TC 65 - LONDON SURVEY 1940 (Box 1)

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Title
TC 65 - LONDON SURVEY 1940 (Box 1)
Date
January 1940 - December 1940
Copyright and Source Archive
Material sourced from the Mass Observation Archive, University of Sussex Special Collections
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Description
Between July and October 1940, full-time Mass-Observers carried out a study of public behaviour and attitudes in London areas. The results of the study are divided up by weeks over a period of 14 weeks. The range of subjects studied is broad and although many themes are repeated, the subjects also vary from week to week. The main emphasis is on public morale in the weeks immediately before and during the first air raids on London. Observations were carried out in public houses, cinemas, churches, shops, on public transport, at rallies and meetings and in the street. Overheard reactions to news reports on the radio were gathered; newspaper placard messages were recorded; shop window displays noted for war references. Mass-Observation was particularly concerned with the effects of air raid warnings and air raids themselves on everyday life: sleeping arrangements, health, food, clothing, work, leisure, "nerves", children; attention was also given to safety provision (shelters) and to the effectiveness of public information (posters, films, leaflets, broadcasts by public figures such as Duff Cooper of the Ministry of Information). Rumours, grievances and "questions uppermost in the public mind" were recorded. Counts of people carrying gas masks gave an indication of whether people expected gas attacks. A good deal of the study was carried out in Stepney and in Fulham but other London areas covered include Streatham, Notting Hill Gate, Kilburn, and the West End. Mass-Observation personnel: HP, CF, LE, NM, SS, DH, CP, JS. The material has been kept together in individual weeks and is arranged in chronological order with reports by the same investigator grouped together. It is therefore possible to find, for example, a survey of attitudes to Gracie Fields divided between files because it was carried out by different investigators. the contents of this Topic Collection overlap with TC 23: Air Raids, TC 43: Propaganda and morale, TC 25: Political attitudes and TC 54: Police, law, and Invasion. Researchers are advised to check the catalogues to these Topic Collections for complementary material.