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Mass Observation - Recording everyday life in Britain

Booklets for schools

Photo of schoolchildren holding hands
An illustration from one of the Archive's Booklets for Schools

These booklets are primarily intended for use by 14-16 year olds but may also be helpful to students at A Level and beyond. Extracts from the booklets may be reproduced freely for educational purposes. The booklets are available for download free of charge (see below). We have a limited number of print copies available for a small charge on request.

  1. The Blitz (22.73 MB)
  2. Tom Honeyford's Autobiography of a Spinner (8.52 MB)
  3. Evacuation (14.85 MB)
  4. Postwar Hopes and Expectations and reaction to the Beveridge report (Paul A Thomas) (20.69MB)
  5. Children at war (25.50MB)
  6. Bolton Working Class Life in the 1930s: a Mass Observation anthology (ed. Peter Gurney) (50.82 MB)
  7. Mass Observation in the 80s: Special directive, 19 April 1982: The Falkland Islands Crisis (3.30MB)
  8. Mass Observation in the 80s: Spring directive 1987: AIDS (2.66MB)
  9. Children's essays 1937: 'The finest person that ever lived" (11.50MB)