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“I am not Interested in the Coronation”: Similarities and Dissimilarities in Mass Observation’s 12th May Diaries from 1937 and 2023.

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A scan of a colour photograph of a long picnic table. It is covered in a white table cloth and red, white and blue decorations. It is covered in food, forming part of a street party.

Reposted from the Mass Observation website By Emily Calcraft Introduction On 12th May 1937 a Day Survey Respondent from Oldham stated: ‘I am not interested in the Coronation and regard all the fuss as artificial and irrational’. In May 2023,…

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Posted in Collections, MO (Mass Observation), The Keep

Re-opening the Call for Mass Observers; motivations of a volunteer

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by Kirsty Pattrick – Mass Observation Projects Officer “Writing a Mass Observation directive is like taking a thought for a walk” F5186 I was drawn to this lovely quote from one of our Observers. It makes me think of the…

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Everyday kindness

Posted on by Caroline Marchant-Wallis — No Comments ↓

By Suzanne Rose – Mass Observation Education and outreach officer Richard Ratcliffe, currently on day 17 of a hunger strike as part of his campaign to free his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe writes in The Guardian on 10th November 2021, “Amid…

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Posted in MO (Mass Observation), The Keep

How the 12th May Diaries can help us to understand death and grief during the COVID-19 pandemic

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By Chloe Daniel – Mass Observation Archive Assistant Content warning: this post discusses the themes of death and dying ‘After she died, I fretted that I might not have been praying hard enough or in the right way or not…

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Collections reading group

Posted on by Caroline Marchant-Wallis — No Comments ↓

By Richard Wragg – Collections Manager For the last few months, the Collections Team have been meeting for a reading group. The texts we have chosen to discuss have all had a focus on decolonisation, equality and diversity. The reading…

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Posted in BLDS (British Library for Development Studies), Collection Development, Collections, IDS, Legacy collection, MO (Mass Observation), Special Collections, The Keep, Uncategorised, UOSH (Unlocking Our Sound Heritage)

12th May 2020 an introduction to the diaries

Posted on by Caroline Marchant-Wallis — No Comments ↓

By Chloe Daniel – Mass Observation Archive Assistant 23 March, 2020. The country, along with life as we knew it, stopped. School’s out. Non-essential shopping is no longer permitted. Gatherings involving more than two people now prohibited. You may only…

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Telling the time and temporal rhythms

Posted on by Caroline Marchant-Wallis — No Comments ↓

Evidence from the MOA Autumn 2017 directive One-day diary: organising and experiencing time By Clare Holdsworth, Keele University Writing a one-day diary is a key activity of being a MOA correspondent. One-day diaries are often used in directives, including the…

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Posted in MO (Mass Observation), The Keep

A Taste of History – Travelling back in time through recipes and Mass Observation

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By Dr Stella Sims In this video project I recreate recipes taken from, or inspired by 1941 food diaries held at the Mass Observation Archive, going back in time to a moment in history to cook and taste what someone…

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Posted in MO (Mass Observation), Special Collections, The Keep