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'''Iona Margaret Balfour Opie''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|commas=on|CBE|FBA|size=100%}} (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017)<ref>{{citation |newspaper=The Times |date=27 October 2017 |title=Iona Opie |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/iona-opie-obituary-r3mn9qgtq |access-date=5 November 2017}}</ref> and '''Peter Mason Opie''' (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982)<!--source is LCAuth Peter Opie--> were an English married team of [[folklorist]]s who applied modern techniques to children's literature, summarised in their studies ''The Oxford Dictionary of [[Nursery Rhymes]]'' (1951) and ''The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren'' (1959). They were also noted [[anthologist]]s, and assembled large collections of children's literature, toys, and games.
'''Iona Margaret Balfour Opie''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|commas=on|CBE|FBA|size=100%}} (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017)<ref>{{citation |newspaper=The Times |date=27 October 2017 |title=Iona Opie |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/iona-opie-obituary-r3mn9qgtq |access-date=5 November 2017}}</ref> and '''Peter Mason Opie''' (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982)<!--source is LCAuth Peter Opie--> were an English married team of [[folklorist]]s who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and play, in studies such as ''The Oxford Dictionary of [[Nursery Rhymes]]'' (1951) and ''The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren'' (1959). They were also noted [[anthologist]]s, assembled large collections of children's literature, toys, and games and were regarded as world-famous authorities on children's lore and customs.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Simpson|first=Jacqueline|date=1982|title=Obituary: Peter Mason Opie, M.A. (1918–1982)|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0015587X.1982.9716243|journal=Folklore|language=en|volume=93|issue=2|pages=223|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1982.9716243|issn=0015-587X}}</ref>


Their research had a considerable impact on a number of research fields, including [[Folklore]] and [[Childhood studies|Childhood Studies]] and altered perceptions of [[children's street culture]] and notions of [[Play (activity)|play]], by emphasising the agency of children.<ref name=":2" />
The Opies' collection of children's books and ephemera ranges from the 16th to 20th centuries and includes an extensive library of children's literature. It was posthumously donated to the [[Bodleian Library]] at [[Oxford University]].


Working outside of academia, the couple worked together closely, from their home (firstly near [[Farnham, Surrey]], later in [[Alton, Hampshire]]) conducting primary fieldwork, library research, and interviews with thousands of children. In pursuing the folklore of contemporary childhood they directly recorded rhymes and games in real time as they were being sung, chanted, or played. They collaborated on several celebrated books and produced over 30 works.
== Overview ==
Iona Margaret Balfour Archibald<!--source is LCAuth Peter Opie--> was born in [[Colchester, Essex]], England.<!--source is ISFDB--> She was a researcher and writer on [[folklore]] and [[children's street culture]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Horwell |first1=Veronica |title=Iona Opie obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/25/iona-opie-obituary |access-date=25 March 2020 |publisher=The Guardian |date=26 October 2017}}</ref> She is considered an authority on children's [[rhymes]], street and playground games and the [[Mother Goose]] tradition. She was elected a [[Fellow of the British Academy]] (FBA) in 1998 and was made a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in 1999.<ref name="Who's Who 2015">{{cite web|title=OPIE, Iona Margaret Balfour|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U28919|website=Who's Who 2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=13 October 2015|date=November 2014}}</ref>


== Early lives ==
Peter Opie was born in [[Cairo]] in the war-time British Protectorate or [[Sultanate of Egypt]] and was educated at [[Eton College]].<!--source is LCAuth Peter Opie--> He was a specialist in children's literature and the customs of schoolchildren.<ref name="Obit">{{citation |newspaper=The Times |date=8 February 1982 |title=Obituary, Mr Peter Opie |p=10}}</ref> He was joint winner of the £1,000 Chosen Books competition, with his autobiographical discursion ''The Case of Being a Young Man'' (published in paperback, 1946).<ref>Peter Opie, ''The Case of Being a Young Man'', Chosen Books, 1946.</ref>
Peter Opie was born in 1918 in [[Cairo]] in the war-time British Protectorate or [[Sultanate of Egypt]] and was educated at [[Eton College]].<ref name="Obit">{{citation|title=Obituary, Mr Peter Opie|date=8 February 1982|newspaper=The Times|page=10}}</ref><!--source is LCAuth Peter Opie--> At the outbreak of [[World War II]], Opie joined the Royal Fusiliers, becoming a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment. However, an accident whilst training ended his military career.<ref name="Obit" /> He began a career as a writer and was joint winner of the £1,000 Chosen Books competition, with his autobiographical discursion ''The Case of Being a Young Man'' (published in paperback, 1946).<ref>Peter Opie, ''The Case of Being a Young Man'', Chosen Books, 1946.</ref>


