106-531: Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957) was an American writer. The Little House on the Prairie series of children's books, published between 1932 and 1943, were based on her childhood in a settler and pioneer family. The television series Little House on the Prairie (1974–1983) was loosely based on the books, and starred Melissa Gilbert as Laura and Michael Landon as her father, Charles Ingalls . Laura Elizabeth Ingalls
212-482: A preemption claim; after wintering in it, they moved into a new house built on the same land. Two summers of ruined crops led them to move to Iowa . On the way, they stayed again with Charles Ingalls' brother, Peter Ingalls, this time on his farm near South Troy, Minnesota . Her brother, Charles Frederick Ingalls ("Freddie"), was born there on November 1, 1875, dying nine months later in August 1876. In Burr Oak, Iowa ,
318-486: A calf to earn the balance of the money needed. When Ma and Pa escort Mary to the college, Laura, Carrie, and Grace are left alone for a week. In order to stave off the loneliness stemming from Mary's departure, Laura, Carrie, and Grace do the fall cleaning. They have several problems, but the house is sparkling when they are done. Ma and Pa come home, and are truly surprised. In the fall, the Ingallses quickly prepare for
424-400: A deer and then smoked the meat for the coming winter. One day he noticed a bee tree and returned from hunting early to get the wash tub and milk pail to collect the honey . When Pa returned home on winter evenings, Laura and Mary always begged him to play his fiddle , but he was too tired from farm work to play during the summertime. Later in the series, the family moved away from Wisconsin to
530-411: A dignified old Native American man comes to the general store in town to warn the white settlers that there will be seven months of blizzards. Impressed, Pa decides to move the family into town for the winter. Laura attends school with her younger sister Carrie until the weather becomes too severe to permit them to walk to and from the school building. Blizzard after blizzard sweeps through the town over
636-482: A glimpse of the daily routine of early farmers, and learn about activities such as candle making, shearing sheep, threshing wheat, and even making donuts. The story also walks readers through Almanzo's favorite pastimes, which include sledding, berry picking, swimming, and fishing. Little House on the Prairie , published in 1935, is the third book in the Little House series but only the second that features
742-668: A homestead in Kansas, as territory in the West was being given to settlers. Later they moved on to Minnesota. This reflects the time period in the 1800s during which farmers and many others were migrating westward into the American frontier. Farmer Boy was published in 1933. It is the second Little House book, although its story is unrelated to the first few books in the series. It features a different protagonist named Almanzo Wilder, who later became Laura's husband. In Farmer Boy , Almanzo
848-429: A life story called Pioneer Girl . She also hoped that her writing would generate some additional income. The original title of the first of the books was When Grandma Was a Little Girl . On the advice of Lane's publisher, she greatly expanded the story. As a result of Lane's publishing connections as a successful writer and after editing by her, Harper & Brothers published Wilder's book in 1932 as Little House in
954-775: A member of the Wahpetunwan Dakota nation and a scholar of Native American history, challenged the school's use of the book in its classroom. This event, among others, prompted the American Library Association to investigate and ultimately change the name of the Wilder Award to the Children's Literature Legacy Award. This award is given to books that have made a large impact on children's literature in America. Laura Ingalls Wilder's work
1060-410: A more mature role in the family due to Mary's blindness. Pa instructs Laura to "be Mary's eyes" and to assist her in daily life as she learns to cope with her disability. Mary is strong and willing to learn. The family travels to Dakota Territory by train. This is the children's first train trip and they are excited by the novelty of this new mode of transportation that allows them to travel in one hour
1166-435: A move to town for the winter. Laura and Carrie attend school in town, and Laura is reunited with her friends Minnie Johnson and Mary Power, and she meets a new girl, Ida Brown. There is a new schoolteacher for the winter term: Eliza Jane Wilder, Almanzo's sister. Nellie Oleson, Laura's nemesis from Plum Creek, has moved to De Smet and is attending the school. Nellie turns the teacher against Laura, and Miss Wilder loses control of
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#17327836207371272-454: A party at the Olesons' home. Laura and Mary invite all the girls (including Nellie) to a party at their house to reciprocate. A church is founded in town, led by Reverend Alden, and the family attends a Christmas service where the children see their first Christmas tree. The family soon goes through hard times when a plague of Rocky Mountain locusts decimates their crops. Pa must leave to work
1378-454: A sleigh ride after he completes the cutter he is building. Preemption (land) Preemption was a term used in the nineteenth century to refer to a settler's right to purchase public land at a federally set minimum price; it was a right of first refusal . Usually this was conferred to male heads of households who developed the property into a farm. If he was a citizen or was taking steps to become one and he and his family developed
1484-557: A small home. In 1894, the Wilders moved to Mansfield, Missouri , and used their savings to make the down payment on an undeveloped parcel of land just outside town. They named the place Rocky Ridge Farm and moved into a ramshackle log cabin. At first, they earned income only from wagon loads of fire wood they would sell in town for 50 cents. Financial security came slowly. Apple trees they planted did not bear fruit for seven years. Almanzo's parents visited around that time and gave them
