萨塞克斯大学(University of Sussex)的大众观察档案馆(Mass-Observation Archive)是社会研究组织的先锋, 被誉为“宝库”,“社会学家与文化史学家无价的资源”,“为研究者提供大范围跨学科珍贵数据的引人入胜的源泉”，向考古学，文化与社会史学，文学，表演艺术，社会学，教育，战争与性别研究等学者提供大量的资料。主要内容包括：一套完整的“File Reports,1937-1972”大众观察档案馆出版物I/II;1937－1965年所有的每日观察/方针与日记；七类从未出版过的专题收藏；九篇由著名学者撰写的引导论文提供数据库描述，研究建议与教学方针等；由Humphrey Spender拍摄的照片，以及交互式地图等。
Period Covered
- 1937-1967
Highlights
- Diaries – the most intimate and detailed records of the day-to-day lives of respondents during and immediately after World War II
- The ‘Worktown Collection’ – the first study of ‘working class’ Britain ever undertaken, focusing on the cities of Bolton and Blackpool between 1937 and 1940. Includes a wide selection of photographs by Humphrey Spender
- Directives, 1939-1955 – responses to wide-ranging questions on topics such as race, class, religion, politics, the atomic bomb and World War II
- The Day Surveys, 1937-1938 – Written by Mass Observation’s National Panel of over 500 observers, these diaries record the events of a single day
- File Reports, 1937-1972 – a complete set of over 2,000 full-text searchable documents, providing summaries of the findings of Mass Observation studies on an immense range of subjects, from cinema- going, fashion, radio and music to sex, marriage, politics and more
- Topic Collections, 1937-1965 – represent the ‘raw materials’ behind many of Mass Observation’s published studies and include questionnaires, interviews and observations as well as contemporary ephemera on subjects ranging from reading, holidays, dreams, gambling, and smoking habits to sexual behaviour, propaganda, capital punishment and the Korean War
- Mass Observation's Publications – Many now out of print, these books appeared during Mass Observation’s first period of activity, 1937-1950
Source Archive
- The Mass Observation Archive, University of Sussex, Special Collections
Material Types
- Diaries
- Day surveys
- Questionnaires and responses
- File reports
- Original manuscript and typescript papers
- Printed publications
- Photographs
- Interactive maps
Subjects
- Food
- Fuel, 1937 - 1942
- Air Raids, 1938 - 1945
- Personal Appearance and Clothes, 1938 - 1954
- Shopping, 1939 - 1963
- Commercial Advertising
- Commodities
- Youth
- Cooperative Stores
- Children and Education, 1937 - 1952
- Day Nurseries
- Adult and Higher Education
- Evacuation, 1939 - 1944
- Housing, 1938 - 1948
- General Elections, 1945 - 1955
- London Survey, 1940
- Women in Wartime, 1939 - 1945
- Astrology and Spiritualism
- Dogs in Wartime
- Post War Hopes
- Public Administration and Social Services in Wartime, 1941 - 1942