She earned a master's degree in 1927 with a thesis on ancient Peruvian fabrics, and in 1930 was granted a Ph.D. in anthropology from Berkeley, at age 44, for a fieldwork study of the basketry methods of California Native American women weavers.

[1] Her dissertation project, "Yurok-Karok Basket Weavers", was overseen by anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber, who remained a supportive colleague.

[2] O'Neale taught school in Oakland, and worked in higher education at San Jose State University and the Stout Institute.

[11] O'Neale was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1931 to support travel to Lima, Peru for her work on Inca and pre-Inca textiles in South America.

[12][13] O'Neale was "life-long companion" of Martha Thomas, a fellow scholar of Household Art, who taught in San Jose.