1590-658: A stable living. "[By] 1924", according to the Professor John E. Miller, "[a]fter more than a decade of writing for farm papers, Wilder had become a disciplined writer, able to produce thoughtful, readable prose for a general audience." Around this time her daughter, Lane, began intensively encouraging Wilder to improve her writing skills with a view toward greater success as a writer than Lane had already achieved. The Wilders, according to Miller, had come to "[depend] on annual income subsidies from their increasingly famous and successful daughter." They both had concluded that
1696-536: A visit from Aunt Docia, whom they had not seen for several years. She suggests that Pa and Ma move west to the rapidly developing Dakota Territory, where Pa could work in Uncle Henry's railroad camp at very good wages for that era. Ma and Pa agree, since it will allow Pa to look for a homestead while he works. The family has endured many hardships at Plum Creek, and Pa especially is anxious for a new start. After selling his land and farm to neighbors, Pa goes ahead with
1802-567: A windowless log cabin became in 20 years a relatively prosperous poultry, dairy, and fruit farm, and a 10-room farmhouse. The Wilders had learned from cultivating wheat as their sole crop in De Smet. They diversified Rocky Ridge Farm with poultry, a dairy farm, and a large apple orchard. Wilder became active in various clubs and was an advocate for several regional farm associations. She was recognized as an authority in poultry farming and rural living, which led to invitations to speak to groups around
1908-486: A writer, wife, and mother is explored through interviews with scholars and historians, archival photography, paintings by frontier artists, and dramatic re-enactments. Laura Ingalls Wilder: Prairie to Page (2020) is an 83-minutes documentary covering the life of Wilder, the authorship of the Little House books, the making of the television series, and her legacy. Multiple adaptations of Wilder's Little House on
2014-501: A year resting at the home of Almanzo's parents on their Spring Valley, Minnesota , farm before moving briefly to Westville, Florida , in search of a climate to improve Almanzo's health. They found, however, that the dry plains they were used to were very different from the humidity they encountered in Westville. The weather, along with feeling out of place among the locals, encouraged their return to De Smet in 1892, where they purchased
2120-405: Is autobiographical fiction and Wilder employed artistic licence , including creating composite characters based on multiple real individuals and presenting a subjective view of her family's experiences. It has been criticized regarding the history of the government's involvement in homesteading, and its effect upon Native American people, including her family's illegal occupation of land which
2226-605: Is "a wildcat from Tennessee ." Mr. Edwards is an excellent neighbor, who helps the Ingalls in every way he can, beginning with helping Pa erect their house. Pa builds a roof and a floor for their house and digs a well, and the family is finally settled. At their new home, unlike their time in the Big Woods, the family meets difficulty and danger. The Ingalls family becomes terribly ill from a disease called at that time " fever 'n' ague " (fever with severe chills and shaking), which
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#17327836207372332-510: Is back east for the winter, and Pa signs up. It is a winter of luxury for the Ingalls family as they are given all the provisions they need in the large, comfortable house. They spend a cozy winter with their new friends, Mr. and Mrs. Boast, and both families look forward to starting their new claims in the spring. But the "spring rush" comes early. The large mobilization of pioneers to the Dakotas in early March prompts Pa to leave immediately on
2438-780: Is commemorated by a replica log cabin at the Little House Wayside in Pepin. Ingalls was a descendant of the Delano family , the ancestral family of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt . One paternal ancestor, Edmund Ingalls, from Skirbeck , Lincolnshire , England, emigrated to America , settling in Lynn, Massachusetts . Laura was the 7th great-granddaughter of the Mayflower passenger Richard Warren . She
2544-551: Is commonly included in the series. A tenth book, the non-fiction On the Way Home , is Laura Ingalls Wilder's diary of the years after 1894, when she, her husband and their daughter moved from De Smet, South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri , where they settled permanently. It was also published posthumously, in 1962, and includes commentary by her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane . The Little House books have been adapted for stage or screen more than once, most successfully as
2650-410: Is featured from before his ninth birthday until after his tenth. Throughout the novel, Laura recounts the experiences and adventures of Almanzo in his late childhood and adolescence. Living in a successful farm in the state of New York in the late 19th century, Almanzo endures hardships such as the long 1.5 mi (2.4 km) walk to school with his older siblings. Through Farmer Boy, readers catch
2756-425: Is now marketed as the ninth volume. Since the publication of Little House in the Big Woods (1932), the books have been continuously in print and have been translated into 40 other languages. Wilder's first—and smallest—royalty check from Harper, in 1932, was for $ 500, equivalent to $ 11,170 in 2023. By the mid-1930s the royalties from the Little House books brought a steady and increasingly substantial income to
2862-400: Is remembered as "Baby Son of A. J. Wilder." Their first few years of marriage were difficult. Complications from a life-threatening bout of diphtheria in 1888 left Almanzo partially paralyzed . Although he eventually regained nearly full use of his legs, he needed a cane to walk for the remainder of his life. This setback, among many others, began a series of unfortunate events that included
2968-436: Is still strong. Lane's level of influence is disputed, but views that align with hers are very visible within the books. Regardless, Rose Wilder Lane was a large part in the publishing and form of the books. Lane also had a hand in giving the rights to Roger Lea MacBride , who then led to the creation of the television show entitled Little House on the Prairie . Time ranks the Little House series as 22 out of 100 of
