News 2000-2

Beneath the mourning veil: Mass-Observation and the death of Diana by James Thomas

This new addition to the Mass-Observation Archive Occasional Paper Series (number 12) offers an introductory examination of the collective evidence offered by M-O correspondents of the extraordinary week following the death of Princess Diana. It challanges the underlying myth of the mourning and suggests that far from being 'united in grief', popular attitudes were in fact deeply divided across a variety of themes. Further information on purchasing a copy of this and other Occassional Papers is available from our Archive Publications page.

Mass-Observation as poetics and science edited by Nick Hubble

A new publication has just been released as a special issue of the "new formations" series (vol.44) entitled "Mass-Observation as poetics and science", edited by Nick Hubble, Margaretta Jolly and Laura Marcus. The issue explores the history and cultural politics of Mass-Observation assessing the legacies of the archive. It also examines the work of the poet and sociologist Charles Madge, one of the Mass-Observation founders in 1937.

Children's Millennium Diaries

To celebrate the Millennium, the children of Brighton and Hove were asked to keep a diary for a week in the year 2000. The project was a collaboration between the local community publisher, Queenspark Books, and the Mass-Observation Archive. A party to launch the anthology based on the diaries was held at the Grand Hotel on the 4th June 2001. At the party the children presented their diaries to Dorothy Sheridan so that they could be kept for posterity in the Archive.

Launch of Writing Ourselves: Mass-Observation and Literacy Practices

January 2001 saw the launch of a new book studying writing practices in society through the context of the Mass-Observation Project from 1981 onwards. The launch party brought together the book's three authors, Brian Street, David Bloome and Mass-Observation's own archivist, Dorothy Sheridan.

"Writing Ourselves: Mass-Observation and literacy practices", Sheridan, Street & Bloome, published by Hampden Press, 2000