About the data
In a pioneering use of oral history methods in the 1970s, Paul Thompson conducted a series of 'life story' interviews with people of the then aging Edwardian generation. All participants in the project were born between 1870 and 1906 and these interviews created a unique record of their lives and times from childhood through to old age. Analysis of this work was published as 'The Edwardians: The Remaking of British Society'. The interview schedule covered: roles and work of family members meals, domestic routine, child-rearing and school, emotional relationships, family values, leisure, religion and politics.
How the data were used
As part of his research into the Great war, Michael Roper made use of Paul Thompson's life story interviews as one of his sources. In particular he addressed how young soldiers survived trench warfare on the Western Front by drawing on the emotional and practical support of their families.
The material gave him a way of linking the experiences of men from working and lower-middle-class families, who constituted the mainstay among rank-and-file soldiers, thus countering the middle-class emphasis of the more generally known written memoirs. His findings are published as Roper, M. (2009) The Secret Battle. Emotional Survival in the Great War, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Michael approached the collection by trying out key words like servant/death/First World War/veteran/wound in the index to the collections and this produced instant results.
About the author
Michael Roper is Professor and Head of Department in the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex.
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