3074-621: The Little House books. In her article, " Little House on the Prairie and the Truth About the American West", historian Patricia Nelson Limerick connects Wilder's apparent and Lane's outright distaste for the government as a way to blame the government for their father's failure at homesteading. The books show the Wilder family to be entrepreneurs and show a form of hero worship of Laura Ingalls Wilder's parents. In " Little House on
3180-418: The Little House imprint: On The Way Home and West From Home , published by HarperCollins in 1962 and 1974 respectively. The books in the prequels are: Books about Martha Morse: Charlotte Tucker books: Books about Caroline Quiner Ingalls: The Rose Years books: Little House in the Big Woods was published in 1932. Written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, the book is autobiographical, though some parts of
3286-437: The Little House series, Laura Ingalls Wilder was a columnist in a farm journal. Her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane , was the motivator behind Wilder's writing and publishing of the first book. Since the first book, there have been around 60 million Little House books sold. Nine books fall under the Little House books umbrella. Rose Wilder Lane had a heavy hand in the editing of the books, though Laura Ingalls Wilder's voice
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3392-661: The Newbery Medal . In 1938, On the Banks of Plum Creek was an Honor Book; in 1940, By the Shores of Silver Lake was as well. Later in 1941, The Long Winter became an Honor Book, and the two later Honor Books were The Little Town on the Prairie , in 1942, and Those Happy Golden Years , in 1944. In addition to this, the American Library Association stated that The Long Winter , the seventh book in
3498-440: The "100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time." They are considered classics of American children's literature and remain widely read. In a 2012 survey published by School Library Journal , a monthly with primarily U.S. audience, Little House in the Big Woods was ranked number 19 among all-time best children's novels, and two of its sequels were ranked among the top 100. Five of the Little House book have been Honor Books for
3604-472: The "Laura" of the Little House books. The Wilders lived independently and without financial worries until Almanzo's death at the farm in 1949. Wilder remained on the farm. For the next eight years, she lived alone, looked after by a circle of neighbors and friends. She continued an active correspondence with her editors, fans, and friends during these years. In autumn 1956, 89-year-old Wilder became severely ill from undiagnosed diabetes and cardiac issues. She
3710-592: The American television series Little House on the Prairie , which ran from 1974 to 1983. As well as an anime ( Laura, the Prairie Girl ) and many spin-off books, there are cookbooks and various other licensed products representative of the books. The first book of the Little House series, Little House in the Big Woods , was published in 1932. This first book did well when it was first published. The Little House books were reissued by Ursula Nordstrom to be illustrated by Garth Williams . Before writing
3816-665: The Association perceived as biased against Native Americans and African Americans . Little House on the Prairie The Little House on the Prairie books comprise a series of American children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder (b. Laura Elizabeth Ingalls). The stories are based on her childhood and adulthood in the American Midwest ( Wisconsin , Kansas , Minnesota , South Dakota , and Missouri ) between 1872 and 1894. Eight of
3922-413: The Big Woods , revolves around the life of the Ingalls family. The family includes mother Caroline Ingalls, father Charles Ingalls, elder daughter Mary Amelia Ingalls , and younger daughter (and protagonist) Laura Ingalls Wilder. Also in the story, though not yet born historically, is Laura's baby sister Carrie. The setting of this book is different from the rest of the series, as the story takes place in
4028-644: The Big Woods . After its success, she continued writing. The close and often rocky collaboration between her and Lane continued, in person until 1935, when Lane permanently left Rocky Ridge Farm, and afterward by correspondence. The collaboration worked both ways: two of Lane's most successful novels, Let the Hurricane Roar (1932) and Free Land (1938), were written at the same time as the "Little House" series and basically retold Ingalls and Wilder family tales in an adult format. Some, including Lane's biographer William Holtz, have alleged that Wilder's daughter
4134-467: The Ingalls family moves from Kansas to an area near Walnut Grove, Minnesota , settling in a dugout on the banks of Plum Creek . They moved there from Wisconsin when Ingalls was about seven years old, after briefly living with the family of her uncle, Peter Ingalls, first in Wisconsin and then on rented land near Lake City, Minnesota . In Walnut Grove, the family first lived in a dugout sod house on
4240-548: The Ingalls family; it continues directly the story of the inaugural novel, Little House in the Big Woods . The book tells about the months the Ingalls family spent on the prairie of Kansas, around the town of Independence, Kansas . At the beginning of this story, Pa Ingalls decides to sell the house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin and move the family, via covered wagon , to the Indian Territory near Independence, Kansas , as there were widely circulating stories that
4346-566: The Ingalls homestead in South Dakota on a hot September day in 1880 as Laura and her father ("Pa") are haying. Pa tells Laura that he knows the winter is going to be hard because muskrats always build a house with thick walls before a hard winter, and this year they have built the thickest walls he has ever seen. In mid October the Ingallses wake with an unusually early blizzard howling around their poorly insulated claim shanty. Soon afterward, Pa receives another warning from an unexpected source:
