Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/10913
Title: Autobiographical letters, 1978-1984
Authors: Harris, HJ
Keywords: Orphanage;Lunatic asylums;Homelessness;Burnett Archive
Issue Date: 1984
Publisher: Burnett Archive
Citation: 2:363
Abstract: Recorded through a series of letters to Professor John Burnett between 1978 and 1984, H.J. Harris's (born 1903) memories of his early life in an orphanage as well as his life in a lunatic asylum in the 1930s. Also describes experiences of homelessness.
Description: 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 This book includes descriptions of unpublished autobiographies and indicates their locations.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.
URI: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/10913
Appears in Collections:Burnett Archive

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