Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of
folklorist
Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...
s who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and play, in studies such as ''The Oxford Dictionary of
Nursery Rhymes
A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes.
From t ...
'' (1951) and ''The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren'' (1959). They were also noted
anthologist
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically catego ...
s, assembled large collections of children's literature, toys, and games and were regarded as world-famous authorities on children's lore and customs.
Their research had a considerable impact on a number of research fields, including
Folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
and
Childhood Studies and altered perceptions of
children's street culture
Children's street culture refers to the cumulative culture created by young children. Collectively, this body of knowledge is passed down from one generation of urban children to the next, and can also be passed between different groups of chi ...
and notions of
play
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* Pla ...
, by emphasising the agency of children.
Working outside of academia, the couple worked together closely, from their home (firstly near
Farnham, Surrey
Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tribu ...
, later in
Alton, Hampshire
Alton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England, near the source of the River Wey. It had a population of 17,816 at the 2011 census.
Alton was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as ''Aoltone' ...
) 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
Peter Opie was born in 1918 in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
in the war-time British Protectorate or
Sultanate of Egypt
The Sultanate of Egypt () was the short-lived protectorate that the United Kingdom imposed over Egypt between 1914 and 1922.
History
Soon after the start of the First World War, Khedive Abbas II of Egypt was removed from power by the British ...
and was educated at
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
.
At the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Opie joined the Royal Fusiliers, becoming a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment. However, an accident whilst training ended his military career.
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).
Iona Margaret Balfour Archibald was born in
Colchester, Essex
Colchester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first Colonia (Roman), major c ...
, England in 1923. She was educated at Sandecotes School, a boarding school for girls in
Parkstone
Parkstone is an area of Poole, Dorset. It is divided into 'Lower' and 'Upper' Parkstone. Upper Parkstone - "Up-on-'ill" as it used to be known in local parlance - is so-called because it is largely on higher ground slightly to the north of t ...
,
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
. During World War II she joined the meteorological section of the
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...
.
The couple met during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and married on 2 September 1943. 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.
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.
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.
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).
Over the following decades, the number of contributors grew: Iona Opie believing the final total to be close to twenty thousand.
''The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren'' was meant to counter the argument that mass media and the entertainment industry had ruined childhood traditions. The Opies' use of surveys as a research methodology has been compared to growth of social surveys (such as the
Mass-Observation
Mass-Observation is a United Kingdom social research project; originally the name of an organisation which ran from 1937 to the mid-1960s, and was revived in 1981 at the University of Sussex.
Mass-Observation originally aimed to record everyday ...
project) in Britain from the 1930s onwards.
The book has also been seen as revitalising the study of Folklore in post-war Britain, the subject having fallen into relative decline.
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
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
" and that ''"''
would never discuss ideas verbally except very late at night".
Later years
Peter Opie died on 5 February 1982 at home, Westerfield House,
West Liss
West Liss is the oldest part of the modern village of Liss, in Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East ...
, Hampshire.
Iona Opie continued to research and publish. She completed two further volumes based on the Opie's 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".
Iona Opie died on 23 October 2017.
Recognition
In 1960, the Opies were jointly awarded the Coote Lake Medal, the highest honour of
The Folklore Society
The Folklore Society (FLS) is a national association in the United Kingdom for the study of folklore.
It was founded in London in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts an ...
, "for outstanding research and scholarship".
Peter Opie also served as President of the Folklore Society in 1963 and 1964 and President of the Anthropology Section of the
British Association
The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...
in 1962 and 1963.
In 1985, ''The Singing Game'' was awarded the Folklore Society's Katharine Briggs Award.
In 1962, the Opies were awarded honorary degrees from
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
.
Further honorary degrees from the Universities of Southampton, Nottingham and Surrey, and the Open University would follow.
In 1970, the Opies were awarded the Chicago Prize of the
American Folklore Society
The American Folklore Society (AFS) is the US-based professional association for folklorists, with members from the US, Canada, and around the world, which aims to encourage research, aid in disseminating that research, promote the responsible ...
for their book, ''Children's Games in Street and Playground''.
The American Folklore Society's biannual prize for the best book published on children's folklore is named in honour of the Opies.
Iona Opie was elected a
Fellow of the British Academy
Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are:
# Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom
# C ...
(FBA) in 1998 and was made a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(CBE) in 1999.
Opie collections
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
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, after a two-year public appeal raised the £500,000 cost. The collection is also available on
microfiche
Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original document size. F ...
.
The Archive of Iona and Peter Opie (the Opie 'Working Papers') is also held at the Bodleian Library. 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".
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).
The cataloguing of this archive was completed in 2018.
The Opie Collection of Children's Games and Songs is an archive of audiotapes donated to the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
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
A singing game is an activity based on a particular verse or rhyme, usually associated with a set of actions and movements. As a collection, they have been studied by folklorists, ethnologists, and psychologists and are seen as important part of ...
.
The Opie Papers held by the
Folklore Society
The Folklore Society (FLS) is a national association in the United Kingdom for the study of folklore.
It was founded in London in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts an ...
, 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.
They can be consulted by prior appointment.
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
, mottoeng = To discover the causes of things
, established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions:
– Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield
, type = Pu ...
, University College London, the Bodleian Libraries, the Folklore Society and the British Library.
The collaboration is called ''Childhoods and Play: The Iona and Peter Opie Archive'' and is a
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
Research Project.
Selected works
They authored about 25 books
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 tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
s 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
*
Children's street culture
Children's street culture refers to the cumulative culture created by young children. Collectively, this body of knowledge is passed down from one generation of urban children to the next, and can also be passed between different groups of chi ...
*
Roud Folk Song Index
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...
References
Further reading
*
Gillian Avery
Gillian Elise Avery (30 September 1926 – 31 January 2016) was a British children's novelist, and a historian of childhood education and children's literature.
She won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1972, for ''A Likely Lad.'' It w ...
and Briggs, Julia (editors), (1989). ''Children and Their Books: A Celebration of the Work of Iona and Peter Opie'' (
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
)
*
*
*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.
External links
The Opie ArchiveThe Opie Collection of Children's Literature at the Bodleian Library, OxfordThe Archive of Iona and Peter Opie, Archives & Manuscripts, Bodleian Library, OxfordThe Opie Collection of Children's Games and Songs at the British Library, London*[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]
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Opie, Iona And Peter
1923 births
2017 deaths
Military personnel from Colchester
British Army personnel of World War II
Royal Fusiliers soldiers
Royal Sussex Regiment officers
Military personnel from Cairo
People from Colchester
Fellows of the British Academy
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
1918 births
1982 deaths
Presidents of the Folklore Society
English folklorists
British children's literature
Children's street culture
Collectors of fairy tales
Married couples
Folklorists
Historians of childhood