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4452-487: The Ingalls' small cabin in the state of Wisconsin, near a town called Pepin . Little House in the Big Woods describes the homesteading skills Laura observed and began to practice during her fifth year. The cousins come for Christmas that year, and Laura receives a doll, which she names Charlotte. Later that winter, the family goes to Grandma Ingalls’s home and has a “sugaring off,” when they harvest sap and make maple syrup . They return home with buckets of syrup, enough to last
4558-534: The Pan-Pacific exhibition, to World War I and other world events, and to the fascinating world travels of Lane as well as her own thoughts on the increasing options offered to women during this era. While the couple were never wealthy until the "Little House" books began to achieve popularity, the farming operation and Wilder's income from writing and the Farm Loan Association provided them with
4664-620: The Prairie and the Myth of Self Reliance", Julie Tharp and Jeff Kleiman say that the idea of the settlers' self-reliance, which they consider to be a myth, has contributed to conservative rhetoric, and that the Little House books are full of this myth. Four series of books expand the Little House series to include five generations of Laura Ingalls Wilder's family. The "Martha Years" and "Charlotte Years" series, by Melissa Wiley , are fictionalized tales of Laura's great-grandmother in Scotland in
4770-459: The Prairie book series have been produced for screen and stage . In them, the following actresses have portrayed Wilder: Wilder was five times a runner-up for the annual Newbery Medal , the premier American Library Association (ALA) book award for children's literature. In 1954, the ALA inaugurated a lifetime achievement award for children's writers and illustrators, named for Wilder, of which she
4876-555: The Prairie involves an African American doctor saving the Ingalls family's lives. Upon Lane's departure from Rocky Ridge Farm, Laura and Almanzo moved back into the farmhouse they had built, which had most recently been occupied by friends. From 1935 on, they were alone at Rocky Ridge Farm. Most of the surrounding area (including the property with the stone cottage Lane had built for them) was sold, but they still kept some farm animals, and tended their flower beds and vegetable gardens. Almost daily, carloads of fans stopped by, eager to meet
4982-451: The Prairie , published in 1941 is seventh in the series. The story begins as Laura accepts her first job performing sewing work in order to earn money for Mary to go to a college for the blind in Iowa. Laura's hard work comes to an end by summer when she is let go, and the family begins planning to raise cash crops to pay for Mary's college. After the crops are destroyed by blackbirds, Pa sells
5088-489: The Shores of Silver Lake (1939). Ingalls' father filed for a formal homestead over the winter of 1879–1880. De Smet, South Dakota became home for her parents and her blind sister Mary for the remainder of their lives. After spending the mild winter of 1879–1880 in the surveyor's house, they watched the town of De Smet rise up from the prairie in 1880. The following winter, known as the Hard Winter of 1880–81 , one of
5194-501: The Wilders for the first time in their 50 years of marriage. The collaboration also brought the two writers at Rocky Ridge Farm the money they needed to recoup the loss of their investments in the stock market. Various honors, huge amounts of fan mail, and other accolades were bestowed on Wilder. In 1929–1930, in her early 60s, Wilder began writing her autobiography, titled Pioneer Girl. It was rejected by publishers. At Lane's urging, she rewrote most of her stories for children. The result
5300-461: The Wilders out; Lane's investments were devastated as well. They still owned the 200-acre (81-hectare) farm, but they had invested most of their savings with Lane's broker. In 1930, Wilder requested Lane's opinion about an autobiographical manuscript she had written about her pioneering childhood. The Great Depression , coupled with the deaths of Wilder's mother in 1924 and her older sister in 1928, seem to have prompted her to preserve her memories in
5406-608: The books' copyrights. The copyrights to each of Wilder's "Little House" books, as well as those of Lane's own literary works, were renewed in his name after the original copyright had expired. Controversy arose following MacBride's death in 1995, when the Laura Ingalls Wilder Branch of the Wright County Library in Mansfield—the library founded in part by Wilder—tried to recover the rights to
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#17327836207375512-433: The buyer had not paid the mortgage. The Ingalls family went back to Wisconsin where they lived for the next three years. Those experiences formed the basis for Wilder's first two novels, Little House in the Big Woods (1932) and the beginning of Little House on the Prairie (1935). In the book On the Banks of Plum Creek (published in 1939), the third volume of her fictionalized history which takes place around 1874,
5618-581: The colonial era, settlers were moving into the "virgin wilderness" and building homes and farms without regard to land title. The improvements increased the value of all the nearby property. Eventually the political opposition by the speculators crumbled and the Preemption Act of 1841 was passed. The Preemption Act of 1841 was abused by speculators who now operated as money lending businesses, or were able to coerce accomplices to falsely claim they were living on land that they wanted. A common example of
5724-479: The death of their newborn son, the destruction of their barn along with its hay and grain by a mysterious fire, the total loss of their home from a fire accidentally set by Rose, and several years of severe drought that left them in debt, physically ill, and unable to earn a living from their 320 acres (129.5 hectares) of prairie land. These trials were documented in Wilder's book The First Four Years (published in 1971). Around 1890, they left De Smet and spent about
