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The Burnett Archive of Working Class Autobiographies was gathered together by John Burnett, David Vincent and David Mayall whilst compiling their three volumes annotated bibliography, "The Autobiography of the Working Class" (Harvester Press, 1984-1989). This book includes descriptions of unpublished autobiographies and indicates their locations. Excerpts from some of the autobiographies have been published in "Destiny obscure: autobiographies of childhood, education, and family from the1820s to the 1920s", edited by John Burnett (Routledge 1994 and A. Lane, 1982). The authors "sought to identify not only the large numbers of printed works scattered in various local history libraries and record offices, but also extant private memoirs, many of which remain hidden in family attics, known only to the author and a handful of relatives" (Introduction to vol.1, p. xxix). The criteria for inclusion were: the writers were working class for at least part of their lives; they wrote in English; and they lived for some time in England, Scotland or Wales between 1790 and 1945. John Burnett was professor of social history at Brunel University from 1972 to 1990. |
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