Iona Margaret Balfour Archibald<!--source is LCAuth Peter Opie--> was born in [[Colchester, Essex]], England in 1923. She was educated at Sandecotes School, a boarding school for girls in [[Parkstone]], [[Dorset]]. During World War II she joined the meteorological section of the [[Women's Auxiliary Air Force]].<ref name=":3">{{cite news|last1=Horwell|first1=Veronica|date=26 October 2017|title=Iona Opie obituary|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/25/iona-opie-obituary|access-date=25 March 2020}}</ref><!--source is ISFDB-->
The couple met during [[World War II]] and married on 2 September 1943.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/opie-iona-1923|title=Opie, Iona (1923—) – Dictionary definition of Opie, Iona (1923—) – Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary|publisher=encyclopedia.com}}</ref><!--latter source is LCAuth Peter Opie--> The couple worked together closely, from their home near [[Farnham, Surrey]], conducting primary fieldwork, library research, and interviews of thousands of children. In pursuing the folklore of contemporary childhood they directly recorded rhymes and games in real time as they were being sung, chanted, or played. Working from their home in [[Alton, Hampshire]] they collaborated on several celebrated books and produced over 30 works. The couple were jointly awarded the ''Coote Lake Medal'' in 1960.<ref name="Who's Who 2015" /> The medal is awarded by [[The Folklore Society]] "for outstanding research and scholarship".<ref>{{cite web|title=The Coote Lake Medal|url=http://folklore-society.com/awards/the-coote-lake-medal/|website=The Folklore Society|access-date=13 October 2015}}</ref> Peter Opie also served as President of the Folklore Society, 1963-64.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Peter Opie, British Library|url=https://www.bl.uk/people/peter-opie|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-12|website=www.bl.uk}}</ref>


The couple met during [[World War II]] and married on 2 September 1943.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/opie-iona-1923|title=Opie, Iona (1923—) – Dictionary definition of Opie, Iona (1923—) – Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary|publisher=encyclopedia.com}}</ref><!--latter source is LCAuth Peter Opie--> The couple moved from London to rural England. Their interest in children's lore has been credited to the Opies recalling whilst out on a countryside walk, the ‘Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home’ rhyme from their youth. They began researching into the origins of the rhyme, and as their interest grew they began to collect nursery rhyme books.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Bishop|first=Julia C.|date=2018-04-03|title=Iona Opie (1923–2017)|journal=Folklore|volume=129|issue=2|pages=199–202|doi=10.1080/0015587X.2018.1439605|s2cid=165260569|issn=0015-587X|doi-access=free}}</ref>

== Development of their research ==
Initially, the Opies based their research on printed material or previously collected oral sources. In 1951, they published ''The Oxford Book of Nursery Rhymes'', still hailed as the standard work on the subject.<ref name=":2" />

From the early 1950s, they increasingly drew on their own field research, carrying out interviews with school-age children via a network of school teachers.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Bishop|first=Julia C.|date=2016-05-03|title=From 'Breathless Catalogue' to 'Beyond Text': A Hundred Years of Children's Folklore Collecting|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.2016.1187383|journal=Folklore|volume=127|issue=2|pages=123–149|doi=10.1080/0015587X.2016.1187383|s2cid=147841491|issn=0015-587X}}</ref> By the time of the publication of ''The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren'' (1959), they had received contributions from about five thousand children (at seventy state schools).<ref name=":1" /> Over the following decades, the number of contributors grew: Iona Opie believing the final total to be close to twenty thousand.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Opie|first=Iona, 'Foreword'|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44174321|title=Play today in the primary school playground : life, learning, and creativity|date=2001|publisher=Open University|others=Julia C. Bishop, Mavis Curtis|isbn=0-335-20715-4|location=Buckingham [England]|oclc=44174321}}</ref>

''The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren'' was meant to counter the argument that mass media and the entertainment industry had ruined childhood traditions.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Aesolomv Ilaeazih, Artford Seminary Foundation|year=1961|title=The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (Book Review)|journal=American Anthropologist|volume=63|issue=3|pages=653–654|doi=10.1525/aa.1961.63.3.02a00520}}</ref> The Opies' use of surveys as a research methodology has been compared to growth of social surveys (such as the [[Mass-Observation]] project) in Britain from the 1930s onwards.<ref name=":1" /> The book has also been seen as revitalising the study of Folklore in post-war Britain, the subject having fallen into relative decline.<ref name=":0" />