5830-475: The deed to the house they had been renting in Mansfield, which was the economic boost Wilder's family needed. They then added to the property outside town, and eventually accrued nearly 200 acres (80.9 hectares). Around 1910, they sold the house in town, moved back to the farm, and completed the farmhouse with the proceeds. What began as about 40 acres (16.2 hectares) of thickly wooded, stone-covered hillside with
5936-464: The distance it would take a horse and wagon an entire day to cover. With the family reunited and situated at the railroad camp, Laura meets her cousin Lena, and the two become good friends. As winter approaches and the railroad workers take down the cabins and head back east, the family wonders where they might stay for the winter. As luck would have it, the county surveyor needs a house-sitter while he
6042-541: The family helped run a hotel. The youngest of the Ingalls children, Grace , was born there on May 23, 1877. The family moved from Burr Oak back to Walnut Grove where Charles Ingalls served as the town butcher and justice of the peace . He accepted a railroad job in the spring of 1879, which took him to eastern Dakota Territory , where they joined him that fall. Ingalls Wilder omitted the period in 1876–1877 when they lived near Burr Oak, skipping to Dakota Territory, portrayed in By
6148-403: The farmer who had earlier bought the property under a life lease arrangement. The local population put together a non-profit corporation to purchase the house and its grounds for use as a museum. After some wariness at the notion of seeing the house rather than the books be a shrine to Wilder, Lane came to believe that making a museum of it would draw long-lasting attention to the books. She donated
6254-556: The few days' trip to the claims office. The girls are left alone to spend their days and nights boarding and feeding all the pioneers passing through. They charge 25 cents for dinner and boarding and start a savings account toward sending Mary to the School for the Blind in Vinton, Iowa. Pa successfully files his claim, with the aid of old friend Mr. Edwards. As the spring flowers bloom and
6360-505: The franchise have included additional spinoff book series—some written by MacBride and his daughter, Abigail—and the long-running television series , starring Melissa Gilbert as Wilder and Michael Landon as her father. Because she died in 1957, Wilder's works are now public domain in countries where the term of copyright lasts 50 years after the author's death, or less; generally this does not include works first published posthumously. Works first published before 1929 or where copyright
6466-409: The harvest farther east. The book ends with Pa returning safely to the house after being unaccounted for during a severe four-day blizzard . By the Shores of Silver Lake was published in 1939 and is fifth in the series. The story begins when the family is about to leave Plum Creek shortly after the family has recovered from the scarlet fever which caused Mary to become blind. The family welcomes
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#17327836207376572-504: The land (buildings, fields, fences) he had the right to then buy that land for the minimum price. Land was otherwise sold through auction, typically at a price too high for these settlers. Preemption is similar to squatter's rights and mining claims . Preemption was politically controversial, primarily among land speculators and their allies in government. In the early history of the United States, and even to some degree during
6678-413: The land (under Osage ownership) would be opened to settlement by homesteaders imminently. So Laura, along with Pa and Ma , Mary , and baby Carrie , move to Kansas . Along the way, Pa trades his two horses for two Western mustangs , which Laura and Mary name Pet and Patty. When the family reaches Indian Territory, they meet Mr. Edwards , who is extremely polite to Ma but tells Laura and Mary that he
6784-449: The land. On the Banks of Plum Creek , published in 1937 and fourth in the series, follows the Ingalls family as they move from Pepin, Wisconsin to Kansas to an area near Walnut Grove, Minnesota , and settle in a dugout "on the banks of Plum Creek (Redwood County, Minnesota) ". Pa trades his horses Pet and Patty to the property owner (a man named Hanson) for the land and crops, but later he gets two new horses, Sam and David, called
6890-649: The late 18th century and grandmother in early 19th century Massachusetts . The "Caroline Years" series narrates Wilder's mother, Caroline Quiner 's, childhood in Wisconsin . The Rose Years (originally known as the "Rocky Ridge Years") series follows Rose Wilder Lane from childhood in Missouri to early adulthood in San Francisco . It was written by her surrogate grandson Roger MacBride . Two volumes of Wilder's letters and diaries have also been issued under
6996-667: The latter practice was in the logging industry in the upper Midwest , where mill workers who lived in mill towns made a preemption claim on timber land that would then be harvested by the mill owners. Another avenue of fraud was the Desert Land Act , which did not include the residence requirement, although the preempting claimant still needed to improve the land, primarily by providing a water source. In California, tens of thousands of acres of land were claimed via false preemptors – "dummy entrymen" – on behalf of several large land speculating companies. The Preemption Act of 1841
7102-402: The least editing. "The first pages...and other large sections of [ Big Woods ]," he observes, "stand largely intact, indicating...from the start...[Laura's] talent for narrative description." Some volumes saw heavier participation by Lane, while The First Four Years (1971) appears to be exclusively a Wilder work. Miller concludes that, "[i]n the end, the lasting literary legacy remains that of
7208-518: The local dressmaker, and attended high school, although she did not graduate. (According to the books, this was due to her third and final teaching job starting before her schooling finished.) Ingalls' teaching career and studies ended when she married Almanzo Wilder on August 25, 1885, in De Smet, South Dakota. From the beginning of their relationship, the pair had nicknames for each other: she called him "Manly" and he called her "Bess," from her middle name Elizabeth, to avoid confusion with his sister, who
