Laura Ingalls Wilder

Who was she?

Laura Ingalls Wilder is a beloved American author whose simple style of writing is biographical and easily absorbed by people of all ages and languages.  She was one of many people who traveled westward in the 19th century to settle the prairies of Dakota Territory.  Laura was born in the Big Woods of Pepin, Wisconsin and lived there with her parents and older sister.  As a child her family moved to Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota where her father earned his living as a farmer, hotel manager, and railroad employee.  Her story captures the spirit of those who followed their dreams of a better life.  After working as a teacher for two years, Laura married another homesteader.  She kept a journal about her experiences that was published in a local newspaper.  Later, in the 1920's, she began writing the series of books that has become an early source of history for many young Americans.

According to her book, On The Banks of Plum Creek, Laura and her family lived in a sod house close to a small body of water named Plum Creek outside of Walnut Grove. The farm included 172 acres of fertile prairie.  The house was purchased from a Norwegian settler named Anders Haroldson.  Visitors to Walnut Creek can travel to a farm north of town to visit Plum Creek and see the site where the dugout used to be.  The Ingalls never had success as farmers on this land.  Charles should have made a nice profit with the wheat he planted, but a grasshopper plague ruined all of it.  After three years with no success the family moved to Iowa to manage a hotel.

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove has built a replica of the dugout.

Why is she important?

Laura Ingalls Wilder was one of the first to write about Pioneer History.  She provides us with an early example of how everyday, ordinary life can be used by historians.  Keeping a journal and creating fictionalized accounts of actual events has value to historians.  Her books are used to create a vivid picture of Pioneer Life for children.  Her characters draw people to study this time in history.  Her voice paved the way for others who want to write about social and cultural history in addition to focusing on biographies of important leaders and inventors.

How is she remembered today?

Here's the interesting thing about Laura Ingalls Wilder.  She wrote about her experiences on the Minnesota and Dakota prairie at the end of the 19th century.  She had no intent to record history.   Her purpose was to record the stories of her life.  However, her stories are based on her life and not completely factual.  Names and some events have been changed.  This is understandable as most people do not want someone else including their names in a book if they have no control over how they will be portrayed (think of poor Nellie Oleson).  Reading the Little House series gives one an idea about what it was like to live in Walnut Grove, but it is not a history of Walnut Grove.  A visit to the little town on the prairie revels that the books resemble life in Walnut Grove when Laura lived there and that her father played an important role in creating a town council and building a church, but there is more to Walnut Grove's history.

The books were used to create a television series.  The TV show was great at getting people interested in Pioneer History, but they took a lot of liberties with Laura Ingalls' life.  History was rarely accurately portrayed as the show captivated audiences with the colorful cast of characters we all love.  The show wasn't even filmed in Minnesota, but on a set in California.  However, without the show, most people would not know about Laura Ingalls Wilder and Walnut Grove.  While it may not be historically accurate, the show did create a vivid picture of the farms and small towns that sprung up around the prairie.  The braids and bonnets worn by the show's young cast have become a symbol of life on the prairie.  But the show glossed over many of the hardships of Pioneer Life, such as fires, plagues of grasshoppers, blizzards, and the scarlet fever that left Mary Ingalls blind.  Also, some of my favorite characters never existed.  Miss Beadle, played by Charlotte Stewart, who regularly makes appearances in Walnut Grove, was never a teacher in the school.  There was a family named Bedal who ran the lumber yard and grocery store.  Their home was used as a school before 1875.

The town of Walnut Grove has capitilized on the world's love for Laura Ingalls, not only through the museum, but also by creating an annual pageant that has been performed for 35 years.  They provide a more in-depth and historically accurate portrayal of Laura's time in Walnut Grove.  The pageant is performed at an outdoor location and was written by James Merchant to provide entertainment and insight into the town's history.  It is directed by the local high school principal and most of the cast and crew are local.  The two-act play that is performed three weekends in July each summer shows the growth of the small town through the eyes of Laura Ingalls Wilder.