Speaking in 2010, Iona spoke of working with her husband as being "like two of us in a very small boat and each had an oar and we were trying to row across the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]]" and that ''"''[W]e would never discuss ideas verbally except very late at night".<ref>{{cite web|title=News and Features &#124; Open University|url=http://www.open.ac.uk/platform/campus/people/honorary-graduate-iona-opie-fun-books|access-date=5 August 2011|publisher=Open.ac.uk}}</ref>

== Later years ==
Peter Opie died on 5 February 1982 at home, Westerfield House, [[West Liss]], Hampshire.<!--source is LCAuth Peter Opie--><ref name="Obit" />
Peter Opie died on 5 February 1982 at home, Westerfield House, [[West Liss]], Hampshire.<!--source is LCAuth Peter Opie--><ref name="Obit" />


Iona Opie continued to research and publish. She completed two further volumes based on the Opies' joint research, ''The Singing Game'' (1985) and ''Children’s Games with Things'' (1997). She also collaborated with Moira Tatem on ''A Dictionary of Superstitions'' (1989), and with Brian Alderson and her son, Robert Opie, on ''A Treasury of Childhood: Books, Toys, and Games from the Opie Collection'' (1989). Iona Opie revised the ''Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (1997) and went onto produce a solo volume, ''The People in the Playground'' (1993), which differed by "focusing on the players, rather than the games and rhymes".<ref name=":2" />
Cathy Courtney conducted an oral-history interview (C968/139) with Iona Opie in 1989 for the Cathy Courtney Oral History Collection held by the British Library.<ref name=oralhistory>[http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Opie-collection-of-children-s-games-and-songs-/021M-C0968X013901-0100V0 The British Library, 'Opie, Iona (1 of 6) Cathy Courtney Oral History Collection', The British Library Board, 1989]. Retrieved 1 February 2018</ref>


Iona Opie died on 23 October 2017.<ref name=":2" />
Speaking in 2010, Iona speaks of working with her husband as being "like two of us in a very small boat and each had an oar and we were trying to row across the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]].''" and that "''[W]e would never discuss ideas verbally except very late at night."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.open.ac.uk/platform/campus/people/honorary-graduate-iona-opie-fun-books |title=News and Features &#124; Open University |publisher=Open.ac.uk |access-date=5 August 2011}}</ref>


== Recognition ==
The 1959 book ''The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren'' was meant to counter the argument that mass media and the entertainment industry had ruined childhood traditions.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Aesolomv Ilaeazih, Artford Seminary Foundation|year=1961|title=The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (Book Review) |journal= American Anthropologist|volume=63|issue=3|pages=653–654|doi=10.1525/aa.1961.63.3.02a00520}}</ref>
In 1960, the Opies were jointly awarded the Coote Lake Medal, the highest honour of [[The Folklore Society]], "for outstanding research and scholarship".<ref name="Who's Who 2015">{{cite web|date=November 2014|title=OPIE, Iona Margaret Balfour|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U28919|access-date=13 October 2015|website=Who's Who 2015|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> Peter Opie also served as President of the Folklore Society in 1963 and 1964 and President of the Anthropology Section of the [[British Association]] in 1962 and 1963.<ref name=":0" /> In 1985, ''The Singing Game'' was awarded the Folklore Society's Katharine Briggs Award.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Katharine Briggs Award|url=https://folklore-society.com/awards/the-katharine-briggs-folklore-award/|access-date=2021-12-27|website=The Folklore Society|language=en-GB}}</ref>


In 1962, the Opies were awarded honorary degrees from [[University of Oxford|Oxford University]].<ref name=":0" /> Further honorary degrees from the Universities of Southampton, Nottingham and Surrey, and the Open University followed.<ref name=":3" />
==Opie Collections==
The Opies' collection of children's books and ephemera covers the 16th to 20th century and is the richest library of children's literature. It was begun in 1944, amounting in the end to 20,000 pieces. During 1988, it was donated to the [[Bodleian Library]] at [[Oxford University]], after a two-year public appeal raised the £500,000 cost.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Waldron|first1=Ann|title=Collector of Nursery Rhymes Is Closing The Book on an Era From The Glimpse of a Ladybird, A British Couple's Longtime Career Was Born.|url=http://articles.philly.com/1988-11-20/news/26244566_1_peter-opie-iona-opie-books|access-date=15 January 2015|work=[[Philadelphia Daily News]]|publisher=H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest|date=20 November 1988}}</ref> The collection is available on [[microfiche]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Opie Collection of Children's Literature|url=http://www.proquest.com/products-services/Opie-Collection-of-Children-368.html|access-date=15 January 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150118101344/http://www.proquest.com/products-services/Opie-Collection-of-Children-368.html|archive-date=18 January 2015|url-status=dead|via=ProQuest}}</ref>


