Mass Observation Online

The Archive of Mass Observation, a pioneering social research resource, provides access to around 115,000 digital images of material generated by mass observation between 1937 and 1949, with a few later additions from the 1950s and 1960s. 

In 1937, some 500 volunteers were recruited from the general public to form “a national panel" who were asked to record the everyday concerns of their lives on the twelfth of each month, including dreams, hopes, and fears.  The archive contains file reports, summaries and conclusions, books and topic collections, day surveys and diaries, photographs and maps. 

This is an invaluable resource for sociologists, cultural historians and a wide range of other disciplines.