What’s Mass Observation?

I first heard about Mass Observation when I stumbled across a box of original diaries in a local London library whilst researching my novel, which is set partly in 1930s London.  The writer was a sassy, cultured, 40-ish woman who obsessively documented the minutiae of her life through the 30s, 40s and 50s, and submitted pieces to something called the Mass Observation project.

Mass Observation was founded in Britain in 1937 with the object of creating an ‘anthropology of ourselves’.  Public volunteers filled in questionnaires, submitted diary entries and compiled ‘day surveys’, whilst paid members of the public offered snippets of overheard conversations and observations.  It’s still going today, although all the female volunteer posts have been snapped up.

Until there’s an opening, I’ve decided to do a bit of observation of my own.  This site finally brings together, in one place, the content of all my different blogs – now that I realise how futile it is to try to squeeze my life into separate ‘work’, ‘play’ and ‘obsession of the moment’ compartments.  It’s all one fun journey!

Mass Observation Girl is Michelle Newell; an Aussie girl living in London.  I record the interesting things I see and hear around me , and reflect on the more interesting events I attend.

All views expressed on this blog are MObGirl’s own.  I try to credit the source of all my images.  If you wish your image to be removed, please mail me through the post to which they’re attached.