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MASS OBSERVATION ARCHIVE
Papers from the Mass-Observation Archive at the University of Sussex

Part 5: Topic Collections on Welfare and Social Conditions, 1939-1949

There are over 80 Topic Collections in the Mass-Observation Archive at the University of Sussex covering issues as diverse as Adult & Higher Education; Air Raids; Anti-Semitism; Beveridge Report Surveys; Capital Punishment; Drinking Habits; Happiness; Housing; Leisure; Personal Appearance; Reconstruction; Sexual Behaviour; Squatting; Voting Attitudes and Work. These represent surveys and investigations carried out by Mass-Observation mainly between 1937 and 1949, with some later files for the 1960s and 1970s.

Together with the Worktown Collection these represent the raw material of the Mass-Observation Archive. Some of this was worked up into a polished form in the Publications which appear in Part 1 of this series. Brief details also appeared in the File Reports, some of which have been published in microfiche. But this is the first time that Topic Collections have been published in their entirety, giving scholars an opportunity to re-examine and re-interpret the extensive evidence that was gathered in the form of transcribed conversations, questionnaires, overheards (literally overheard remarks) and reports.

Coverage of the Topic Collections commenced with Part 4 of this project which brought together eight Topic Collections relating to Social Welfare and the Beveridge Report. Namely: Reconstruction, Family Planning, Health, Day Nurseries, Adult and Higher Education, Post War Hopes, Public Administration and Social Services in Wartime and the Beveridge Report Surveys.

This fifth part makes available a further four Topic Collections also dealing with Welfare and Social Conditions in the period between 1937 and 1952. These are:

- Housing, 1938-1948 (TC1, 10 boxes)
- Work: Registration & Demobilisation, 1939-1946 (TC27, 3 boxes)
- Food, 1937-1952 (TC67, 9 boxes)
- Fuel, 1937-1947 (TC68, 5 boxes)

All comprise individually lettered files within the boxes, all of which have been filmed in their entirety.

The scope of the Housing files is remarkably wide and embraces a number of the key themes of social history. Where did people live their lives? How did they live their lives? What was the social geography of the home? What did people think about their homes? All of these issues are addressed as well as pressing issues such as the need to rehome evacuees and people whose houses had been destroyed by enemy bombing. Also the need to build new homes after the war including ribbon development, housing estates, tower blocks and garden cities.

There are files relating to the problems of social environment and the impact that these factors can have on individual development. This is well illustrated by a quotation from a Housing Centre file of 1940: "If Id been born in Glasgow, then Id have been an anarchist and two feet shorter."

There are detailed housing surveys for a number of areas such as Stepney in 1941, which describe the average family size (2-4), the number of rooms per 100 families (132 living rooms, 168 bedrooms), average area for a family of four (4390 cubic feet), the average family income (76s 7d), the average rent paid (15s 6d), and the percentage of family members earning a living (49%). These details are provided for hundreds of individual homes, together with household budgets and accounts of household temperature, lighting, use of fuel, domestic pastimes, the length of time taken cooking and cleaning and the regularity of bathing. There is material covering Birmingham, Ilford, Letchworth, London, Liverpool, Portsmouth and Worcester.

The files on Work deal principally with Unemployment and Demobilisation. The starting point is a survey of unemployment in 1939 and an account of contemporary demonstrations. By 1941, following conscription and national service, the emphasis had changed. In a survey carried out in 1942 one man was asked: "What do you think will happen to the men who are demobilised after the war?" His answer was phlegmatic: "Theyll all be put in the queue for the dole and forgotten."

World War II was as much an economic war as a military one as is revealed on the files on Food and Fuel. Attacks on convoys, disruption of shipping and concentration on rearmament and the war effort resulted in food and fuel shortages at home. Rationing started as early as 1940 and continued until 1950 as Britains ruined economy struggled to cope with post-war realities. The files also reflect an increased emphasis on nutrition during the War with advice on how to create a healthy and sustaining diet with bread, potatoes, carrots and dripping. Hundreds of sample menus show what people ate. There are also illustrations of Mass-Observations forays into market research with research exercises carried out regarding margarine, coffee, fish fillets and crisp-bread.

There are good files on fuel use and rationing, 1937-1942, and of the fuel crisis of 1947 that caused the government to appeal to people to "economise in all fuelseven to the point of inconvenience." To what extent did food, clothes and fuel rationingand the introduction of prescription charges lead to the downfall of the post-war Labour Government? The files here show clearly the growing public dissatisfaction with such measures.

Housing, Work, Food and Fuel are all key areas for any analysis of welfare and social conditions. These files describe life during and after World War II and capture the concerns and aspirations of the people. They help to explain the desire for home ownership, the interest in gardening, and the need to build a New Britain after the war.

Access to the complete listing of Topic Collections held at the Mass-Observation Archive (http://www.massobs.org.uk/topic_collections_1937-50s.html) and an account of the differences between the File Reports and the Topic Collections (http://www.massobs.org.uk/mass-observation_studies_1937-55.html) can be seen at the University of Sussex site at the addresses above.



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