In 1970, the Opies were awarded the Chicago Prize of the [[American Folklore Society]] for their book, ''Children's Games in Street and Playground''.<ref name=":0" /> The American Folklore Society's biannual prize for the best book published on children's folklore is named in honour of the Opies.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Iona and Peter Opie Prize|url=https://americanfolkloresociety.org/our-work/prizes/iona-and-peter-opie-prize/|access-date=2021-12-27|website=The American Folklore Society|language=en-US}}</ref>
The Archive of Iona and Peter Opie (the Opie 'Working Papers') is also held at the Bodleian Library.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Collection: Archive of Iona and Peter Opie {{!}} Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts|url=https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/2631|access-date=2021-12-25|website=archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk}}</ref> It contains the bulk of the Opie papers and includes "responses of an estimated 10,000 children from schools all over Britain to a series of surveys undertaken by the Opies in the period c.1950–1980".<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Opie Archive|url=https://www.opiearchive.org/about/the_archive|access-date=2021-12-25|website=www.opiearchive.org}}</ref> The cataloguing of the papers was completed in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|last=svenjakunze|date=2018-07-04|title=Now available: Full catalogue of the Archive of Iona and Peter Opie|url=http://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/archivesandmanuscripts/2018/07/04/opie-full-catalogue/|access-date=2021-12-25|website=Archives and Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library|language=en-GB}}</ref>


Iona Opie was elected a [[Fellow of the British Academy]] (FBA) in 1998 and was made a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in 1999.<ref name="Who's Who 2015" />
The Opie Collection of Children's Games and Songs is an archive of audiotapes donated to the [[British Library]] in 1998. It contains fieldwork recordings of children's play made by Iona Opie between 1969 and 1983, as research for ''The Singing Game'' about [[singing games]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Singing Game|last=Opie and Opie|first=Peter and Iona|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>


==Opie collections==
The Opie Papers held by the [[The Folklore Society|Folklore Society]], London, contain adult and child contributions relating to children’s folklore, as well as Opie research materials, personal papers and Folklore Society papers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Opie Archive|url=https://www.opiearchive.org/about/the_archive|access-date=2021-12-25|website=www.opiearchive.org}}</ref> They can be consulted by prior appointment.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Folklore Society Library and Archives|url=https://folklore-society.com/about/the-folklore-society-library/|access-date=2021-12-25|website=The Folklore Society|language=en-GB}}</ref>
The Opies' collection of children's books and ephemera covers the 16th to the 20th centuries and is the richest library of children's literature. It was begun in 1944, amounting in the end to 20,000 pieces. During 1988, it was donated to the [[Bodleian Library]] at [[Oxford University]], after a two-year public appeal raised the £500,000 cost.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Waldron|first1=Ann|title=Collector of Nursery Rhymes Is Closing The Book on an Era From The Glimpse of a Ladybird, A British Couple's Longtime Career Was Born.|url=http://articles.philly.com/1988-11-20/news/26244566_1_peter-opie-iona-opie-books|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151220184721/http://articles.philly.com/1988-11-20/news/26244566_1_peter-opie-iona-opie-books|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 December 2015|access-date=15 January 2015|work=[[Philadelphia Daily News]]|publisher=H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest|date=20 November 1988}}</ref> The collection is also available on [[microfiche]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Opie Collection of Children's Literature|url=http://www.proquest.com/products-services/Opie-Collection-of-Children-368.html|access-date=15 January 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150118101344/http://www.proquest.com/products-services/Opie-Collection-of-Children-368.html|archive-date=18 January 2015|url-status=dead|via=ProQuest}}</ref>


