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Original poster

Any Laura Ingalls Wilder fans?

233 replies

moondog · 16/09/2012 19:17

I visited the LIW house and museum in Missouri a few weeks ago and it was one of the most moving experiences ever. I made a detour of thousands of miles to see it.
If anyone loves her just as much as I do I wanted the chance to tell you about it so that you can savour every delicious detail.

OP posts:
Original poster
moondog · 17/09/2012 22:08

LaundryGirl, how exciting! Did/does she tell you any stories?
In Becoming LIW, author refers to events when Laura gets famous when she attended concerts at which all 'her' music was played.

At the museum, you can see her teaching certificate, also the lace hankerchief Ida Brown tucked into her hand as she and Alamnzo got married (in Ida's front room).

You can also get facsimiles of all the school books they used.
I wish I'd got them now.
I went nuts on books and sunbonnets so was trying to rein it in Grin

OP posts:
aJumpedUpPantryBoy · 17/09/2012 22:07

All of the Anne books and lots of other LMM are available for Kindle here
I have lots of them and read them on holiday this year

thewhistler · 17/09/2012 22:06

I don't think 18 would have been at all unusual, for a pioneer or not. Ma must have been about the same age or younger. Generally no sooner than 2 years after puberty, but puberty often delayed by poor diet etc. A much stricter code of morals than among eg Dorset labourers, thanks to the Mayflower etc.

Yes, that swansdown coat. And Grace having a tantrum when she couldn't go to the fourth of July celebrations.

How they managed I don't know. There was a fascinating book given to NT mother about Kansas pioneers and it showed them in dugouts, with clothes made from grain sacks. The wilders always had normal fabric.

TunipTheVegemal · 17/09/2012 22:05

I don't know whether this link will work but it's the bit about it in 'Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder'. And yes, it says that it was a normal age of marriage and normal age gap for that time and place.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 17/09/2012 21:59

Got it, thank you.

TunipTheVegemal · 17/09/2012 21:49

I found it by googling 'Laura Ingalls Wilder child bride' and it was the first hit. It's 'Real life in the little house' by Eden Ross Lipson, Aug 2nd 1998.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 17/09/2012 21:47

tunip, what's the title of that NY times piece? It won't let me at it without logging in but if I google the title I think I'll be able to.

showtunesgirl · 17/09/2012 21:46

www.amazon.co.uk/Story-Girl-Lucy-Maud-Montgomery/dp/1406821799 It's another book by LM Montgomery. Sara is the Story Girl in it and she is fantastic!

LRDtheFeministDragon · 17/09/2012 21:46

Would it have been unusual then?

thewhistler · 17/09/2012 21:46

Story Girl, another LMM.

LMM not really evident on Kindle. I have her diaries, which are so depressing.

Nanniejo · 17/09/2012 21:43

I loved the TV series and my darling boys gave me a couple of DVD sets for Mothers Day and my birthday, but vacated the room every time I watched them!! Hadn't thought about reading the books- must do that now!

TunipTheVegemal · 17/09/2012 21:43

The 'child bride' thing is here (second last para). He started to court her when she was 15 and he was 25 - I can see how she might have later worried that would look dodgy.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 17/09/2012 21:42

whistler - yeah, Grace was 'spoilt', wasn't she? Grin I remember the swan-down coat pieced together with Ma's dress ... clearly the height of sophistication ...

LRDtheFeministDragon · 17/09/2012 21:41

She's 15 at the start of Happy Golden Years so the book does rattle along at a fair pace, doesn't it!

I suspect it would be normal for then, but I thought it was normal for now when I was little.

I don't know Story Girl - who's it by?

HumphreyCobbler · 17/09/2012 21:41

I love the Story Girl. In fact I think it is the best of the lot. So idyllic.

I rather hate the fact that Cecily has to die young though Sad

thewhistler · 17/09/2012 21:40

Is there a proper LIW song book? I have hunted for all the tunes Pa played and can't find them all, esp the Christmas carols and the songs she sang at singing school, oh childhood's pleasure's very great, etc. And I want the readers with the spelling and the recitations. Where do j get them?

Cheerful, yes I think it's the Ladies of Missolonghi.

I thought Laura suffered because all Ma's attention went on Mary, always. It seemed to me that she, Laura, was intellectually pretty brilliant but could never please her Ma. Who wild have seen her as a threat and regretted the loss of the only son.

I always thought there was a possibility if Grace Going to the Bad.

Have you read Rose's account of how she was nearly poisoned by her ain't by marriage, when the wilders went to Louisiana and had to be rushed out of town? Clearly Laura did not fit in there.

showtunesgirl · 17/09/2012 21:39

I'm an Anne fan too. Do you lot like the Story Girl too?

EvilTwins · 17/09/2012 21:38

That would be pretty normal for that time then, wouldn't it?

Kveta · 17/09/2012 21:38

loved the books - my wee sister adored them, must forward her some of the articles linked here

TunipTheVegemal · 17/09/2012 21:37

18 according to Wiki, I don't know why but I always thought she was younger than that.

EvilTwins · 17/09/2012 21:33

How old was she when she got married then?

LRDtheFeministDragon · 17/09/2012 21:32

There's a bit in the books, isn't there, when she's shocked by a 13 (14?) year old bride?

When I read them I assumed at 18 she was a perfectly normal age to get married.

LaundryFairy · 17/09/2012 21:29

Cheerful - do try to get to PEI - it is so very beautiful.

iknowwho · 17/09/2012 21:27

I never knew Laura Ingalls was a real person. Blush
I vaguely remember Litle House on the Prarie from way back when I was a kid but didn't know until now it was based on fact!

LaundryFairy · 17/09/2012 21:26

Always felt a personal connection to those stories as my Great Grandpa was a homesteader in the Canadian prairies (and later a sherif!)