7314-637: The location would be open to white settlers, but when they arrived this was not the case. The Ingalls family had no legal right to occupy their homestead because it was on the Osage Indian reservation. They had just begun to farm when they heard rumors that settlers would be evicted, so they left in the spring of 1871. Despite the fact that, in her novel, Little House on the Prairie and her Pioneer Girl memoir, Ingalls portrayed their departure as being prompted by rumors of eviction, she also noted that her parents needed to recover their Wisconsin land because
7420-527: The money needed to purchase the house and make it a museum, agreed to make significant contributions each year for its upkeep, and donated many of her parents' belongings. In compliance with Wilder's will, Lane inherited ownership of the Little House literary estate , with the stipulation that it be for only her lifetime, with all rights reverting to the Mansfield library after her death. Following her death in 1968, however, her chosen heir, as well as her business agent and lawyer Roger MacBride , gained control of
7526-578: The most severe on record in the Dakotas, was later described by Ingalls Wilder in her novel, The Long Winter (1940). Once the family was settled in De Smet, Ingalls attended school, worked several part-time jobs, and made friends. Among them was bachelor homesteader Almanzo Wilder . This time in her life is documented in the books Little Town on the Prairie (1941) and These Happy Golden Years (1943). On December 10, 1882, two months before her 16th birthday, Ingalls accepted her first teaching position. She taught three terms in one-room schools when she
7632-542: The mother more than that of the daughter.... Lane possessed style; Wilder had substance." The controversy over authorship is often tied to the movement to read the Little House series through an ideological lens. Lane emerged in the 1930s as an avowed conservative polemicist and critic of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration and his New Deal programs. According to a 2012 article in the New Yorker , "When Roosevelt
7738-511: The next few months. Food and fuel become scarce and expensive, as the town depends on the trains to bring supplies but the frequent blizzards prevent the trains from getting through. Eventually, the railroad company suspends all efforts to dig out the train, stranding the town. For weeks, the Ingallses subsist on potatoes and coarse brown bread, using twisted hay for fuel. As even this meager food runs out, Laura's future husband Almanzo Wilder and his friend Cap Garland risk their lives to bring wheat to
7844-408: The novels were completed by Wilder, and published by Harper & Brothers in the 1930s and 1940s, during her lifetime. The name "Little House" appears in the first and third novels in the series, while the third is identically titled Little House on the Prairie . The second novel, meanwhile, was about her husband's childhood. The first draft of a ninth novel was published posthumously in 1971 and
7950-412: The number of acres they were planting. Her daughter was similarly a strong libertarian. Wilder supported women's rights (though she worried that women would vote according to what their husbands wanted, and not as they wanted) and education reform. She also became infamous for a short period for shaking the hand of an African American man in segregated Missouri. Indeed, part of the plot of Little House on
8056-614: The part of the books' characters, of their occupation of the Native Americans' land. An incident related to Wilder's depiction of Native Americans occurred in 1998, when an eight-year-old girl was read Little House on the Prairie in her elementary school class. In the book, a minor character says, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian." To this, Pa responds, "he didn't know about that. He figured that Indians would be as peaceable as anybody else if they were let alone." The girl came home crying; her mother, Angela Cavender Wilson ,
8162-505: The prairie comes alive with new settlers, the Ingalls family moves to their new piece of land and begins building what will become their permanent home. The Long Winter , published in 1940 and sixth in the series, covers the shortest time span of the novels, only an eight-month period. The winter of 1880–1881 was a notably severe winter in history, sometimes known as "The Snow Winter." The story begins in Dakota Territory at
8268-747: The region. An invitation to submit an article to the Missouri Ruralist in 1911 led to Wilder's permanent position as a columnist and editor with that publication, which she held until the mid-1920s. She also took a paid position with the local Farm Loan Association , dispensing small loans to local farmers. Wilder's column in the Ruralist , "As a Farm Woman Thinks," introduced her to a loyal audience of rural Ozarkians , who enjoyed her regular columns. Her topics ranged from home and family, including her 1915 trip to San Francisco, California to visit her now-married daughter, Rose Wilder Lane , and see
8374-551: The rights after Lane's death. It was MacBride who allowed the television show to be made and who talked about Laura's books, and through the rights he made a great deal of money. Another political issue raised by the practice of homesteading as described in the Little House books is John Locke 's Labor Theory of Property , which is the idea that if someone improves the land with their own labor that they then have rights to that land. Anti-governmental political views, such as those held by Rose Wilder Lane, have been attributed to
8480-500: The school for a time. A visit by the school board restores order; however, Miss Wilder leaves at the end of the fall term, and she is eventually replaced by Mr. Clewett and then by Mr. Owen, the latter of whom befriends Laura. Through the course of the winter, Laura sets herself to studying, as she only has one year left before she can apply for a teaching certificate. At the same time, Almanzo Wilder begins escorting Laura home from school. By Christmas, Almanzo has offered to take Laura on
