Blog

Discover how the Mass Observation Project evolved through the 2010s. Explore societal trends, from climate change to digital shifts, revealed through module IV. Read how researchers and the public document everyday life in a changing world.

This blog spotlights Foreign Office, Consulate and Legation Files, China: Section II's material which documents China's relations with Britain, and key events such as the beginning of the Xinhai Revolution that ended centuries of imperial rule. It features correspondence between London and British diplomats stationed in Weihaiwei, the first foreign concession in China.

The Christmas pantomime feels like a timeless festive tradition, full of laughter, spectacle and audience participation. This blog explores how pantomime took shape on the nineteenth-century stage and why it flourished.

Accessibility is central to AM’s mission of expanding access to primary sources. In this blog, UX Designer Elena Panarese shares how inclusive design and collaboration support this goal.

Seventy years on from publication of the first issue, Emily Stafford, AM Editor, explores how the American Committee on Africa’s newsletter, Africa Today, served the committee’s aim of informing the American public about African affairs and built on the collective power of small individual actions to effect change.

As Los Angeles prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games, Matt Brand, Editor, delves into the city’s 1956 bid, revealing surprising twists and turns through promotional material and behind-the-scenes correspondence featured in The Olympic Movement: Sport, Global Politics, and Identity.

Eighty years on from the occupation of Hungary by German troops during the Second World War, one woman’s diaries offer a personal perspective on a globally significant event. This blog explores the accounts of Scottish journalist Margaret Mackenzie Scott as she navigates her new reality under German occupation far from her homeland.

Step into the vibrant tapestry of the 1980s, where anti-nuclear protests, political upheavals, and iconic figures like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan mingled with the neon glow of shoulder pads, arcade games, and synthesizers.

Whatever your drivers for change, the migration of your digital collections requires planning, resources, strategic buy-in and, not least, the support services of your chosen vendor. Given how important these migration support services can be, it’s crucial to ask some fundamental questions to, as far as possible, guarantee a smooth experience.

Harris County Public Library celebrated its centenary with over two dozen digital exhibits that chart its history from the first library stations to becoming America’s tenth largest public library system. CJ Williams, Technical Services Manager, reflects on her experience of creating exhibits using AM Quartex and offers advice for establishing efficient exhibit workflows.

In the first of a new blog series, Joanne Fitton, Deputy Director of Libraries, Museums and Galleries at the University of Liverpool, charts the journey so far in effecting digital change across the institution's heritage services.

Comprising over six thousand films, British Newsreels, 1911-1930: Culture and Society on Film represents the vast majority of surviving Topical Budget newsreels, now digitised and presented together for the first time. Jade Bailey, Assistant Editor, AM looks at a number of the black and white, silent newsreels which focus on the process of filmmaking itself and new techniques of the time which are interspersed throughout the collection.

The 1865 Morant Bay Rebellion marked a tragic episode in the Caribbean's history of colonial violence. Examine the brutal response by Governor Eyre and colonial authorities, which led to indiscriminate violence and death, and the subsequent Royal Commission of Inquiry.

What would it mean to see yourself or your own lived experience within a digital archive? In his first blog for AM, Jameson Worley uses his personal experience to answer these questions. And he explores the ways in which digital archives have fostered his own sense of community belonging.

In part 1 of her blog, Helen Duriez, Head of Product at AM, considered why accessibility matters and to whom. In part 2, discover examples of institutions using our technology to serve their audiences as well as how we consider accessibility in the context of our own primary source collections.

In the first of a two-part blog, Helen Duriez, Head of Product at AM, considers what accessibility means to us as a digital publisher and creator of Quartex, and reveals how we hold ourselves to account when it comes to meeting our customers' requirements.

The myriad benefits of serving multiple audiences with separate digital collections sites, all managed from one flexible, powerful and efficient DAMS, are being realised by libraries and archives across the US and around the world. Learn from the examples set by San Francisco State University, Harris County Public Library and Harris County Archives, and Syracuse University.

AM Senior Editor, Sophie Heath looks at our newest module, highlighting some of David Sarnoff's speeches and articles sharing his visions for the broadcasting industry, now digitised from the David Sarnoff Papers held at Hagley Museum and Library as part of our Broadcasting America: The Rise of Mass Media and Communications.

Eleanor Masters, Editorial Assistant at AM dives into our newest module Africa and the New Imperialism looking at the significance of the Berlin Conference from 1888-1885.

Like many members of the AM team, Ana Attrill-Klein, who recently joined our Customer Experience team, has a background working in libraries and archives. In this blog, Ana shares how these experiences have strengthened her belief in archival materials being accessible to all.

We designed AM Quartex with ease of use and efficient working practices front of mind. In a recent webinar, we explored some of the key processes in Quartex that ease digital asset management; here are five of them.

Eleanor Cambridge, Assistant Editor at AM explores the newest module for Interwar Culture, focusing on two fashion designers from the period, who have been largely forgotten.

Dive into Life at Sea for a fantastic insight into Christmas aboard ships during the Age of Sail, from the relationships of crew members to their leisure activities and general morale aboard ship.

Editorial Assistant Stewart Pospischil takes a look back through Mass Observation Project and the 2004 Spring directive giving us an insight into what the British public really thought about the BBC.