In the late nineteen-thirties Bolton, re-named as "Worktown", was chosen by Mass Observation as the location for a study of everyday life in a northern industrial town. The aim of Mass Observation was to investigate the beliefs, habits and practices of ordinary people through observation and by encouraging volunteers to keep diaries or produce reports. As part of the Worktown project the photographer Humphrey Spender took hundreds of images of Bolton life in locations as varied as public houses, parks, markets and also Blackpool, where he went to capture Boltonians on holiday. These photographs are now housed at Bolton Museum*.

 

(Copyright Bolton Council from the Bolton Museum & Archive collection.)

In 2008 the University held a highly successful conference "Recording Leisure Lives" to coincide with the launch at Bolton Museum of a permanent exhibition of Spender's Worktown images. This was presented in collaboration with Bolton Museum and the Leisure Studies Association.

The fourth Recording Leisure Lives conference will be held on 19^th April 2011 and has as its theme Everyday Leisure in 20th Century Britain. Keynote speakers booked to date include Nick Hubble (Brunel University), author of Mass Observation and Everyday Life and David Fowler (University of Cambridge) author of the forthcoming Rolf Gardiner and English culture 1920-1950: the apostle of Youth. Further details are available from Dr. Bob Snape, 01204 903609 or r.snape@bolton.ac.uk |

(Copyright Bolton Council from the Bolton Museum & Archive collection.)

The University is committed to supporting further research in the use of this archive. The archive can be approached from a wide range of perspectives which include, amongst others, social history, leisure history, community history, anthropology and documentary photography.

The School welcomes enquiries concerning research related to the archive and / or Bolton's identity as Worktown. Please contact Dr. Bob Snape by 'phone on 01204 903609 or by email: r.snape@bolton.ac.uk|

* A selection of the photographs is available on the Museum's website at http://spender.boltonmuseums.org.uk/index.html|