The recordings were undertaken as part of an SSRC-funded oral history project called ‘Everyday Life in Kent before 1914’, looking at life in Kent at the turn of the 20th century. Michael Winstanley published a book based on this research in 1978 ‘Life in Kent at the Turn of the Century’ (Dawson, 1978), and the interviews also formed the primary research material for Part 3 of Winstanley’s book ‘The Shopkeeper’s World, 1830-1914’ (Manchester University Press, 1983).
The collection was gifted to the University in the 1980s. The original reel-to-reel recordings have been digitised and transcripts are available for most of the interviews.
Collection in brief
Contents: Audio recordings
Period: 1970s
Subjects: Kent, oral history