Covid-19 Collection
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Mass Observation captured people’s everyday lived experiences, from March 2020 to Autumn 2021. This includes directive responses, personal diaries and 12th May day-diary submissions. With the help of a Wellcome Trust grant a database now provides researchers access to nearly 10,000 documents. Find the database here.
Hear Kirsty talk about the collection
Kirsty discusses the kinds of materials which can be found in the collection, the process of cataloguing the collection and how researchers may want to use the materials.
Covid-19: Reflections from the Archive
Kirsty Pattrick, Suzanne Rose and Angela Bachini share insights into the development of Mass Observation’s Covid-19 archive collection, which received over 10,000 contributions between March 2020 and early 2022 in this article for Paper Trails.
The Database
There’s a huge amount of content on the database. It includes Directives relating to Coronavirus, testing and Coronavirus and time. It also features day diaries from 12th May 2020 and diaries submitted from writers across the UK.
We have information on how to use the database and some background information on how the material was collected and catalogued. If you are new to using narrative materials you might want to use this guide. Finally, this glossary contains relating to Covid-19 terms.
Publications and Resources
Publications
- Clarke, N., & Barnett, C. (2023). Archiving the COVID-19 pandemic in Mass Observation and Middletown. History of the Human Sciences, 36(2), 3-25. https://doi.org/10.1177/09526951231152139
- Richard Vinen, Claire Langhamer, Kevin Siena, The 2020 Historical Research lecture: Writing histories of 2020: first responses and early perspectives, Historical Research, Volume 93, Issue 262, November 2020, Pages 786–806, https://doi.org/10.1093/hisres/htaa029
- Coleman, R., & Lyon, D. (2023). Recalibrating Everyday Futures during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Futures Fissured, on Standby and Reset in Mass Observation Responses. Sociology, 57(2), 421–437. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385231156651
- Clarke, N. (2024). Everyday Life in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Bloomsbury Academic.
- Coleman, R and D Lyon (2023) ‘Recalibrating everyday futures during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Futures fissured, on standby and reset in Mass Observation Diaries’, Sociology (special issue on Sociologies of the Future and the Future of Sociology), 57(2): 421-437. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00380385231156651
- Coleman, R, D Lyon and C Turner (2025) ‘Present feelings, feeling present: Liveness in research on time and feeling during the Covid-19 pandemic’, The Sociological Review, 0(0). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00380261251335445
- van Emmerik, C, R Coleman, and D Lyon (2024) ‘Minor reclamations of time and shifting futures during COVID-19: an analysis of writings from the Mass Observation Project in the UK’, Journal of Sociology, 61(1): 176-192. https://doi.org/10.1177/14407833241248672
- Robinson, J Sandow, R and Piazza, R (2023) ‘Introducing the key concept approach to the analysis of language: the case of regulation in COVID-19 diaries’ Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence 6 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374098426_Introducing_the_keyconcept_approach_to_the_analysis_of_language_the_case_of_regulation_in_COVID-19_diaries
Resources
- Popular Responses to Covid-19 https://covidresponsibility.org/category/mass-observation/