The Archive of Iona and Peter Opie, the Opie Collection of Children's Games and Songs and the Opie Papers held by the Folklore Society, are being catalogued, digitised and made freely available online as part of a collaboration between [[University of Sheffield]], University College London, the Bodleian Libraries, the Folklore Society and the British Library.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Opie Archive|url=https://www.opiearchive.org/about/childhoods_and_play|access-date=2021-12-25|website=www.opiearchive.org}}</ref> The collaboration is called the Iona and Peter Opie Archive and is a [[British Academy]] Research Project.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Opie Archive|url=https://www.opiearchive.org/about/childhoods_and_play|access-date=2021-12-25|website=www.opiearchive.org}}</ref>
The Archive of Iona and Peter Opie (the Opie 'Working Papers') is also held at the Bodleian Library.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Collection: Archive of Iona and Peter Opie {{!}} Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts|url=https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/2631|access-date=2021-12-25|website=archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk}}</ref> It contains the bulk of the Opie papers and includes "responses of an estimated 10,000 children from schools all over Britain to a series of surveys undertaken by the Opies in the period c.1950–1980".<ref name="The Opie Archive">{{Cite web|title=The Opie Archive|url=https://www.opiearchive.org/about/the_archive|access-date=2021-12-25|website=www.opiearchive.org}}</ref> The collection also sheds light on the Opie's working methods, for instance, the nature of the questionnaires that the Opie's sent to children (and once completed were sent back to them).<ref name=":1" /> The cataloguing of this archive was completed in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|last=svenjakunze|date=2018-07-04|title=Now available: Full catalogue of the Archive of Iona and Peter Opie|url=http://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/archivesandmanuscripts/2018/07/04/opie-full-catalogue/|access-date=2021-12-25|website=Archives and Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library|language=en-GB}}</ref>

The Opie Collection of Children's Games and Songs is an archive of audiotapes donated to the [[British Library]] in 1998. It contains fieldwork recordings of children's play made by Iona Opie between 1969 and 1983, as research for ''The Singing Game'' about [[singing games]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Singing Game|last=Opie and Opie|first=Peter and Iona|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>

The Opie Papers held by the [[The Folklore Society|Folklore Society]], London, contain adult and child contributions relating to children's customs and belief, as well as Opie research materials, personal papers and Folklore Society papers.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="The Opie Archive"/> They can be consulted by prior appointment.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Folklore Society Library and Archives|url=https://folklore-society.com/about/the-folklore-society-library/|access-date=2021-12-25|website=The Folklore Society|language=en-GB}}</ref>

The Archive of Iona and Peter Opie, the Opie Collection of Children's Games and Songs and the Opie Papers held by the Folklore Society, are being catalogued, digitised and made freely available online as part of a collaboration between [[University of Sheffield]], University College London, the Bodleian Libraries, the Folklore Society and the British Library.<ref name="opiearchive.org">{{Cite web|title=The Opie Archive|url=https://www.opiearchive.org/about/childhoods_and_play|access-date=2021-12-25|website=www.opiearchive.org}}</ref> The collaboration is called ''Childhoods and Play: The Iona and Peter Opie Archive'' and is a [[British Academy]] Research Project.<ref name="opiearchive.org"/>


==Selected works==
==Selected works==
They authored about 25 books<ref>{{cite web|title=Childhoods and Play|url=http://www.opieproject.group.shef.ac.uk/works-by.html|publisher=Opie Project Group, University of Sheffield|access-date=15 January 2015}}</ref> including:
They authored about 25 books<ref>{{cite web|title=Childhoods and Play|url=http://www.opieproject.group.shef.ac.uk/works-by.html|publisher=Opie Project Group, University of Sheffield|access-date=15 January 2015|archive-date=15 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115060603/http://www.opieproject.group.shef.ac.uk/works-by.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> including:


*Iona Opie, 1993, ''The People in the Playground''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, .
*Peter Opie, 1946, ''The Case of Being a Young Man'', a discursion (Chosen Books, competition prize winner)
*Peter Opie, 1946, ''The Case of Being a Young Man'', a discursion (Chosen Books, competition prize winner)
*Iona and Peter Opie, collectors and editors, 1947. ''I Saw Esau: Traditional Rhymes of Youth'' (Williams & Norgate Ltd)
*Iona and Peter Opie, collectors and editors, 1947. ''I Saw Esau: Traditional Rhymes of Youth'' (Williams & Norgate Ltd)
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*Iona and Peter Opie, 1985. ''The Singing Game'' (Oxford University Press).
*Iona and Peter Opie, 1985. ''The Singing Game'' (Oxford University Press).
*Iona and Peter Opie, 1988. ''Tail Feathers of Mother Goose'' (Little Brown & Company).
*Iona and Peter Opie, 1988. ''Tail Feathers of Mother Goose'' (Little Brown & Company).
*Iona Opie, 1993. ''The People in the Playground''. (Oxford University Press).
*Iona and Peter Opie, 1997. ''Children's Games with Things'' (Oxford University Press).
*Iona and Peter Opie, 1997. ''Children's Games with Things'' (Oxford University Press).
*Opie, Iona, and Moira Tatem, eds. 1989, ''A Dictionary of Superstitions''. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
*Opie, Iona, and Moira Tatem, eds. 1989, ''A Dictionary of Superstitions''. Oxford: Oxford University Press,


