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
Find out more: massobs.org.uk
Pinned
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-...
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...
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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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If you haven't heard Jessica on Radio 4 yet, now's your chance!
If you tune in to Radio 4 next week you'll get to hear our archivist Jessica being interviewed about all things mantelpieces!
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
#history #socialhistory
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
#history #socialhistory
BBC Radio 4 - The Hidden History of the Mantelpiece
Rachel Hurdley explores the story of the mantelpiece and how it reveals our secret selves.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 24, 2025 at 10:14 AM
If you haven't heard Jessica on Radio 4 yet, now's your chance!
What did you dream last night? Were you in a sports hall? Were the colours and textures of paper merging with words to create a complete experience of reading? And did the strange lady in the cupboard slowly turn into very small snakes? No?
Reference: SxMOA2/1/73/2/1/124
Reference: SxMOA2/1/73/2/1/124
July 22, 2025 at 3:35 PM
What did you dream last night? Were you in a sports hall? Were the colours and textures of paper merging with words to create a complete experience of reading? And did the strange lady in the cupboard slowly turn into very small snakes? No?
Reference: SxMOA2/1/73/2/1/124
Reference: SxMOA2/1/73/2/1/124
If you tune in to Radio 4 next week you'll get to hear our archivist Jessica being interviewed about all things mantelpieces!
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
#history #socialhistory
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
#history #socialhistory
BBC Radio 4 - The Hidden History of the Mantelpiece
Rachel Hurdley explores the story of the mantelpiece and how it reveals our secret selves.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 17, 2025 at 2:28 PM
If you tune in to Radio 4 next week you'll get to hear our archivist Jessica being interviewed about all things mantelpieces!
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
#history #socialhistory
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
#history #socialhistory
In our most recent directive, we wanted to give our writers a chance to reflect on good news they, or people they know, had read, experienced or heard about. It was a task that lots of writers actually found quite challenging!
July 10, 2025 at 3:22 PM
In our most recent directive, we wanted to give our writers a chance to reflect on good news they, or people they know, had read, experienced or heard about. It was a task that lots of writers actually found quite challenging!
When people ask us what the material in Mass Observation is like, we're just going to start showing them this now
June 19, 2025 at 11:37 AM
When people ask us what the material in Mass Observation is like, we're just going to start showing them this now
We've got another wonderful blog post up from a visiting PhD researcher! This time Natalie Wood (@manchester.ac.uk) considers the what questions early MO raises for anthropology today massobs.org.uk/2025/06/16/w...
June 18, 2025 at 3:55 PM
We've got another wonderful blog post up from a visiting PhD researcher! This time Natalie Wood (@manchester.ac.uk) considers the what questions early MO raises for anthropology today massobs.org.uk/2025/06/16/w...
We guess it's nice to be warned that what you're about to catalogue is boring....🤔
June 17, 2025 at 3:32 PM
We guess it's nice to be warned that what you're about to catalogue is boring....🤔
In 2008 we asked our writers about the 'ups and downs of friendship'. This heartfelt response to directive always moves us! We were lucky to have this writer respond to our directives for nearly two decades!
June 12, 2025 at 3:28 PM
In 2008 we asked our writers about the 'ups and downs of friendship'. This heartfelt response to directive always moves us! We were lucky to have this writer respond to our directives for nearly two decades!