ABSTRACT
Herbert Halpert was invited to join the Department specifically to advise on and develop teaching and research in folklore. The lore and language of schoolchildren was standard required reading in introductory and advanced folklore and childlore courses in the Department of Folklore established at Memorial University in 1968. The material generated for the Survey by students in folklore courses and other contributors eventually built up into substantial archives, which in due course were central to the activities of what became the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition. The achievements of this unique partnership are all the more remarkable in view of the fact that Iona Opie took on the sole responsibility for writing the three books published after her husband’s death in 1982, bringing to fruition their lifetime’s work together. In documenting the language and traditions of children across Britain in the second half of the twentieth century, they have left an unrivalled legacy for future generations.
