Whiteley, Opal Stanley

Opal Stanley Whiteley was born on December 11, 1897 in Colton, Washington and later moved with her family to Walden, Oregon, near the town of Cottage Grove. It was in Walden that Whiteley wrote a diary, later published in 1920 by the Atlantic Monthly, which was to become both celebrated and controversial. Whiteley was keenly interested in nature and botany; she became an amateur naturalist and utilized her interests in both nature and religion for her work in the Oregon Christian Endeavor Union. Between 1916 and 1920, Whiteley intermittently attended the University of Oregon, traveled throughout Oregon giving a series of lectures on nature, attempted to find work as an actress in Hollywood, and wrote a book called the Fairyland around us, based up her nature lectures. By 1920, she was in New York working with Ellery Sedgewick to publish her childhood diary in the Atlantic Monthly. This diary was very popular, but soon became controversial, as some readers doubted a child could have written such a lyrical and fanciful account of nature. In the 1920s and 1930s, Whiteley traveled in Europe and India, but by 1935, she was living as a ward of the city of London. In 1948, she was placed in Napsbury Hospital outside London, where she died in 1992.

From the description of Opal Whiteley Papers, 1911-1977. (University of Oregon Libraries). WorldCat record id: 49309600

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