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Britain by Mass Observation published 1938
There are other ways to access some of the Mass Observation material held in Special Collections if you are unable to come and visit us in the University of Sussex Library. Mass Observation material has been used in secondary sources, and is available on microform or on Mass Observation Online.
Secondary Sources
There have been a number of texts created using Mass Observation materials. This material ranges from study material created to supplement courses to works of fiction. The best way to find Mass Observation related texts is to use ‘mass observation’ as a search term. You may find you need to narrow your search, try also using terms specific to your area of study, e.g. ‘women’, ‘sex’, or ‘propaganda’.
Some publications are available on the Mass Observation website at:
http://www.massobs.org.uk/publications.html
Mass Observation on microform
A series of microfilms were produced by Adam Matthew Publishers and the collection covers Mass Observation Publications (1937-1966), the Worktown Collection (1937-1940) and some of the Topic Collections. For full details please see the Adam Matthew website:
http://www.ampltd.co.uk
The Microfilm series can be found on the catalogue at Papers from the Mass Observation Archive and are held in the University of Sussex library at HB 330 PAP in the microform room (1st floor).
Many other libraries carry the microfilm, to find out if it is held at an institution near you try searching Papers from the Mass Observation Archive on COPAC (http://copac.ac.uk/).
Harvester Press created a microfiche collection of the File Reports which are available in other institutions. For details on these try searching COPAC for The Tom Harrison Mass Observation Archive.
Mass Observation Online
Selected parts of the Mass Observation Archive are now available through Adam Matthew Digital for public and university libraries to purchase. The entire File Report sequence, early Mass Observation Publications and selected Topic Collections are available along with the diaries and directive responses from 1939 and 1940.
The resource also includes a interactive maps, bibliographic resources and essays on various aspects of Mass Observation.
University of Sussex students and staff are able to access this resource from the University of Sussex Electronic Library web pages.
For non-Sussex users Mass Observation Online is offered on a subscription basis; contact your institution’s library to see if they carry it.
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