Abstract

When the social research organisation Mass Observation (MO) began work in 1937, its aim was primarily to capture the here and now of everyday life. Its observers recorded behaviour and events as they were happening or as soon after as they could. Because of this the resulting archive is often seen as a counterbalance to the work of auto/biographers and oral historians who gather testimonies looking back over time. Dorothy Sheridan will explore the complementary nature of MO as a resource and discuss how MO material from the past and gathered today might shed light on the way we make our memories.