This is our last directive of the year, so we’d like to take this opportunity to thank our writers for their contributions and support this year. The archive would not be what it is without their input! We are incredibly grateful for the time and energy they give to Mass Observation.
We’ve got three fascinating topics this directive, and we’re really pleased to be partnering with academic colleagues from Northumbria, Liverpool and Manchester.
Part 1: Feeling the Temperature
This is a collaboration with Rebecca Wright Assistant Professor of History at the University of Northumbria and Chris Pearson Professor of Environmental History at the University of Liverpool. Rebecca’s Wellcome funded research project is “Carbon Bodies: Warmth and Fuelling Health in Britain, 1918 to 2022” and is trying to develop a social history of heat and fuel poverty in the UK. This is their project website if you want to hear more. Chris’s project is also funded by Wellcome, “Melting Metropolis” is looking at experiences of urban heat and heat waves.
Part 2: Sexuality and Secrecy
This is a collaboration with William Stubbs, a PhD student at the University of Manchester and the University of Melbourne. This PhD project explores how secrecy in the family influences the ways non-heterosexual identities and stories are shaped, shared or kept hidden. Using new and archival material from Mass Observation, it examines how attitudes towards concealment and belonging have shifted over time alongside broader social and cultural changes in the UK.
Part 3: Christmas Greeting Cards
We are seeking responses to the topic of Christmas greeting cards. Christmas was one of the first topics Mass Observers were asked about in 1981 when the panel was re-established. For this, we are keen to know about what you feel about this festive greeting and how its changed over the years, regardless of whether you celebrate Christmas.
You can view all our past directives here.
If you are a researcher interested in commissioning your own directive make sure to visit our research pages!