8586-427: The series, was a "resource for teaching about pioneer history." The Little House books include depictions of ethnic minorities, including a heroic black doctor who saves the protagonist's family. Certain criticisms of the Little House books, however, have noted its portrayals of Native Americans . These criticisms highlight negative depictions of Native Americans present in the books, as well as obliviousness, on
8692-412: The series. The ensuing court case was settled in an undisclosed manner, with MacBride's heirs retaining the rights to Wilder's books. From the settlement, the library received enough to start work on a new building. The popularity of the Little House books has grown over the years following Wilder's death, spawning a multimillion-dollar franchise of mass merchandising under MacBride's impetus. Results of
8798-598: The solution for improving their retirement income was for Wilder to become a successful writer herself. As a start, Lane helped Wilder publish two articles describing the interior of the farmhouse, in Country Gentleman magazine. However, the "project never proceeded very far." In 1928, Lane hired out the construction of an English-style stone cottage for her parents on property adjacent to the farmhouse they had personally built and still inhabited. She remodeled and took it over. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 wiped
8904-540: The starving townspeople – enough to last the rest of the winter. Laura's age in this book is accurate. (In 1880, she would have been 13, as she states in the first chapter.) However, Almanzo Wilder's age is misrepresented in this book. Much is made of the fact that he is 19 pretending to be 21 in order to illegally obtain a homestead claim from the US government. But in 1880, his true age would have been 23. Scholar Ann Romines has suggested that Laura made Almanzo younger because it
9010-478: The story were embellished or changed to appeal more to an audience, such as Laura's age. In the book, Laura herself turns five years old, when the real-life author had only been three during the events of the book. According to a letter from her daughter, Rose, to biographer William Anderson, the publisher had Laura change her age in the book because it seemed unrealistic for a three-year-old to have specific memories such as she wrote about. The story of Little House in
9116-474: The subject of postcolonial writing including Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner 's "To Laura Ingalls Wilder" included in her 2017 collection Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter . The original Little House books, written for elementary school –age children, became an enduring, eight-volume record of pioneering life late in the 19th century based on the Ingalls family's experiences on the American frontier. Irene Smith said shortly after "These Happy Golden Years (1943)
9222-520: The time are contrasted with Pa's liberal view of them, and all these views are shown side by side with the older Laura's objective portrayal of the Osage tribe that lived on that land. At the end of this book, the family is told that the land must be vacated by settlers as it is not legally open to settlement yet, and in 1870 Pa elects to leave the land and move before the Army forcibly requires him to abandon
9328-430: The wagon and team. Mary is still too weak to travel, so the rest of the family follows later by train. The day Pa leaves, however, their beloved bulldog Jack is found dead, which saddens Laura greatly. In actuality, the dog upon whom Jack was based was no longer with the family at this point, but the author inserted his death here to serve as a transition between her childhood and her adolescence. Laura also begins to play
9434-404: The year. Laura remembered that sugaring off and the dance that followed for the rest of her life. The book also describes other farm work duties and events, such as the birth of a calf; the availability of milk , butter and cheese ; gardening; field work; hunting; gathering; and more. Everyday housework is also described in detail. When Pa went into the woods to hunt, he usually came home with
9540-431: The “Christmas horses". Pa soon builds a new, above-ground, wooden house for the family, borrowing against the wheat crop he's planted. During this story, Laura and Mary go to school in town for the first time, and they meet their teacher, Miss Eva Beadle. They also meet Nellie Oleson , who makes fun of Laura and Mary for being "country girls". Laura plays with her bulldog Jack when she is home, and she and Mary are invited to
9646-659: Was a third cousin once removed of the U.S. President and Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant . When she was two years old, Laura moved with her family from Wisconsin (in 1869). After stopping in Rothville, Missouri , they settled in the Indian country of Kansas , near modern-day Independence, Kansas . Her younger sister, Carrie , was born in Independence in August 1870, not long before they moved again. According to Ingalls Wilder, her father Charles Ingalls had been told that
9752-404: Was also named Laura. Almanzo had achieved a degree of prosperity on his homestead claim; the newly married couple started their life together in a new home, north of De Smet. On December 5, 1886, Wilder gave birth to her daughter, Rose . In 1889, she gave birth to a son who died at 12 days of age before being named. He was buried at De Smet, Kingsbury County, South Dakota. On the grave marker, he
9858-627: Was born to Charles Phillip and Caroline Lake (née Quiner) Ingalls on February 7, 1867. At the time of her birth, the family lived seven miles north of the village of Pepin, Wisconsin , in the Big Woods region of Wisconsin . Ingalls' home in Pepin became the setting for her first book, Little House in the Big Woods (1932). She was the second of five children, following her older sister, Mary Amelia . Three more children would follow, Caroline Celestia (Carrie) , Charles Frederick , who died in infancy, and Grace Pearl . Ingalls Wilder's birth site
