“In 1906 Laura Ingalls Wilder visited her daughter, Rose, in Kansas City, MO. While she was there this studio picture was made. Her life in the LITTLE HOUSE books was just a memory and her writing career had not begun.”
From a postcard of Laura Ingalls Wilder Home Association, Mansfield, Missouri
If you guessed Laura Ingalls Wilder as the lady in yesterday’s post, you were correct.
It was many years after posing for this picture that Laura began writing what became known as the LITTLE HOUSE books. When most of us think of Laura Ingalls Wilder, we think of a little girl with her long hair flowing and a bonnet hanging down her back, for Laura did not like to wear hats. We may think of her as the matronly woman below, but, we rarely think of her striking such a pose. It tickled my fancy when I saw the postcard in the gift shop in October when Tom and I visited one of the Laura Ingall’s Wilder sites in Burr Oak, Iowa.
Those of you who have read my blog for a while know my love and appreciation of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her children’s books. The LIttle House books are the story of Laura and her family as they travel from Pepin, Wisconsin to the vast, unsettled prairies, living in cabins and depots and sod houses. Hers is the story of family, with all the hardships and joys that life has to offer, especially during the second half of the 19th century as families moved further and further west, seeking good farm land and opportunities. Her books are the story of the pioneering spirit that settled much of the United States.
Those of you unfamiliar with my ramblings on LMA and this remarkable series of books that have delighted children, and children at heart like me, might want to start at the blog I wrote last fall. That one will lead you to others if you wish more. You can find it here.
Better yet, forget my blog. Go right to the books, starting with Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods. If you are stuck under several feet of snow, read about The Long Winter.
You were such good sports about not telling who the lovely lady was, and patient in waiting if you did not. Thank you.
I have always been in awe of Laura. She wrote for local newspapers during her adult life, but it wasn’t until she was 65 years old that her first book was published. Her books have remained on the bookshelves in stores, libraries, and homes ever since and have brought to life a unique time in American history.
It’s funny, isn’t it, how a picture on a postcard can become an online conversation in a blog? I wonder how Louisa, and other writers as well, would feel about this thing we call the internet and about blogging.
Our tea was delightful. I wore a feather in my flowered hat, and will tell you all about it in another post.
Laura was a beautiful lady and of course we all knew who she was from your clues. I have seen this picture before. I truly enjoy the conversations that are started via internet.
I hope you have a photo of yourself in your hat.
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Can you believe I had more clues and cut them out? Ha! It was still fun to read what all of you had to say while you were trying hard not to say who.
I do have some of my hat. Unless someone sends me one they took today at the tea, however, you will be stuck with the hat. Sorry.
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The books sound delightful. Here in New Zealand we have our pioneering stories too, and they are always interesting. I look forward to seeing the feather in your hat!
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Pioneers were a hardy lot, weren’t they? Our country’s stories are similar in many ways, Juliet. I’d love to read some of New Zealand’s pioneering stories some time. I’ll put up the hat, with some pictures from the tea, in a day or so. We had such a lovely time.
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I will confess that I typed in Laura Ingalls Wilder and found the very picture you used. 🙂 So I was sure of myself. I’m planning to reread all the Little House books and some other books by or about LIW if we ever have winter, and even if we don’t! (It’s just more fun curling up with an afghan and a favorite book.)
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Clever you! I just love the pose. Laura, I think, was always willing to embrace the times she lived in, without giving up her core values. They are good books to read in winter, aren’t they Joyce? Especially The Long Winter, or Farmer Boy. For several years when I was a young married and had two weeks breaks from school, I would pour over the entire series and get lost in them. Enjoy them when you get your chance.
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I read my Little House books until they fell apart. They were treasures to me, then and now.
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Oh, they are treasures, Andra. I wore through a set and I think our daughter Katy did as well. Right now I have some from a resale shop and mean to visit them again soon.
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I’d love to go back and read your posts about Laura. I will! My daughter wasn’t a dedicated reader when she was young, and so although I purchased the whole set, I don’t think she read them all. We still have them somewhere! But my niece, who was several years younger, was the one I shared another set with, and she loved each one. It really would be fun to read them again! I did not know she was 65 years old when she wrote her books! That’s incredible, especially given that time period. Thank you, Penny, for bringing her to my attention. It’s been a long time since I’ve even thought of her, I’m afraid, but I will now. And now I will definitely look forward to seeing your hat and hearing about your lovely event! Debra
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What a nice set of books to share with your niece, Debra. Do read them again. You will enjoy them in a different way, but, enjoy them you will. Isn’t that amazing? I think she was around 90 when she died and left an unpublished manuscript. That hardy pioneer spirit stayed with her all of her life. I’m so pleased to bring Laura back to your thoughts. I’ll be post the hat with some other tea pictures. It was such a nice time.
