Hundreds of people are adding their feelings about the war with Iraq to the Mass Observation Archive, a unique collection of writings dating back to the Thirties.

Thousands of Britons have taken to the streets to campaign against the war but what of those silent millions who have not spoken out? What is the general feeling of the British people?

This is one topic being explored by the team running the Mass Observation Archive, based in the University of Sussex library.

For more than 20 years, the archive has received regular contributions from hundreds of correspondents across Britain on topical issues.

Everything from mobile phones to mad cows and menstruation have been the subjects of personal accounts from diligent scribes.

The archive contains a wealth of thoughts, memories and opinions giving a fascinating insight into the lives of everyday folk.

Dozens of books have been collated and written from the experiences and ideas of the contributors since mass observation started in 1937.

Although it died out in the Fifties, mass observation was revived at the university in 1981 and many of the new writers are still submitting items.

In the Thirties, the original founders included anthropologist Tom Harrisson who was keen to find out the traditions, beliefs and eccentricities of the British public.

Surveys were sent out to correspondents, with some volunteers keeping diaries.

Paid observers also watched closely what people got up to.

While the term mass observation sounds faintly creepy today, archive head Dorothy Sheridan said the word "mass" had far less sinister connotations in the Thirties. But that did not mean the populace was altogether comfortable with the concept.

She said: "At the start, I think people had the feeling they were being spied on.

"One MP famously said if he caught anyone mass observing him, there would be trouble. That was caught by a mass observer.

"Research today has to be much more ethical. People are more aware of privacy and there are data protection laws.

"But in a way, we are much more observed now than we ever were in the Thirties or Forties through CCTV and the passing of information on the internet."

The project continued during the Second World War and the records from this time are among the most interesting personal histories.

The original mass observers produced 25 books between 1937 and the mid-Fifties, including Puzzled People and Home Propaganda.

The title The Pub And The People has been republished three times and Dorothy has written a number of books herself based on the material in the archive, including Nella Last's War, from the diaries of a woman living in Barrow in Furness.

The archive comprehensively deals with the Falklands War, the previous Gulf War and September 11.

All writing is anonymous but authors are identified by a number, meaning their own attitudes can be monitored as time and circumstances alter.

Dorothy said: "People's writing has really changed over the years. Lots are now word processed and come in by email.

"Many people have taught themselves to word process, including one person aged 82.

"Another is a retired builder from East London who has been writing since the very beginning. He submits poetry as well.

"People in their 30s and 40s are the most difficult to get involved, and men more difficult than women.

"For women, it is much more like keeping a diary or writing to friends."

Three times a year, Dorothy and her team make contact with the writers and ask for their opinions on topics.

The most recent subjects include Saturday afternoons, memories or impression of television in the Fifties and Sixties and the war.

Dorothy added: "The majority stick to what we have suggested but occasionally some are not interested and write about something completely different.

"We recently did something on menstruation, which is quite a difficult subject to study. It's still quite taboo.

"The majority wrote very thoughtfully and it reveals a lot about health and relationships between men and women and mothers and daughters. It is a piece of social history.

"But one or two men found it a bit odd. One man wrote we should be looking at serious subjects."

The archive is unique in Britain and Dorothy said she knows of nothing else like it in the world.

It came to Sussex in 1970 when the original Thirties and Forties research was moved from a London warehouse.

In 1981, Dorothy and professor of anthropology David Pocock revived the research and acquired a new batch of correspondents through the media.

About 3,000 people have taken part but the regular writers currently total 350.

On Prof Pocock's retirement in 1990, Dorothy took over the care of the archive.

She said: "About 70 per cent of people who come to look at the university manuscripts and archives are using the mass observation material.

"When you think of the Rudyard Kipling and Virginia Woolf archives the university also holds, it's incredible.

"The whole archive is a charitable trust in the care of the university. The university is the main supporter of us and I am an employee.

"We had a Heritage Lottery award, which paid for us to install a television to help people with difficulty reading and a cooling system.

"In the war, people would write on the backs of envelopes. The quality of paper today is worse than it used to be so it's important all material is kept at a steady temperature."

The material is viewed for both academic purposes and by fiction writers keen to find out what people were doing or eating in a particular period.

Dorothy said: "Researchers want to know what people were saying as war broke out when nobody knew it would last six years.

"People expected to be bombed the minute war was declared. It must be similar for people in Baghdad now."

For more information, or to sign up as a contributor, write to the Mass Observation Archive, The Library, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QL, or visit www.sussex.ac.uk/library/massobs