9964-548: Was elected, she noted in her diary, 'America has a dictator.' She prayed for his assassination, and considered doing the job herself." Whatever Lane's politics, "attacks on [Wilder's] authorship seem aimed at infusing her books with ideological passions they just don't have." On the topic of historical fiction and its influence on modern views of race relations, literary scholar Rachelle Kuehl notes that Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series has received backlash for her problematic portrayal of Native Americans. They have also been
10070-453: Was felt that more modern audiences would be scandalized by the great difference in their ages in light of their young marriage. As predicted, the blizzards continue for seven months. Finally, the trains begin running again, bringing the Ingallses a Christmas barrel full of good things, including a turkey. In the last chapter, they sit down to enjoy their Christmas dinner in May. Little Town on
10176-436: Was her ghostwriter. Existing evidence including ongoing correspondence between the women about the books' development, Lane's extensive diaries, and Wilder's handwritten manuscripts with edit notations shows an ongoing collaboration between the two women. Miller, using this record, describes varying levels of involvement by Lane. Little House in the Big Woods (1932) and These Happy Golden Years (1943), he notes, received
10282-444: Was hospitalized by Lane, who had arrived for Thanksgiving. She was able to return home on the day after Christmas. However, her health declined after her release from the hospital, and she died at home in her sleep on February 10, 1957, at the age of 90. She was buried beside Almanzo at Mansfield Cemetery in Mansfield. Lane was buried next to them upon her death in 1968. Following Wilder's death, possession of Rocky Ridge Farm passed to
10388-465: Was later identified as malaria . Laura comments on the varied ways they believe to have acquired it, with "Ma" believing it came from eating bad watermelon. Mrs. Scott, another neighbor, takes care of the family while they are sick. Around this time, Mr. Edwards brings Laura and Mary their Christmas presents from Independence, and in the spring the Ingallses plant the beginnings of a small farm. Ma's fears about American Indians and Laura's observations at
10494-559: Was not attending school in De Smet. (In Little Town on the Prairie she receives her first teaching certificate on December 24, 1882, but that was an enhancement for dramatic effect.) Her original "Third Grade" teaching certificate can be seen on page 25 of William Anderson's book Laura's Album (1998). She later admitted she did not particularly enjoy it, but felt a responsibility from a young age to help her family financially, and wage-earning opportunities for women were limited. Between 1883 and 1885, she taught three terms of school, worked for
10600-507: Was not renewed, primarily her newspaper columns, are also public domain in the United States . The eight "original" Little House books were published by Harper & Brothers with illustrations by Helen Sewell (the first three) or by Sewell and Mildred Boyle. Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder (February 2015) is a one-hour documentary film that looks at the life of Wilder. Wilder's story as
10706-419: Was published that Wilder began "with a style appealing to the eight-year-olds and continuing in volumes of increasing length and difficulty. This graduation is a distinguishing feature of the Little House books." The First Four Years , about the early days of the Wilder marriage, was discovered by her literary executor Roger MacBride after Lane's 1968 death and published in 1971, unedited by Lane or MacBride. It
10812-670: Was still recognized by the United States government as the Osage Nation 's territory. While Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote the Little House books, it was Rose Wilder Lane who edited them and it was Lane who had the rights after Wilder's death. According to the New York Times Rose was an "outspoken antigovernment polemicist and is called one of the grandmothers of the libertarian movement." Lane's views were supported by her mother. Despite her mother's support of her political views, Lane went against her mother and what
10918-799: Was the Little House series of books. In 2014, the South Dakota State Historical Society published an annotated version of Wilder's autobiography, titled Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography . Pioneer Girl includes stories that Wilder felt were inappropriate for children: e.g., a man accidentally immolating himself while drunk, and an incident of extreme violence of a local shopkeeper against his wife, which ended with his setting their house on fire. She also describes previously unknown facets of her father's character. According to its publisher, "Wilder's fiction, her autobiography, and her real childhood are all distinct things, but they are closely intertwined." The book's aim
11024-415: Was the first recipient. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal recognizes a living author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made "a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children". As of 2013, it has been conferred nineteen times, biennially starting in 2001. In 2018, the award was renamed the Children's Literature Legacy Award in light of language in Wilder's works which
11130-527: Was to explore the differences, including incidents with conflicting or non-existing accounts in one or another of the sources. Wilder has been referred to by some as one of America's first libertarians . She was a longtime Democrat , but became dismayed with Roosevelt's New Deal and what she and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane , saw as Americans' increasing dependence on the federal government. Wilder grew disenchanted with her party and resented government agents who came to farms like hers and grilled farmers about
11236-506: Was written in her will by leaving the rights of the Little House books to Roger Lea MacBride after her own death. Roger Lea MacBride has strong connections to politics, being a once libertarian presidential candidate , and a member of the Republican Liberty Caucus . He gained the rights to the books not only from Lane's will but also through a legal battle with the library that Wilder wrote in her will should gain
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