Mass Observation was founded in 1937 by Tom Harrission, Charles
Madge and Humphrey Jennings. Its purpose was to create an
'anthropology of ourselves', in other words, to provide a study of
the everyday lives of ordinary people in Britain.
In its first period, from 1937 to 1950, it published twenty-two
books, many of which are being reissued in Faber Finds. These books
constitute a unique social history of the period.
Since 1970 the Mass Observation Archive has been at Sussex
University. In 1981 the New Mass Observation Project was born. It
is run from the Archive under the direction of Dorothy
Sheridan.
The Archive is a magnificent resource which continues to provide
rich material for books. Recent publications have included Nella
Last's War, Nella Last's Peace, Our Longest Days (all published by
Profile) and three selections of Mass Observation Diaries of the
Second World War and just after , edited by Simon Garfield and
published by Ebury Press.
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