Name Dorothy Neal Role Writer | Died 1995 Books Books Before Five | |
Dorothy Mary Neal White QSO (22 December 1915 – 12 February 1995) was a notable New Zealand librarian and writer. She was born in Christchurch, North Canterbury, New Zealand in 1915.
In 1933 Dorothy became a library assistant at the Canterbury Public Library.
In 1936 Dorothy became Children's Librarian at the Dunedin Public Libraries. She later worked there again from 1957 as head of children's services until her retirement in 1974.
When in 1939 Dorothy married a noted Dunedin second-hand-book seller, Richard (Dick) Desmond White, she continued to work under her maiden name as the City Council required women to resign on marriage.
After the death of her first husband in 1967, Dorothy married Dunedin doctor Robert Edmund Ballantyne in 1968.
In the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service.
The Dorothy Neal White Collection, held by the National Library of New Zealand contains over 8,000 titles of pre-1940s children's literature.