Dorothy Freed

Dorothy Whitson Freed (10 February 1919 – 1 April 2000) was a New Zealand author, composer, and music historian. She made significant contributions to the field of music librarians, and authored several books and articles regarding musical information and resources in New Zealand. Early life and family Freed was born in Dunedin, New Zealand. Her father was James Gerald Stokely Doorly, a mariner and Antarctic explorer, musician, and author, and her mother was Forrestina Muriel Whitson. She was the younger of two daughters. Early in her childhood, her family moved from New Zealand to Williamstown, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. She completed her public education in Melbourne, before returning to New Zealand in 1936, when she was 17. In New Zealand, she found work in a secretarial and media role. She married her husband William Ian Freed in 1940, and together they had three children. Neither wanted marriage, but wed out of necessity after a casual affair resulted in pregnancy and the two failed to find an abortionist. The marriage was unhappy and the two eventually separated. Education While Freed was raising her three children, she enrolled at Victoria University College to study