Since 1981, in parallel with the Mass Observation Project, MO has collected personal papers donated by individuals, including diaries, letters, photograph albums, scrap books, autobiographies and other personal and family documentation.
One such collection is the Joyce Spurr collection. Joyce (b.1921) lived in Sheffield before and after the Second World War where she worked at the library. After the war she returned to library work, becoming the Deputy Head of Sheffield City Libraries, Commerce, Science and Technology Department and in 1958 became Head of Information Services at the United Steel Companies Research and Development Department until her retirement in 1986.
However, during the Second World War, Joyce trained as a Wireless Operator and was stationed outside of Alexandria in Egypt. Her role involved listening to and transcribing enemy radio messages which were later passed on for decoding at a secret location (they later learned after the war that it was Bletchley Park).
A large part of the collection is comprised of letters sent home to her parents. These span from 1944 to 1946 and the bulk of them describe her time in Egypt. In her letters and her diary she describes her travels around Egypt and the surrounding regions, as well as the other women she works with. Due to censorship regulations there is little mention of the actual work that Joyce undertook, but she talks about the huts that they work and live in, camping in the dessert upon their arrival and moving between different stations as and when commanded. The letters also continue after she returned to England, and describe life as she awaits demobilisation.
There are also a series of photo albums that Joyce compiled which include photos of her travels.
We are pleased to say that the collection has now been catalogued and is available to view the The Keep. You can view the catalogue record here.