Resources

Learn about available resources, through Sussex and externally, in the field of Life History and Life Writing.

Sussex resources

  • The Mass-Observation Archive is an international research resource available through University of Sussex’s Special Collections at the The Keep. The Archive is a result of the work of Mass Observation. This social research organisation was founded in 1937 and aimed to create an ‘anthropology of ourselves’. Today it is the base for an ongoing Mass Observation research project involving autobiographical writing. 
  • The CLHLWR Oral History Methods Canvas site is a free teaching and research resource for staff and students enrolled at Sussex, open across all Schools. Contact M.Jolly@sussex.ac.uk if you want to be enrolled.
  • Oral History for Public Culture: Recordings and teaching materials from a four-day advanced training for doctoral students in oral history 2015-2016. 
  • QueenSpark Books is a publisher that began in 1972. As part of a campaign to stop a casino being built in the Queens Park area of Brighton, a book was published detailing one person’s long life in the area. The company then became part of a wider political and social movement at the time, publishing working class writing and life histories. This mission has expanded to include creative writing and enable 'lesser-heard voices' to be heard. The website has archived the text from all titles published and made it fully searchable.
  • University of Sussex Oral History: 50 Voices – this oral history and photography project captures the personal memories and reflections of 50 staff and students across the five decades since the University’s opening in 1961. The oral histories tell the individual stories behind the institution’s history and provide a fascinating account of people’s relationship with the University and what Sussex meant – and means - to them. This online exhibition provides a snapshot of the rich material gathered in the project, which is archived in The Keep catalogue no: SxUOS1/1/1/27/3/5/3.
  • The Oral History of Art History at Sussex – 14 oral history interviews were collected as part of the 50th anniversary of the Art History department at the University of Sussex. Interviewees include Professor Maurice Howard, Professor David Allan Mellor, Dorothy Scruton, Julian Bell, Nicola Coleby and Gilane Tawadros.
  • Life Writing Projects – this website launched in September 2017, to feature creative representations of lived experience. It is hosted by REFRAME, an open access academic digital platform for the practice, publication and curation of international research in media, arts and humanities. 
  • New Pathways: A Psychogeography of Lewes – this multimedia publication brings together writers and film-makers from Lewes and elsewhere to create new and playful visions and personal maps of the town. It is hosted by REFRAME.

Life writing resources

Oral history resources

Public history and storytelling resources

Journals

Contact

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