The Working Papers of Iona and Peter Opie

Abstract

This essay describes the archival collection of Iona and Peter Opie, the English folklorists who published a series of classic books on children’s folklore in the second half of the twentieth century. It focuses particularly on their working papers at the Bodleian Libraries, which contain the responses of schoolchildren in the United Kingdom to the Opies’ questionnaires and the Opies’ research notes for their books.

eCompanion

loading

Iona and Peter Opie skipping.

Photo: http://www.opieproject.group.shef.ac.uk.

Extract from “The Oral Lore of Schoolchildren II” questionnaire (box 11).

Reproduced with permission from the author.

Extract from a response to the Opies’ second questionnaire, boy aged 12-13, Ecclesfield Grammar School, 1954 (box 7).

Reproduced with permission from the author.

Extract from an essay on “My Favourite Game”.

Reproduced with permission from the author.

Transcription of the clapping game “Eeny Meeny Dessameeny” as filmed at Monteney Primary School, Sheffield in 2009.

Recording and transcription by the author.

Table of Contents

URLs for websites, bibliographic references, and other online resources are reviewed, current, and valid at the time of publication. Oral Tradition cannot accept responsibility for the future availability of these online materials.
mobile close