Iona Opie

Iona Opie (b. 1923) is a world-renowned researcher and writer on European folklore and children's street culture. She worked closely with her husband Peter Opie (1918-1982), whom she met and married during World War II, until his death.

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Iona Opie is a world authority on children's rhymes, street & playground games and the Mother Goose tradition. Together with her husband she conducted primary fieldwork, as well as library research, interviewing thousands of children. The couple were also noted anthologists.

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The Opie's collection is the richest library of children's books and ephemera and covers the 16th to 20th century. It was begun in 1944, amounting in the end to 20,000 pieces. It was donated to the Bodleian Library in 1988, after a two-year public appeal raised the ?500,000 cost. The Opie's book collection is increasingly being transferred to microfiche. The Opie's large collection of historic toy & games is still owned by Iona Opie.

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1923: 1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar)....

Folklore: Folklore is the ethnographic concept of the tales, legends, or superstitions current among a particular population, a part of the Oral tradition or oral history of a particular culture. The academic study of folklore is known as folkloristics....

Children's street culture: Children's street culture refers the cumulative culture of rhymes, songs, jokes, taboos, games, and places (e.g.: places "known" to be "haunted" or "a den" or "forbidden"), etc. among young children. Collectively, this body of knowledge is passed down from one generation of urban children to the nex...

Iona Opie related Images and Photos (experimental)

Iona 1914

St. Mary's Cathedral Iona Scotland United Kingdom Europe

Treshnish Point from Iona