Burnett Archive of Working Class Autobiographies 246 manuscript and typescript autobiographies (some are copies of originals held elsewhere) working class individuals in England, Wales and Scotland, c1790-1945, collated and copied by John Burnett, David Mayall and David Vincent for their publication "The Autobiography of the Working Class" (Harvester Press, Brighton, 1984-1989). The majority of authors recall memories of their childhoods and early working lives in the late 19th century and early 20th century. (BURN/1, BURN/2, BURN/3). Burn/5 consists of Burnett's admin papers and correspondence. For Burnett's introduction to "The Autobiography of the Working Class", which contains his collecting criteria - including what he considered "working class", please see the attached pdf. Another 103 autobiographies containing similar material and continuing on into the later 20th century were subsequently added to the collection by Brunel University Library staff, pre 2021. (BURN/4). Recataloguing in 2022 revealed that several of these additions did not meet the original collection criteria of Burnett et al. They have been retained, but flagged in the catalogue. Accruals: The collection by Burnett, Mayall and Vincent (BURN/1, BURN/2, BURN/3) was closed upon transfer to the Library. BURN/4 was closed in 2021. Brunel University does not hold copies of all the autobiographies referred to in Burnett's publications. To avoid confusion however, the catalogue numbering [Tree Ref No] has been kept the same as Burnett's original system. This is why, unusually, the catalogue (tree) references numbers are not sequential, ie there are gaps in the numbering. The gaps are the items Brunel University does not hold copies of. 1790 - 1945