So Long, Farewell…

Weather:  somewhat overcast with sunny bits

Clothing:  down to my last pair of trousers

Headlines:  JOBS, JOBS, JOBS

Today is my last day at the Mass Observation Archive at the University of Sussex.  I’ve finished up with the Topic Collection on ‘art’ and am now busily reading the details of my (now favourite) mass observers — how they came to be a part of Mass Observation, their personal politics, for how long they worked, etc.  I’ve looked through the files of Julian Trevelyan, William Coldstream and Humphrey Pease, and will this afternoon further explore the (very thick, heavy) file belonging to Humphrey Spender.

The thing about leaving is that, as I’m tying up loose ends, I’m constantly opening new doors.  I began the process of looking through the Observers’ files yesterday and have realised that there is so much more to find out… so much more to know about who these people were, why they did what they did, and how they did it.  The enormity of the project, however, is comforting:  it demonstrates that Mass Observation most definitely has a life unto itself and highlights how privileged I have been to peek inside.

Tomorrow…I’m leaving Brighton for Bolton, aka ‘Worktown’!  Much more to see and do…stay tuned.

Observing the Mass Observers

Weather:  cloudy, possibility of rain

Penguins consumed:  none (ackkkk….)

Pavement Art:  no conclusions…yet

Today I finished up with the third and final box of papers in the Topic Collection ‘Art’…phew.  So I moved on to the ‘Former Mass Observers’ files, which has allowed me to access papers and correspondence related to the Observers themselves — Julian Trevelyan, William Coldstream, Humphrey Spender, and Humphrey Pease, amongst others.   I feel as though I’ve started in on an entirely new project and that there are still mountains of information left for me to access.  I guess a trip again next year is in order…

Some interesting things that I found out:  Tom Harrisson never published that planned book on art; Humphrey Pease was conscientious objector and an ornithologist (birds!)  who became involved in M-O during the war (taking over ‘the art bit’ from Julian Trevelyan…and one of the reasons he was so welcomed by the organization was because he was one of the few who had a car…a two-seater V8, no less); Humphrey Spender’s first exhibition of photographs in the US wasn’t until 1981 and he was awarded an honorary DLitt from the University of Sussex in 2000. 

Tomorrow:  more Mass Observers, a touch of Worktown, and my final goodbyes…sniff.

Pavement Art

Weather:  some sunny patches, mostly overcast…a bit of rain

Penguins consumed: 2

Packages of ‘sunbits’: 1

Headlines:  Repatriation of 8 British Soliders Killed in Afghanistan

Perhaps the most intriguing part of my day today was an exploration of HP’s analysis of pavement (sidewalk) art.  By this terminology, Pease seems to mean any artist who draws on the street and/or sells his/her work on the pavement (excluding ‘graffiti’…this comes under ‘street chalking’)  Touring around London, Pease trolled the Embankment, went to Bloomsbury, Hyde Park, etc. and recorded not only all that he saw in museums and galleries, but also on the streets.  The images (and often words) that he saw in this very public sphere were a good barometer of public opinion during wartime.  He classed everything using his system of categories (according to theme and subject matter) and offered general remarks regarding colour, tone, etc.

Tomorrow…the last bit of pavement art…and an investigation (hopefully) into Pease himself.

I’m off to the Brighton and Hove Art Museum…open late this evening!

I’m back….

Weather:  more or less sunny all day (parallel universe?)

Penguins consumed: 2

Favorite newspaper headline:  ‘SECRET PLAN TO SACK BINMEN’

The archive is closed on Fridays and over the weekend, so I’ve spent the last fews days out and about in East Sussex and in London.  I’ve been to the Royal Pavilion (summer home of the Prince Regent later George IV), Tate Modern, Charleston (the Sussex farm of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, quite possibly one of the most beautiful places on earth), Monk’s House (the home of Virginia and Leonard Woolf and decorated with Omega Group furnishings), the Imperial War Museum, and many points in between.  Too much art…too little time.

Today I began working my way through the third box of art papers related to Mass Observation.  I’m well into the 1940s now and it seems, as the war progressed, many more people joined Humphrey Pease (HP) in various forms of reportage about visual culture.  JA, JS, MS, NW, PJ, LP, and PR have all popped up over the last year.  Dorothy…any help? 

One of the more subtle things I noticed today was not necessarily what I was reading, but rather the material upon which what I was reading was written.  Increasingly, I think, wartime shortages forced the observers used the backs of previously used pieces of paper, scraps, etc. to record their findings.  They truly were an amazingly dedicated group.