==See also==
==See also==
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==Further reading==
==Further reading==
* [[Gillian Avery]] and Briggs, Julia (editors), (1989). ''Children and Their Books: A Celebration of the Work of Iona and Peter Opie'' ([[Oxford University Press]])
* [[Gillian Avery]] and Briggs, Julia (editors), (1989). ''Children and Their Books: A Celebration of the Work of Iona and Peter Opie'' ([[Oxford University Press]])
* Bishop, Julia C. (2013), 'The Working Papers of Iona and Peter Opie'. ''Oral Tradition'', 28:2, pp.&nbsp;205-216 doi=10.1353/ort.2013.0012
* {{cite journal |doi=10.1353/ort.2013.0012|title=The Working Papers of Iona and Peter Opie |year=2013 |last1=Bishop |first1=Julia C. |journal=Oral Tradition |volume=28 |issue=2 |s2cid=161969170 |doi-access=free |hdl=10355/65326 |hdl-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |doi=10.1080/21594937.2014.993208|title=The lives and legacies of Iona and Peter Opie |year=2014 |last1=Bishop |first1=Julia C. |journal=International Journal of Play |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=205–223 |s2cid=144191529 |url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/115332/1/The%20Lives%20and%20Legacies%20of%20Iona%20and%20Peter%20Opie%20FINAL.pdf }}
*Boyes, Georgina (1995), ‘The Legacy of the Work of Iona and Peter Opie: The Lore and Language of Today’s Children’. In ''Rhyme, Reason and Writing'', edited by Roger Beard, pp131–46. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
*Boyes, Georgina (1995), ‘The Legacy of the Work of Iona and Peter Opie: The Lore and Language of Today’s Children’. In ''Rhyme, Reason and Writing'', edited by Roger Beard, pp131–46. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
*Myer, Michael Grosvenor (1974) 'The Children's Child, an interview with Peter and Iona Opie', [[Folk Review magazine]] July 1974.
*Myer, Michael Grosvenor (1974) 'The Children's Child, an interview with Peter and Iona Opie', [[Folk Review magazine]] July 1974.
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*[https://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Opie-collection-of-children-s-games-and-songs- The Opie Collection of Children's Games and Songs at the British Library, London]
*[https://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Opie-collection-of-children-s-games-and-songs- The Opie Collection of Children's Games and Songs at the British Library, London]
* [https://collections.libraries.indiana.edu/lilly/exhibitions_legacy/shorttitle/opie.html The Peter & Iona Opie Collection of Folklore and Related Topics at the Lilly Library, Indiana University]
* [https://collections.libraries.indiana.edu/lilly/exhibitions_legacy/shorttitle/opie.html The Peter & Iona Opie Collection of Folklore and Related Topics at the Lilly Library, Indiana University]
*[https://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Opie-collection-of-children-s-games-and-songs-/021M-C0968X0139XX-0001V0 Oral-history interview (C968/139) with Iona Opie, Cathy Courtney Oral History Collection held by the British Library]
* {{isfdb name|111487|Iona Opie}}
* {{isfdb name|111487|Iona Opie}}
* {{isfdb name|111488|Peter Opie}}
* {{isfdb name|111488|Peter Opie}}
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[[Category:Historians of childhood]]
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Latest revision as of 19:24, 31 October 2024

Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, CBE, FBA (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017)[1] and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and play, in studies such as The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1951) and The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (1959). They were also noted anthologists, assembled large collections of children's literature, toys, and games and were regarded as world-famous authorities on children's lore and customs.[2]

Their research had a considerable impact on a number of research fields, including Folklore and Childhood Studies and altered perceptions of children's street culture and notions of play, by emphasising the agency of children.[3]

Working outside of academia, the couple worked together closely, from their home (firstly near Farnham, Surrey, later in Alton, Hampshire) conducting primary fieldwork, library research, and interviews with thousands of children. In pursuing the folklore of contemporary childhood they directly recorded rhymes and games in real time as they were being sung, chanted, or played. They collaborated on several celebrated books and produced over 30 works.

