Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1867-1957), Papers, 1894-1943 (C3633)

34 folders on MICROFILM

RESTRICTED

MICROFILM

INTRODUCTION

Papers of the author of the Little House series of children's stories. Manuscripts, a diary and some correspondence are included.

DONOR INFORMATION

Original documents loaned for microfilming 9 January 1981 by the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home Association.

FOLDER LIST

f. 1-6The "Pioneer Girl" manuscript appears to be the original from which the "Little House" series was taken. These tablets, written in first person, contain the story line for Mrs. Wilder's books.
f. 1Little House on the Prairie and On the Banks of Plum Creek.
f. 2Second part of On the Banks of Plum Creek.
f. 3By the Shores of Silver Lake.
f. 4The Long Winter and Little Town on the Prairie.
f. 5Second part of Little Town on the Prairie.
f. 6These Happy Golden Years.
f. 7-18School tablet manuscripts and revisions for portions of the series. Some chapters are incomplete.
f. 7-9Little House in the Big Woods.
f. 10-13Farmer Boy
f. 14-18Little House on the Prairie
f. 14Portions of a manuscript for chapters 2, 3, 5-19, 25 and 26.
f. 15Tablet begins after chapter 15, "Fever 'n' Ague," and contain portions of all succeeding chapters.
f. 16-18Later draft of Little House on the Prairie.
f. 19-32School tablet manuscripts and revisions for portions of the series. Some chapters are incomplete.
f. 19-24On the Banks of Plum Creek
f. 19Notes and correspondence between Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane working out details of the book manuscript
f. 20-24Later draft of On the Banks of Plum Creek.
f. 25-32By the Shores of Silver Lake. Two manuscripts, neither of them the published version.
f. 33Account of the Wilders' trip from DeSmet, Dakota Territory, to Mansfield, Missouri, in July and August 1894. Laura mentions traveling conditions, emigrants, weather and crops along their route. Contains a long account of a Russian settlement. Rose's book On the Way Home was based on this diary.
f. 34Miscellaneous correspondence concerning the manuscripts and books. Back sides of other letters in the collection were used as scratch paper on which various stories were written or revised. A calendar of them has been provided at the beginning of the film.

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.

  • Frontier & pioneer life
  • Indians
  • Ingalls, Laura
  • Kirkus, Virginia
  • Lane, Rose Wilder (1887-1968)
  • Russian Americans, 1894
  • Weather, 1894
  • Wilder, Laura Ingalls
  • Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1867-1957), By the Shores of Silver Lake, (1939)
  • Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1867-1957), Farmer Boy, (1933)
  • Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1867-1957), Little House in the Big Woods, (1932)
  • Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1867-1957), Little House on the Prairie, (1935)
  • Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1867-1957), On the Banks of Plum Creek, (1937)
  • Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1867-1957), On the Way Home
  • Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1867-1957), The Long Winter (1940)
  • Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1867-1957), These Happy Golden Years (1943)