Celebrating 85 years of the Mass Observation movement
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- Published: Friday, 14 January 2022 09:10
MO 85th Anniversary Festival
In 2022 Mass Observation is celebrating 85 years of the Mass Observation movement.
To celebrate MO’s 85th Anniversary, we are launching a festival programme of events and activities exploring different themes MO has touched upon over the course of its history.
As part of these celebrations, we will be running a seminar series.
The festival programme will run until May 2023, so there will be plenty of opportunities to take part. These may be in person, or online events and workshops, our academic seminar series, recorded talks to watch and listen to, or invitations to join in various activities via social media.
Some events will need be booked via Eventbrite and all details may be found on this page.
Upcoming events will continue to be added each month. Social media engagement will be via Twitter @MassObsArchive and Instagram massobsarchive
We really look forward to celebrating MO’s 85th Anniversary with you!
Illustration of everyday life by Martha Doyle
Instagram - @martha.doyle, Illustration instagram - @arti.martie
July MO & Recreation
MO Invites
MO invites you to share your summer holidays with us. We would love to hear about what you get up to, whether at home or abroad, via Twitter @MassObsArchive and Instagram massobsarchive. Send us a postcard and let us know.
An exhibition of vintage holiday postcards is on display at The Keep from end of July onwards.
Autumn programme will be released soon...
MO85 Festival events which have already taken place and recorded talks to listen to can be found below,
Recorded Talks
MO Past & Present
Fiona Courage, Director of Mass Observation Archive, in conversation with Professor Dorothy Sheridan MBE, Director of the Mass Observation Archive from 1990 to 2008. Listen to Dorothy’s reflections on MO’s past history and her rich and enduring relationship with the archive. Recording is available on our You Tube channel here.
Fiona Courage and the MO Team, Kirsty Patrrick, Projects Officer, Jessica Scantlebury, Archivist and Suzanne Rose, Education & Outreach Officer in lively and thoughtful conversation about MO today. Recording is available on our You Tube channel here
MO & Nature & Wellbeing
Listen to Kirsty Pattrick’s research on Nature and well being as reflected in MO materials collected during the Covid 19 pandemic. Recording is available on our You Tube channel here.
MO & 12th May
Listen to the MO Team, Kirsty Patrrick, Projects Officer, Jessica Scantlebury, Archivist and Suzanne Rose, Education & Outreach Officer in conversation about 12th May. Recording is available on our You Tube channel here.
MO & Royalty
Listen to Fiona Courage, Director of the Mass Observation Archive and Jennifer Purcell, Professor of History at Saint Michael's College in Vermont, USA, share observers' writing about the British Royal Family. Their talk showcases some of the work from their forthcoming book, Mass Observing Royalty, 1937 - 2018, part of the Mass Observation Crisitcal Series plublished by Bloomsbury and edited by Purcell. Recording is available on our You Tube channel here.
Mass Observation Seminar Series
The Mass Observation Archive present the launch of Bloomsbury Academic’s Mass Observation Critical Series.
Join us on 25 May to celebrate the launch of the Mass Observation Critical series and two new series monographs: Kimberley Mair’s The Biopolitics of Care in Second World War Britain and James Hinton’s Mass Observers Making Meaning: Religion, Spirituality and Atheism in Late 20th-Century Britain. The authors will be joined by the publisher and series editors to talk about these exciting new books and future publications. All welcome!
This is the first in the new Mass Observation Seminar Series. Listen to the recording here.
Mass Observation and Methodology
Mass Observation and the Human Sciences - Nick Clarke, University of Southampton
Literary analysis as sociological method: Mass Observation Mantelpiece Reports as epic, drama, and archive - Rachel Hurdley, University of Cardiff
Using Mass Observation data across time and in conversation with other data sources in a study of discourses of voluntary action - Rose Lindsey, University of Southampton
Listen to the recording here.
MO Invites
Share MO’s 85th Anniversary via our social media channels. We are inviting people to take part in various activities each month. Ella will be coordinating MO Invites and would love to hear from you.
MO & Celebrating the everyday
We invite you to celebrate the everyday by sharing your favourite ordinary everyday activities. Elevate the everyday and share something you love doing. Twitter @MassObsArchive and Instagram massobsarchive
MO & Nature
Being in nature can really help boost well being. MO invites you to go outside and enjoy nature. Share your walk with MO and share your view. The MO team will be out and about this month sharing their walks too. Twitter @MassObsArchive and Instagram massobsarchive
Tom Harrisson, MO’s founder was a school boy ornithologist. Make a list of five birds you see and share it with MO.