Early lives

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Peter Opie was born in 1918 in Cairo in the war-time British Protectorate or Sultanate of Egypt and was educated at Eton College.[4] At the outbreak of World War II, Opie joined the Royal Fusiliers, becoming a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment. However, an accident whilst training ended his military career.[4] He began a career as a writer and was joint winner of the £1,000 Chosen Books competition, with his autobiographical discursion The Case of Being a Young Man (published in paperback, 1946).[5]

Iona Margaret Balfour Archibald was born in Colchester, Essex, England in 1923. She was educated at Sandecotes School, a boarding school for girls in Parkstone, Dorset. During World War II she joined the meteorological section of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.[6]

The couple met during World War II and married on 2 September 1943.[7] The couple moved from London to rural England. Their interest in children's lore has been credited to the Opies recalling whilst out on a countryside walk, the ‘Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home’ rhyme from their youth. They began researching into the origins of the rhyme, and as their interest grew they began to collect nursery rhyme books.[3]

Development of their research

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Initially, the Opies based their research on printed material or previously collected oral sources. In 1951, they published The Oxford Book of Nursery Rhymes, still hailed as the standard work on the subject.[3]

From the early 1950s, they increasingly drew on their own field research, carrying out interviews with school-age children via a network of school teachers.[8] By the time of the publication of The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (1959), they had received contributions from about five thousand children (at seventy state schools).[8] Over the following decades, the number of contributors grew: Iona Opie believing the final total to be close to twenty thousand.[9]

The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren was meant to counter the argument that mass media and the entertainment industry had ruined childhood traditions.[10] The Opies' use of surveys as a research methodology has been compared to growth of social surveys (such as the Mass-Observation project) in Britain from the 1930s onwards.[8] The book has also been seen as revitalising the study of Folklore in post-war Britain, the subject having fallen into relative decline.[2]

Speaking in 2010, Iona spoke of working with her husband as being "like two of us in a very small boat and each had an oar and we were trying to row across the Atlantic" and that "[W]e would never discuss ideas verbally except very late at night".[11]

Later years

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Peter Opie died on 5 February 1982 at home, Westerfield House, West Liss, Hampshire.[4]

Iona Opie continued to research and publish. She completed two further volumes based on the Opies' joint research, The Singing Game (1985) and Children’s Games with Things (1997). She also collaborated with Moira Tatem on A Dictionary of Superstitions (1989), and with Brian Alderson and her son, Robert Opie, on A Treasury of Childhood: Books, Toys, and Games from the Opie Collection (1989). Iona Opie revised the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1997) and went onto produce a solo volume, The People in the Playground (1993), which differed by "focusing on the players, rather than the games and rhymes".[3]

Iona Opie died on 23 October 2017.[3]

Recognition

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In 1960, the Opies were jointly awarded the Coote Lake Medal, the highest honour of The Folklore Society, "for outstanding research and scholarship".[12] Peter Opie also served as President of the Folklore Society in 1963 and 1964 and President of the Anthropology Section of the British Association in 1962 and 1963.[2] In 1985, The Singing Game was awarded the Folklore Society's Katharine Briggs Award.[13]

In 1962, the Opies were awarded honorary degrees from Oxford University.[2] Further honorary degrees from the Universities of Southampton, Nottingham and Surrey, and the Open University followed.[6]

In 1970, the Opies were awarded the Chicago Prize of the American Folklore Society for their book, Children's Games in Street and Playground.[2] The American Folklore Society's biannual prize for the best book published on children's folklore is named in honour of the Opies.[14]

Iona Opie was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1998 and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1999.[12]

Opie collections

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The Opies' collection of children's books and ephemera covers the 16th to the 20th centuries and is the richest library of children's literature. It was begun in 1944, amounting in the end to 20,000 pieces. During 1988, it was donated to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, after a two-year public appeal raised the £500,000 cost.[15] The collection is also available on microfiche.[16]

The Archive of Iona and Peter Opie (the Opie 'Working Papers') is also held at the Bodleian Library.[17] It contains the bulk of the Opie papers and includes "responses of an estimated 10,000 children from schools all over Britain to a series of surveys undertaken by the Opies in the period c.1950–1980".[18] The collection also sheds light on the Opie's working methods, for instance, the nature of the questionnaires that the Opie's sent to children (and once completed were sent back to them).[8] The cataloguing of this archive was completed in 2018.[19]

The Opie Collection of Children's Games and Songs is an archive of audiotapes donated to the British Library in 1998. It contains fieldwork recordings of children's play made by Iona Opie between 1969 and 1983, as research for The Singing Game about singing games.[8][20]

The Opie Papers held by the Folklore Society, London, contain adult and child contributions relating to children's customs and belief, as well as Opie research materials, personal papers and Folklore Society papers.[8][18] They can be consulted by prior appointment.[21]

The Archive of Iona and Peter Opie, the Opie Collection of Children's Games and Songs and the Opie Papers held by the Folklore Society, are being catalogued, digitised and made freely available online as part of a collaboration between University of Sheffield, University College London, the Bodleian Libraries, the Folklore Society and the British Library.[22] The collaboration is called Childhoods and Play: The Iona and Peter Opie Archive and is a British Academy Research Project.[22]