Humphrey Pease’s statements about the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1941, however, were perhaps the most insightful regarding the nature of the wartime perseverance.  He states:

General Appearance of courtyard at Burlington House [location of exhibition]  was a good deal altered from last year.  The majority of upper windows had been broken.  Some had been filled with 3-ply boards, etc. but there was a lot of recent damage and workmen were busy with repairs.  A pile of broken glass & rubbish stood in one corner.   Much of the glass was out of the porch roof, fragments lay about on the empty steps…Inside holes in glass roofs over the rooms had been patched up but in many rooms the parquet-floors were bucketed with damp, & over one room a tarpaulin flapped in the wind (TC 33/3/B)

Even under these conditions, the RA staged a show consisting of 12 exhibition rooms and over 1000 works of art on display.

The Enigma Code

Weather Conditions:  slightly overcast, but not really sunny….coolish

Transportation: again, timely (so timely that when it’s off due to weather, etc., the rail system posts a public apology…imagine!)

Cups of coffee: 2 at flat, 1 on train (resulting in spill)

Sweets Consumed: 2

In the news:  Chef Jamie Oliver’s campaign to reform school lunches — making them much healthier — in Britain has led, not surprisingly, to a decrease in takers of school lunches.

Today was another eventful day (although I’m looking forward to having some ‘digestion time’ tomorrow when the archive is closed).  No news on who won the United Artists  ’best in show’ category…although at last count (Daily Telegraph Report of 9.2.40) , The Sister  by A.R. Thompson — a hearing impaired artist — was in the lead.  Will keep you posted…

Perhaps the funniest moment of my day was stumbling across a report regarding the United Artists’ entry of Surrealist painter Roland Penrose.  Initially, Penrose’s submission was rejected by the Royal Academy and its committees because of some ‘unseemly’ words Penrose had included on the canvas.  He was, however, invited to submit a second work, which was duly accepted and given pride of place in the exhibition.  The picture shows four pairs of hands artistically arranged across the picture plane.  Of course, it was later revealed that the hands were not aesthetically arranged, but rather were  signing (in British Sign Language) a phrase that was far worse (‘unseemly’) than anything Penrose had written on the initial canvas. 

But on to the big news!  I managed to ‘crack’ some observer code today.  One of the observers responsible for collecting data regarding the content of and audience for art shows in London and environs invented a type of short-hand for jotting down information in a hurry.  I noticed, over the course of the day, that this short-hand became more and more complex…until I realized that H.P. (the observer…initials only, since all ’observed’ anonymously) had taken over B.W.’s (who is this, I don’t know…will have to wait until Monday) indexing code and hybridized it with his own.  Neither of them left any instructions as to how to read their findings, so I felt quite chuffed at having figured it out!

The United Artists’ Exhibition

Weather:  Sunny patch, then cloudy with rain

Dress:  jeans, t-shirt, sandals

Transportation:  timely, as usual (but had to ride backwards this morning…)

Penguins consumed:  2 (and counting…will probably finish off the packet this evening in front of BBC entertainment…and then start in on the Squashed Fly biscuits)

Another eventful day at the Mass Observation Archive!  I did manage to finish the first box of art papers today.  Hooray!  And the very helpful staff in Special Collections taught me how to use their digital copying system, so I was able to make copies of some of the documents relevant to my study.  Absolutely amazing… a stand camera that snaps an image, records it as a jpeg,  and then writes the jpegs to a CD.  No need to break the spines on books or subject other fragile papers to a scanner….wonderful invention!

My two favorite discoveries of today:

1. Rough notes regarding a Mass Observation study of the differences between viewing habits of East Enders, specifically Cockneys and Jews.  No other references to the study have surfaced…but I will be on the lookout.

2. A wealth of information regarding the Royal Academy’s ‘United Artists’ Exhibition’ of 1940.  This exhibition was the first comprehensive survey of British art since 1920 (staged as the RA’s winter show) and was held in benefit of the Lord Mayor of London’s Red Cross Fund, St. John Fund, and the Artists’ General Benevolent Fund.  25 British art societies and a number of independent artists (including quite famous ones) were invited to participate:  about 1800 in all.

Why was Mass Observation interested, you ask?  Each visitor to the show was given (at least, in theory) a ballot and asked to rank her or his top 10 favourites.  As the Star reported on 29 January, 1940:  ‘Sir William Llewellyn, ex-President of the Royal Academy, was today leading off in a new art game, ‘I Know What I Like,’ which the general pulic are invited to play at the United Artists’ Exhibition at Burlington House, Picadilly.’

Hopefully I’ll find out the result of the ballot tomorrow…when I finish rummaging through the files!

Are you a Jones?

A good night’s sleep = excellent

Tucked in a good breakfast = even better

No projectile illness = priceless

A few observations (am becoming a mass observer myself)

It’s the anniversary of the 7/7 terrorist attacks today, so the news is filled with announcements of memorials and the opening of a new monument in Hyde Park to commemorate those who died. 