MO senses. Our new Mass Observation Project directive is on the senses, particularly smell.
What can you smell, hear, see, taste, touch? Share your experience of nature with MO.
MO & Writing
Take part in our national Diary Day on 12th May. Record your day in as much detail as you can and send your diary to MOA and be part of our record of life in Britain today.
Tweet your day! #12May22.
Share your day via Instagram massobsarchive
MO & Royalty
MO invites you to record the Platinum Jubilee celebrations by sharing your experiences with MO via Twitter @MassObsArchive and Instagram massobsarchive.
Frances Line OBE Coronation Scrapbook. View Frances' beautiful scrapbook here, which was created in 1953 for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
How will you celebrate and record the Queen's Platinum Jubilee? We would love to hear from you.
Writing Workshops
23rd March & repeated on 30th March 1.30-3.30pm The Collective Everyday: celebrating parallels in our stories.
Join MO for a writing workshop at The Keep, led by students from the University of Sussex and a chance to explore a selection of archive materials.
Students Abbie and Millie researching MOA at The Keep.
This workshop is designed with the intention of celebrating the everyday. As a group, we will look at Mass Observation archives from the last 4 decades to reflect on the collective experiences of people in Britain. Drawing on a range of topics from dreams to snacking, we will identify connections between our daily lives and people in the past, through creative writing.
We are keen to welcome people back to The Keep, the archive centre where Mass Observation is housed. If you would like to drop in during the afternoon, staff will be on hand to chat about the services available and there will be the opportunity to pop into the Reference Room.
Wednesday 18th May 2-4pm The Keep. Life-Writing Workshop with Simon Garfield. £10 per person.
A hands-on workshop with bestselling non-fiction author Simon Garfield exploring the Mass Observation archive and your own journals or memoirs.
Photograph of Simon Garfield by Sarah Lee.
What are the key ingredients of a great piece of personal writing? What makes the Mass Observation archive unique and compelling? What lessons can one learn from the past to make your own writing come alive and find a structure in an unstructured life?
Simon Garfield is a trustee of the archive, and has edited three volumes of diaries, as well as the moving correspondence between Chris Barker and Bessie Moore My Dear Bessie. He will explain his own editing techniques as you peruse original examples of diaries and letters from the archive, and he will attempt to answer any questions you have about the projects you may be working on yourself.
One-day workshop for postgraduate and doctoral students
In-depth Qualitative Survey: Mass Observation
Tuesday 7th June 10am – 4pm, The Keep. £10 per person
This one-day workshop will examine methods of generating and analysing in-depth qualitative survey, using narrative data collected by Mass Observation as a practical case study.
Mass Observation generates narrative data from its national panel of self-selecting volunteers through Directives (open questionnaires). We will use examples of these survey responses (http://www.massobs.org.uk/about/mass-observation-project)) including the recent COVID-19 collection.
We will look at different analysis techniques, so please come prepared to use and share the methods of analysis that you are using or planning to use in your own research.
Using examples from the Mass Observation Archive we will reflect on how in-depth qualitative data might be used in your research, thinking through the following areas:
- What is in-depth qualitative survey?
- What methods can be used to generate data?
- What kinds of data can it produce and how can these be analysed?
- Ethical and methodological considerations of using these techniques.
Throughout the day you will be encouraged to evaluate its usefulness to your own research, thinking about methods of collecting and incorporating qualitative data into your own research work.
This exhibition at Bolton Museum presents new work by Richard Slee, one of Britain’s most important contemporary ceramic artists. The newly commissioned pieces have been inspired by Mass Observation’s Mantlepiece Reports of 1937. The reports, with their fascinating lists of objects, reveal much about the tastes, preferences and preoccupations of people living in 1930s Britain. Slee’s work also explores questions of personal and national identity, history and taste, through his surreal transformations of ordinary domestic objects.
festival is presented by the University’s Centre for Worktown Studies. It comprises of a range of talks, workshops, displays of art, a dramatic production and music inspired by the theme of Worktown. Presenters include University staff and students and representatives of Bolton U3A and Live from Worktown.