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Worktown Collection (1937-40)
Between 1937 and 1940, Mass-Observation conducted a major study of the towns of Bolton and Blackpool. People's conversations and behaviour were recorded in a variety of settings - in the street, in the pub, at dance halls and cinemas, in churches and chapels, at meetings and public events, at work in the cotton mills and on holiday in Blackpool. The aim was to document Bolton's social and political life using the technique of 'scientific observation'.
Type of materials in the collection
The collection includes written material and printed ephemera. Over
800 photographs were taken by Humphrey Spender, of which 355 are available
for consultation in the Archive. The photographs are now owned by Bolton
Museum and ARt Gallery and are digitally available at .
Team of investigators
The team of investigators, led by Tom Harrisson and later by Charles
Madge, comprised students, artists and writers, photographers, unemployed
workers and local people.
Associated publications
The project was partly funded by the publisher, Victor Gollancz, but
only one contemporary book ever appeared, The Pub and the People (1943).
More recently Humphrey Spender's photographs have been published in
Worktown People (1982), and extracts from the collection have been
reproduced in Worktowners at Blackpool (1990). A repeat investigation
in Bolton undertaken by Tom Harrisson in 1959 resulted in Britain Revisited
(1960).
The Worktown Collection has been microfilmed and is commercially available.
Further information on accessing the microfilm copies is available.
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