More locally, I’ve realized that saying “thank you” is clearly a sign of foreignness…must learn to say “cheers” instead.  Unless of course I mean to say “excuse me” and in that case “thank you” is entirely appropriate.  My favourite expression so far:  ’You’re a gem!’ (instead of ‘How kind of you!’)  I’m ashamed to say that I’m not as bilingual as I once believed myself to be…

My train ride out to Falmer was happily uneventful, except for having to wait in line to buy my ticket and then having to run (hate running…only walking quickly) to catch the 9.22 train.

Once at the archive I returned to slogging through box 1 of the art papers and observations.  What a treasure trove today!  Although, a note to all of you who are hoping to donate your papers to a library after your death:  please write all your notes and correspondence legibly (and please, spell correctly and don’t be slightly off your rocker either…Tom Harrisson’s notes on social realism make little sense without an advanced degree in slang and common misspellings…if I see ‘fictitious’ spelled ‘fichtitous’ one more time, I’ll….)

My favorite discovery of the day were a few snippets and reviews of what was known to Mass Observers as ‘The Jones Exhibition.’  Graham Bell (a painter) and Tom Harrisson arranged an exhibition of ’scenes of London’ by British painters at the Storran Gallery  in 1938.  As a way of making it ‘democratic’ in its viewing public, they together invited over 800 families named ‘Jones’ (the most generic  name of which they could think) living in the London area.  The invitations were typed up and read (all of them were exactly the same):

‘Dear Mr. Jones:

We believe  you may be among those in our picture-show of Londoners in London.  We hope you will come along next Saturday afternoon and see for yourself.  Even if you are not there you are certain to find something to amuse you.  If you walk along Picadilly from Swan and Edgard, the Storran Gallery is in Albany Courtyard just before you get to the Royal Academy.

Tom Harrisson and Graham Bell’

According to one review, only nine families named Jones attended.  Nice try though….

More from the front lines of archival research tomorrow….Cheerio!

First Day at Mass Observation

After a not-so restful night’s sleep (the sun goes down around 10pm and is back up again around 4am because I’m so far north), I woke up and got out of bed.  Then, because not enough sleep and a significant time change didn’t quite meet my quota for torture, I was promptly violently ill upon trying to have a cup of coffee.  Travel doesn’t agree with my stomach…

But things can only improve from there, right?  And they did.  I talked myself into wellness (for those who know me, I’m a firm believer in the power of positive thinking)  and caught a train out to the University of Sussex, where the archive is located.  I arrived there around 10am and was greeted by a very kind librarian who set me up with a researcher’s card (allows me entrance into the library) and a username and password for the computers.  Then I treked up four flights of stairs to the Mass Observation archive…At last, I had made it!!!!!

There are three boxes of documents that I am focusing my work on this week.   I am absolutely amazed at the wealth of information!!!  For the past six hours, I’ve been looking into the motivations for and reaction to the “Unprofessional Painting Show” of 1938/39.  This show was in part organized by the leaders of Mass Observation as a way of acknowledging the necessity for an “accessible” form of art, one that catered to “the ordinary working person.”  In particular, I am looking at the “Ashington Group,” a league of miners from Northumbria who began painting informally in the 1930s under the auspices of the WEA.

You can find out a bit more regarding the Ashington Group here:  http://www.ashingtongroup.co.uk/home.html

Favorite Mass Observation snippet of the day (from a 25 year old man recorded by observer “L.T.” on 5 January 1939 upon seeing the “Unprofessional Paintings”):  “Um…a rum looking picture.”

Planes, trains….

I didn’t have a chance to post yesterday during my journey…so here’s a rough breakdown.

My flight left Atlanta at 10:35pm on Saturday and I arrived at Heathrow Airport at 12noon on Sunday.  I made it though customs and immigration quickly  and then set out for London, specifically Victoria Station in the center(ish) of the city…where I was supposed to catch my train to Brighton (my ultimate destination).

Try never to travel on the London Underground on a Sunday.  It’s been quite some time since I’ve been to England and I had forgotten that  service on the dozen or so  lines that make up the Underground is limited, randomly closed, broken, etc. on Sundays (and, I am told, on other days as well…but Sundays are the worst).  Needless to say, it took me two and a half hours to get into the city and Victoria Station.  Lesson learned:   pay the 26 GBPs for the express train to London from Heathrow rather than taking the cheap way (10 GBPs total) because you’ll spend a great deal more in patience trying to figure out the latter, especially on a Sunday.

When I finally arrived at Victoria…I had the wrong ticket (FYI — in the Underground you purchase a ticket from an electronic vendor and then swipe it through a machine on your way into the station AND on your way out again when you reach your destination).  A ticket collector proceeded to yell at me, but when he heard my voice — clearly a foreigner and shaky after hours of travel and no sleep, pleading ignorance – he let me through with a look of disdain.  A small amount of humiliation in order to make my train to Brighton seems a fair trade….

The train to Brighton was a further hour, but I eventually made it there, found my flat, and headed to the local Sainsbury’s to buy some much needed food!