Selected works

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They authored about 25 books[23] including:

  • Peter Opie, 1946, The Case of Being a Young Man, a discursion (Chosen Books, competition prize winner)
  • Iona and Peter Opie, collectors and editors, 1947. I Saw Esau: Traditional Rhymes of Youth (Williams & Norgate Ltd)
  • Iona and Peter Opie, editors, 1951. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press)
  • Iona and Peter Opie, 1959, The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (Oxford University Press)
  • Iona and Peter Opie, 1963, The Puffin Book of Nursery Rhymes (Penguin/Puffin)
  • Iona and Peter Opie, 1969, Children's Games in Street and Playground (Oxford University Press)
  • Iona and Peter Opie, editors, 1974. The Classic Fairy Tales (Oxford University Press). Presents the texts of twenty-four familiar fairy tales as they were first published in English; summarises the history of each tale, especially from the textual point of view.
  • Iona and Peter Opie, 1985. The Singing Game (Oxford University Press).
  • Iona and Peter Opie, 1988. Tail Feathers of Mother Goose (Little Brown & Company).
  • Iona Opie, 1993. The People in the Playground. (Oxford University Press).
  • Iona and Peter Opie, 1997. Children's Games with Things (Oxford University Press).
  • Opie, Iona, and Moira Tatem, eds. 1989, A Dictionary of Superstitions. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

See also

[edit]

References

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  1. ^ "Iona Opie", The Times, 27 October 2017, retrieved 5 November 2017
  2. ^ a b c d e Simpson, Jacqueline (1982). "Obituary: Peter Mason Opie, M.A. (1918–1982)". Folklore. 93 (2): 223. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1982.9716243. ISSN 0015-587X.
  3. ^ a b c d e Bishop, Julia C. (3 April 2018). "Iona Opie (1923–2017)". Folklore. 129 (2): 199–202. doi:10.1080/0015587X.2018.1439605. ISSN 0015-587X. S2CID 165260569.
  4. ^ a b c "Obituary, Mr Peter Opie", The Times, p. 10, 8 February 1982
  5. ^ Peter Opie, The Case of Being a Young Man, Chosen Books, 1946.
  6. ^ a b Horwell, Veronica (26 October 2017). "Iona Opie obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Opie, Iona (1923—) – Dictionary definition of Opie, Iona (1923—) – Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary". encyclopedia.com.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Bishop, Julia C. (3 May 2016). "From 'Breathless Catalogue' to 'Beyond Text': A Hundred Years of Children's Folklore Collecting". Folklore. 127 (2): 123–149. doi:10.1080/0015587X.2016.1187383. ISSN 0015-587X. S2CID 147841491.
  9. ^ Opie, Iona, 'Foreword' (2001). Play today in the primary school playground : life, learning, and creativity. Julia C. Bishop, Mavis Curtis. Buckingham [England]: Open University. ISBN 0-335-20715-4. OCLC 44174321.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Aesolomv Ilaeazih, Artford Seminary Foundation (1961). "The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (Book Review)". American Anthropologist. 63 (3): 653–654. doi:10.1525/aa.1961.63.3.02a00520.
  11. ^ "News and Features | Open University". Open.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  12. ^ a b "OPIE, Iona Margaret Balfour". Who's Who 2015. Oxford University Press. November 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  13. ^ "The Katharine Briggs Award". The Folklore Society. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  14. ^ "Iona and Peter Opie Prize". The American Folklore Society. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  15. ^ Waldron, Ann (20 November 1988). "Collector of Nursery Rhymes Is Closing The Book on an Era From The Glimpse of a Ladybird, A British Couple's Longtime Career Was Born". Philadelphia Daily News. H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest. Archived from the original on 20 December 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  16. ^ "The Opie Collection of Children's Literature". Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2015 – via ProQuest.
  17. ^ "Collection: Archive of Iona and Peter Opie | Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts". archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  18. ^ a b "The Opie Archive". www.opiearchive.org. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  19. ^ svenjakunze (4 July 2018). "Now available: Full catalogue of the Archive of Iona and Peter Opie". Archives and Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  20. ^ Opie and Opie, Peter and Iona. The Singing Game. Oxford University Press.
  21. ^ "The Folklore Society Library and Archives". The Folklore Society. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  22. ^ a b "The Opie Archive". www.opiearchive.org. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  23. ^ "Childhoods and Play". Opie Project Group, University of Sheffield. Archived from the original on 15 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2015.

Further reading

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