Here is another Opal photo she kept in her possession and which is stored at the Senate House Library London. It shows Opal feeding a deer. There is no date or specific place written on the back of this photo. I think it is unpublished as I haven´t seen it in any books written about Opal. David : In contrast to your experiences at the Oregon State Library the Opal Whiteley papers in London are all stored in their original form.No copies at all ! I´ve been there only once last year. The Senate House Library is a magnificent white building just around the corner of The British Museum. You have to take the elevator to reach the 4th floor reception´s desk. The Library staff was very friendly when they heard that I´d come all the way from Germany. Before my visit I had to send them my specific wish list (restricted to six items all stored in different envelopes) concerning Opal´s papers which I wanted to examine. Opal´s London papers (MS 949) can be viewed easily online as PDF file . The good news is that any private researcher can now order any letter or file of interest regarding Opal´s papers directly from their document supply service . The fee is not very expensive. You have to send them back a copyright declaration first and then you can research whatever you want , pay in advance for your wanted items and after a couple of weeks you got your wanted items send to you as a digital file . When I visited the Senate House Library I selected among other things to read part one and six of Opal´s 1929 Queen magazine article The Story Of Unknown India . Part 2 to 5 are unfortunately lost . It reads like a very seriously travel account. Why author Katherine Beck has judged Opal´s article so unfavourably I don´t know. I was surprised about the large size of the Queen magazine pages. The size can be compared to the old US LIFE magazines from the 50s/60s. Finding old Queen magazines from 1929/1930 is nearly impossible !! I´m still looking....... You can view only one envelope at a time.When you have finished reading it you give it back to the friendly staff and they hand you over the next envelope. I also examined an old note book where Opal listed lots of minerals. I viewed some photos she took of people and places in India. I read a letter from her indian Swami friend where he begged Opal to seek a publisher for his love poems. Very amusing ! Especially Opal´s annotations (No,Not true)she probably remarked later with a pencil on this letter. And I examined her personal photos ( unfortunately only around a dozen ) from her time in Oregon and London. Some you know (her dog photos) and some seem to be still unpublished and which we can now share with the kind permission of the Senate House Library London.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 10:55:30 +0000
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