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Yes, that’s who I thought it was based upon your clues – but the photo didn’t look like any I had seen of her before, so I wasn’t 100% sure (I thought it just might have been Willa Cather! 🙂 .
I would bet that all those women authors of the past would have had blogs, however, if they had they may never have written their books!
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I could see where you might have thought it was Willa Cather, Janet. It just doesn’t seem like a Laura Wilder pose – but, it is.
You are probably right. It certainly would have been harder for them to publish in this market.
Did Eoin ever get to Farmer Boy? It seems we talked about that at some point.
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Yes, I bought the first 3 books of the series and since Declan never read them I have him reading them to Eoin. They read “Little House in the Big Woods” and now they’re working on “Farmer Boy”.
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Oh, I hope that they are both enjoying reading Farmer Boy. Sometimes it is overlooked because it isn’t about Laura, but, I always enjoy reading it as it gives another lifestyle at the time on a big farm in New York. I think if boys read it as one of the first books, they are more likely to be hooked on the rest of the series. Thanks for getting back on that, Janet.
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Penny: I too loved The Little House books and remember so well reading The Little House in the Big Woods. I LOVED THAT BOOK. One thing I wasn’t aware of was her age when she wrote those stories. . . . . so young!!!!
Bless you for recreating the memories and in such detail. You are such an awesome woman!
M.A.ox
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And she continued to write her Little House books, leaving a unfinished manuscript when she passed away at around 90! Me too. All cozy in that cabin with Ma and Pa and Mary.
Thank you so much, Mary Anne. That is so sweet of you to say. You’ve made my day.
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Wonderful post, what a remarkable woman she was. My next Laura book is The Long Winter which I’ll be reading soon. I’m actually eager to get to some of the grown-up Laura books as well. And then maybe something non-fiction about LIW herself. Lots to explore!
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I’m so glad you are enjoying the LIttle House books, Cath. They are such a wonderful insight into the pioneers who settled the US. There are some good books about Laura Ingalls Wilder, and you might want to learn a bit about her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, who was an author and journalist long before Laura’s books were written. Thank you.
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Another devoted Laura fan here, Penny. I so enjoyed this post and the links you gave. I discovered her books when I was training to be a librarian and had a module to do on children’s literature, which involved lots of reading. As soon as DD could read, I bought them for her and she still has them. I read them when I visit her, but am starting to think I must treat myself to my own set. Mind you, if I buy many more books after reading your blog, i’m going to have to get a new bookcase. 🙂
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I love children’s literature, Perpetua, and took several classes in college as an elementary education major. Our younger daughter also has a set. Although I have my own here, I find myself pulling them off of her shelf when visiting for a favorite chapter or two. About the new bookcase . . .
Enjoy!
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Hurrah! Feathers AND flowers! Great choice, Penny!
Glad you had a lovely time. And I always love in when you write about Laura Ingalls Wilder. How inspiring that her first book was published at 65!
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That’s me. The great compromiser.
It was. These women work hard and are such a pleasure to be around. Thank you. She is, you know, a favorite of mine, and an inspiration to have published the first of the books at 65.
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Dear Penny,
What a treat you’ve given me–meeting Laura Ingalls Wilder in your last two postings and then meeting her in your one from last October. (I so like seeing the picture of you there.) Was all the information you learned from the docent in the biography that Wilder wrote toward the end of her life?
I’ve never read her series of Little House. They weren’t part of my growing up. So now I will go to the library website and begin. Thank you once again for introducing to children’s literature that I’ve missed. You are truly educating me.
And I’m encouraged to learn that Laura Ingalls Wilder wasn’t published until she was 65. That makes me think that maybe, at 75, there’s still hope.
Peace.
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I knew almost as much as the docent who at one point told the others that if they had a question to ask Penny. Poor Tom. As they saying goes, he can’t take me anywhere.
The manuscript she left behind did substantiate the Burr Oak site and hotel as a place where Laura and her family lived. That book was never published while Laura was alive, though I think it is considered part of the books. I think I should say that I’ve learned more from her books and other readings through time. Laura did live in MN a good part of the time and there are several sites near the MN/Iowa border. I think the U of MN has some of her papers.
The series is such a wholesome story of Laura’s family and pioneer life. It certainly doesn’t paint the time they lived as just easy and carefree. They were near starvation many times and moved from pillar to post constantly. Each time I reread one of the books, I learn something knew or look at it in a different perspective. I hope you have an opportunity to read them, Dee.
Me too. Three years from now maybe I’ll have written Little House on the Cutoff.
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We visited her home in DeSmet South Dakota on one of our roadtrips! A highlight for me as I too love the books. I’m marking this post so that eventually I can come back and read your other posts.
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I would love to see that site, Sallie. So much of the storyline is told there and the Ingalls finally settled in there. They are such wonderful books and I read them again and again.
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[…] of you who have been visiting with me here on the Cutoff for some time know of my love of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her stories growing up on the vast prairies of the midwest in the second half of the 19th […]
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