the dawn of the new millennium.
David Tomory and Timothy Cooper explore what ordinary people made of oil, climate, and crisis at the dawn of the new millennium.
Of Flood Plains and Fuel Protests
How did ordinary people in 2000 make sense of oil, floods, and climate change? David Tomory and Timothy Cooper explore the link between fuel protests and flood waters.
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
October 9, 2025 at 7:30 AM
In autumn 2000, fuel protests brought Britain to a standstill - just as record floods swept the country.
David Tomory and Timothy Cooper explore what ordinary people made of oil, climate, and crisis at the dawn of the new millennium.
David Tomory and Timothy Cooper explore what ordinary people made of oil, climate, and crisis at the dawn of the new millennium.
Reposted by Mass Observation Archive
So pleased to be presenting our work to the excellent scholars at and around Mass Observation & with Ben Highmore, whom we so admire, hosting.
bsky.app/profile/mass...
bsky.app/profile/mass...
Our next event, 'Everyday Life and the Crisis Ordinary in Middletown, U.S.A.' is now open for booking! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/everyday-l...
September 29, 2025 at 5:13 PM
So pleased to be presenting our work to the excellent scholars at and around Mass Observation & with Ben Highmore, whom we so admire, hosting.
bsky.app/profile/mass...
bsky.app/profile/mass...
Our next event, 'Everyday Life and the Crisis Ordinary in Middletown, U.S.A.' is now open for booking! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/everyday-l...
September 29, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Our next event, 'Everyday Life and the Crisis Ordinary in Middletown, U.S.A.' is now open for booking! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/everyday-l...
We've been having a look through some of the photographs from when the papers from Mass Observation arrived at @sussex.ac.uk! We won't lie, it makes very glad we're working with the materials now that they're boxed up and catalogued...
September 25, 2025 at 9:57 AM
We've been having a look through some of the photographs from when the papers from Mass Observation arrived at @sussex.ac.uk! We won't lie, it makes very glad we're working with the materials now that they're boxed up and catalogued...
Reposted by Mass Observation Archive
We’re delighted to publish a new Policy Paper today by Jonathan Moss & @emilyrobinson.bsky.social. They suggest that Mass Observation @massobsarchive.bsky.social - founded in the 1930s - can help us understand the reasons behind contemporary voter apathy. historyandpolicy.org/policy-paper...
Mass Observation and Political Engagement in Britain - History & Policy
Low turnout in the 2024 General Election and other signs of voter disengagement from politics pose serious challenges for the UK’s democratic system. To meet these, this policy paper argues, we need a...
historyandpolicy.org
September 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM
We’re delighted to publish a new Policy Paper today by Jonathan Moss & @emilyrobinson.bsky.social. They suggest that Mass Observation @massobsarchive.bsky.social - founded in the 1930s - can help us understand the reasons behind contemporary voter apathy. historyandpolicy.org/policy-paper...
Reposted by Mass Observation Archive
The Mass-Observation Critical Series documents and archives the everyday lives, thoughts and attitudes of ordinary Britons.
Found out more https://bit.ly/4lPM60w
Found out more https://bit.ly/4lPM60w
September 17, 2025 at 11:16 AM
The Mass-Observation Critical Series documents and archives the everyday lives, thoughts and attitudes of ordinary Britons.
Found out more https://bit.ly/4lPM60w
Found out more https://bit.ly/4lPM60w
This next week! Join Professor Lucy Noakes for her talk 'War and Peace: Mass Observers and the end of the war in Europe, May 1945' & Yves Fradier, Director of Survey and Methods (@veriangroup.com) for his talk 'Living through war: Insights from displaced Ukrainians'.
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Event Announcement!
'Documenting disruption: Everyday life during times of war'
We're collaborating with Verian to bring you an online webinar to look at the ways that everyday experiences of war are recorded.
Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1602048774...
'Documenting disruption: Everyday life during times of war'
We're collaborating with Verian to bring you an online webinar to look at the ways that everyday experiences of war are recorded.
Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1602048774...
Documenting disruption: Everyday life during times of war
Join us for a collaboration between the Mass Observation Archive and Verian looking at the ways that everyday life during war is recorded.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
September 16, 2025 at 8:26 AM
This next week! Join Professor Lucy Noakes for her talk 'War and Peace: Mass Observers and the end of the war in Europe, May 1945' & Yves Fradier, Director of Survey and Methods (@veriangroup.com) for his talk 'Living through war: Insights from displaced Ukrainians'.
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The third part of our current directive is all about kitchens 👨🍳 We enjoyed this anecdote about the dangers of open plan kitchen/dining!
September 9, 2025 at 10:39 AM
The third part of our current directive is all about kitchens 👨🍳 We enjoyed this anecdote about the dangers of open plan kitchen/dining!
Event Announcement!
'Documenting disruption: Everyday life during times of war'
We're collaborating with Verian to bring you an online webinar to look at the ways that everyday experiences of war are recorded.
Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1602048774...
'Documenting disruption: Everyday life during times of war'
We're collaborating with Verian to bring you an online webinar to look at the ways that everyday experiences of war are recorded.
Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1602048774...
Documenting disruption: Everyday life during times of war
Join us for a collaboration between the Mass Observation Archive and Verian looking at the ways that everyday life during war is recorded.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
September 8, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Event Announcement!
'Documenting disruption: Everyday life during times of war'
We're collaborating with Verian to bring you an online webinar to look at the ways that everyday experiences of war are recorded.
Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1602048774...
'Documenting disruption: Everyday life during times of war'
We're collaborating with Verian to bring you an online webinar to look at the ways that everyday experiences of war are recorded.
Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1602048774...
The thing with MO is, sometimes you read what a writer has sent and it all makes sense... but other times, you just have to try and figure out...
August 21, 2025 at 1:23 PM
The thing with MO is, sometimes you read what a writer has sent and it all makes sense... but other times, you just have to try and figure out...
These documents are from our topic collection 'Dogs in Wartime'. Suzanne, our Engagement Manager, often uses these materials with school groups as a way to demonstrate both the surprising materials we have in our care, but also how war impacts all areas of life.
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July 30, 2025 at 3:19 PM
These documents are from our topic collection 'Dogs in Wartime'. Suzanne, our Engagement Manager, often uses these materials with school groups as a way to demonstrate both the surprising materials we have in our care, but also how war impacts all areas of life.
🗃️
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